Headphonaught’s Twitter
As you all know… I LOVE Twitter and have become something of an addicted evangelist for the platform… and, more importantly, the concept of tweets. I communicate with friends in Texas and the Far East in 140 characters or less. I even planned the majority of my latest podcasting adventure :: something beautiful :: with my good friend JD. I love Twitter because a good whack of my friends are on it… and it has a number of sweet apps that work with it, some I have covered before.
However… the big problem with Twitter imho is its unreliability… its been like a rollercoaster of late… up and down and up then down again etc etc. Its a great concept… delivered well… and has a really loyal following… and that’s why I haven’t given up on it.
But there are alternatives…
Headphonaught’s Jaiku
I recently received an invite to join Jaiku and have been playing about with it. Twhirl is fab because it allows you to post to Twitter and send a duplicate message to Jaiku… which takes the hassle out of duplicate posting. What I like about Jaiku is the threaded conversations… you can respond to a “presence” (as Jaiku call a Tweet) by replying… and, in doing so, you create a thread… which keeps the conversation in one place rather than all over the place. You can also use “icons” to aid the message… which is cool… and you can update via text (just like Twitter) which is handy when you are out and about (believe it or not… I don’t have mobile internet on my phone… just yet, anyway).
The downside of Jaiku is well… its like a cool “third place” that nobody you know goes to… and you need an invite to enter. You need to spend time getting to know new folk… because all the pals you have on Twitter aren’t on Jaiku too… and you can’t invite them yourself.
Just like Twitter… Jaiku displays messages in a newest at the top reverse chronological order… which is great for keeping current… but causes problems when seeking to follow a conversation.
Headphonaught’s Plurk
This is where a new service called Plurk comes into its own… because Plurk displays your messages on a timeline… with a similar ability to respond to messages… keeping the conversation together in space AND time. Plurk is new… looks great… and is open to all, unlike Jaiku… but I don’t know how it will fare in a mobile setting or behind corporate killjoy firewalls.
There is another service called pownce that I have yet to try… which already works with Twhirl… but I have my limits… for now.
Personally… I would like to post once via a tool like Twhirl and follow all my conversations from one place. I guess this is the microblogging equivalent of myspace/ bebo/ facebook/ orkut not really talking to each other… let’s see where it goes.
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{ 3 comments }
Twitter + Jaiku + Plurk = … Twairk?
Ooh, maybe that’s what an app that can talk to all three should be called! Quick, register that domain ;)
And some shameless self-promotion: my Plurk profile is here.
This is really freaky, I googled “Twairk” and got hits… OK, they make no sense, but still, you get hits! :)
Thanks for the post, I’ll give it a read asap. Let’s hope Twitter get their act together soon – it is rather frustrating at times!
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