What the Plurk? Twitter this, Pownce-head!
Social networking messaging. Greatest thing ever or biggest time wasting tool? I’m on three of them [not counting Facebook or any of those type of sites]: Twitter, Pownce and Plurk. Most of my regular visitors are Twittering, Powncing or Plurking…. or doing all three.
There’s at least 30 or so Twitter-clones that have popped up over the last couple of years, like FriendFeed and Jaiku, but I really don’t have much interest in joining any more of them. If I bitch about the time I spend on the three I’m on now, imagine how much time would get consumed between just 10 of them. I just don’t want to know.
For now, I’ll give you my take on the main three.
The first site I joined, back in April 2008. Twitter is the king of the castle, when it comes to social networking messaging. A lot of people use it over all of the other ones. And with a multitude of applications, web interfaces, iPhone apps and mobile web access, there’s no shortage of options for sending Tweets [or as Hilly and Winter like to call them: Twats.]
LOVE
- Easy to send quick notes on what I’m doing
- Share a link to a site or article that I like
- Reply either to the public timeline or using direct message
HATE
- Need to use multiple interfaces/applications to be effective and useful
- Replies get lost in the mix using the default web interface
- The site can be down a lot [although it’s been stable lately]
Regardless of the mix of loves and hates, Twitter isn’t all that bad. And they’ve even added an Election 2008 piece that shows all of the Twitter messages that are election subjected. My only hope is that all of the servers can handle this increased and continued traffic without blowing up.
This site is the brainchild of many people, Kevin Rose [of Digg.com fame] being one of them. Curiously, Kevin’s a very popular Twitter member…. you would think he would want to promote this site over Twitter. Oh well. For me, I think Pownce is a great site. The interface is clean and looks nice and it’s easy to navigate. You can reply to each Pownce post, with the replies kept with the post. There’s obviously less people here, compared to Twitter, which is nice in a reduced-traffic sort of way. You also have the option to go PRO, which costs extra per year. But it gives you increased message size and the ability to post more than just text and web links.
LOVE
- The site is hardly ever down
- There’s an iPhone/iPod touch app that works nice.
- Mobile web interface looks nice and easy to use
HATE
- Not as many people as Twitter [maybe I’ve just not found everyone yet]
- Mobile web interface is slooooow
I would like to use Pownce more, but need more people to migrate over. Until that happens, and they fix some of the mobile slowness, I will spend the majority of my time over on Twitter.
This has been a johnny-come-lately site, but it’s starting to stake some claim. The interface is a timeline, showing each person’s plurk post. You can also reply to each plurk post, similar to Pownce. This can get messy if you follow a lot of Plurkers, but I would imagine it’s manageable [I only have 17 friends so far]. Also, the more you Plurk, the more karma you get. Plurk less and your karma goes down. It’s a different concept of getting people to post more often [not that some people need an excuse]. There’s a mobile interface, too
LOVE
- Timeline interface is easy to follow
- Reply to individual plurk posts
HATE
- Karma increments slower once you reach 50
- Mobile web interface sucks… errors out a lot
- No separate mobile or desktop Plurk apps
Plurk is different, and that’s good. But as with Pownce, they really need to improve the mobile web interface [and allow some desktop and phone applications to be developed] before I’ll start using it more often. I log in each day and post a few things here and there, but holding back on the flood gates.
As a side note, Ping.fm is a site that lets you post to multiple social networking sites all at once. There’s a few people that I follow on multiple sites that I know use this. While it’s cool and works for some, right now, it’s not something I would like to do. I tend to personalize each service I’m on. While that’s some work, it’s something I don’t mind doing to take some of that “one size fits all” away from my messaging.
Where are you at?
Are you on either of these? I know most of you regulars are. Are there other sites I should check out? Any Twitter, Pownce or Plurk software that you’ve got installed on your computer or phone that makes any of these easier to use? Chat me up in the comments.
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Just a not-all-that-related thought, file this under ‘Sounds like a personal problem’, heh:
I like the Twitter idea a lot, but I can’t seem to get myself to think of it as being what it is. This base emotional thing in me wants it to be a conversation, like chat, rather than the dynamic bulletin board that it is. I get a little lonely and disappointed when people don’t ‘talk’ to me there, and all excited when they do. I feel chastised when I get a Direct Message response when I have addressed someone publicly – like I’m being shushed and told I should have been more discreet. My thoughts feel a bit useless hanging up there … I hope I’m being amusing or something, or that people wanting encouragement or an answer to a question feel encouraged (or like they got a little help, or whatever). This all could at least a bit ridiculous, I think, but there it is. So I still have to get used to it in this way. De-emotionalize it to some (large) extent.
I tried Plurk once and abandoned it, don’t use Pownce, and use Twitter on a few occasions. I’ve missed important news that people have Twittered but haven’t blogged, and that annoys me. It’s not like I’m able to follow every single tweet unfortunately.
I haven’t used any of them to be honest. I update my Facebook status and I blog.
I only use Twitter and that goes in phases.
When you say “chat me up in comments” it really makes me laugh. I don’t know about there, but over here if you “chat someone up” you are hitting on them and trying it on. Ummm, are you sure that’s what you want? ;o)
catherine – I get what you are saying. You like the AIM type of chatting and Twitter just feels like it should be that type, too when you post a message. Your statement about it being a bulletin board hits the nail on the head. I tend to try and entice conversation out there, too. The problem with Twitter that Pownce and Plurk have addressed is keeping any replies with the original message. Replies on Twitter can be hours later and not seen right away.
avitable – I forget to start Plurk most days and it’s not until things slow down that I open it up and start posting. Twitter can be a real distraction, but as you said, sometimes cool news stories and other tidbits can be a good read.
kevin – I’ve started using Facebook more in the last couple of months. Mostly to find people that I’ve lost status with. It’s been wild to see how many that I’ve found and have found me.
penelope – Thanks for the heads up. I didn’t know that about that phrase. Of course my intention isn’t to hit on people….. he he…. so maybe I need to rephrase that statement for future requests for others to comment.
I have to side with Twitter. Only because a guy I went to high school with is now one of their big guys. Having said that, I participate in none of the above. Complete waste of my time. And blogging and Facebook already do enough of that!
Twitter for the win! I have tried all of them and decided that I love Twitter way more.
Also, I cannot keep up with more than one service. I’m too busy on Facebook and blogs, ya know. 😉
nilsa – Well, that’s a good reason to support Twitter. And you are right about all of these being a waste of time. Now I do find some use out of them, but I have to say that I would feel lost without at least one of these. Blogging is never a waste of time for me. Sometimes Facebook can be, but i’ve learned how to curb that serive.
hilly – Twitter is a winner for me, too. But I have this compelling reason to see what the other two will do in the long term.
Blogs are where I would like to spend more of my time…. and Facebook has been nice to me lately.
I only use Twitter and I seriously doubt I’ll ever try the others until people start truly abandoning Twitter, but I don’t think that’s going to happen for a while.
I looked at Plurk. Meh. Pownce I haven’t bothered with. I wanted to try Ping but couldn’t get an invite when I wanted one. Tried Digsby which is basically the same thing, and decided, like you, to just stick with the original apps. Twitter is it for me too. Twhirl works pretty well most of the time on my PC and I use Quakk on my smart phone. The only problem I have with Quakk is that, like the Twitter website, I have to manually refresh it. I should try looking for another Windows mobile Twitter app just to make sure I’m using the best that’s available.
brandon – I don’t think Twitter will be losing steam anytime soon.
winter – Because I’m on Mac for all of my personal stuff, I use Twitterrific, which is pretty much the only Mac desktop tool that I know of. I also use it on my wife’s iPod touch. There’s a lot more options for Windows users. I mostly use my phone’s mobile browser for Twitter posts. It works most of the time. Manually refreshing is a pain, but sometimes it’s all I have.
i’m late to the game. just joined Twitter and honestly, i have no idea what in the world i’m doing. or supposed to do. or whether i am even here right now, on the innernets.
crys – I’ll have to look you up on Twitter to follow you. It can be confusing at first, then it gets addicting.
I don’t facebook, and I only do three (3) things so far: blog, twitter, and utter.
Utterli (formerly Utterz) is like twitter in that you can do text microblogging, but that there are several important enhancements.
A) you’re not limited to ~140 characters
B) you can add pictures
C) you can add video
D) you can add audio
E) you can add all of the above within a 10 minute span to mash up a complete entry
The biggest plus that Utterli has going for it is the telephone interface. I just call the Utterli number, it recognizes my caller ID and I can just create an audio post right there, or listen to others’s posts. Then I can text-message a title and tags in to more define the utter.
whall – I’ve seen and heard your Utterz. Thanks for clarifying that Utterz is now Utterli. I’ve been tempted to try it before, but maybe I’ll have to now that you can do audio, pics, text and video. Plus, I can call while driving using my bluetooth headset since texting while driving is kind of dangerous.