Look, I’m not finding the right term for what Branch is doing but the latest entry in the Twitter-imitation derby went public beta this week and it’s starting to get a good deal of notice. Basically, it’s Twitter without the 140-character limit.

From the New York Times:

Branch entices people to start a longer, more in-depth conversation about a specific topic and invite others to join the discussion. Unlike most social networks, where anyone can join in and add their verbose opinions, only people involved in the conversation can invite others. This includes friends on Twitter and other social networks.

Although the project was funded by a tech incubator, the founders of Branch don’t come from the tech world but from politics and were inspired to create a forum where people could discuss things and have “healthy debates”.
Oh brother. This is going to go in one of two ways. Option 1, we’ll never hear from this thing again. Option 2, it’ll just get nasty and abusive and everyone will be a jerk. You don’t think that could ever happen on the internet, could it?