Comments on: Twitter / Pownce Killer…. Plurk?….

By: Elmer Thomas

Elmer Thomas — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:16:57 +0000

The biggest value add at Plurk is the conversation framework. When someone comments on your “Plurk”, the thread can very quickly turn into a mini chat room. (see some of problogger’s or leolaporte’s “Plurks”)

A close second is the responsiveness of the architecture coupled with the responsiveness of the community.

By: GeekMommy

GeekMommy — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:37:27 +0000

Hmmm. The comment form didn’t like my use of less than symbol.
Let me amend that one sentence:
“They went from less than 200 to more than 3k users in 8 hours.”

By: GeekMommy

GeekMommy — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 06:36:15 +0000

I got on plurk about 20 minutes before Leo Laporte – and then he deluged the system with followers…
They went from 3k users in 8 hours.

The format appeals to some, not others. It’s a different dynamic. Usually, it appeals more to those who would be heavy chat room users.

The visual appeal of the mobile site http://www.plurk.com/m/ appeals a bit more to most twitter users, due to vertical orientation and fewer bells & whistles.

For me, the appeal of Plurk is two-fold: it is good for socializing on a large scale and it’s great for conversation when I’m mobile using my Treo. Because of the comment/response structure on the mobile site, it’s much easier to track conversations with multiple users than it is on Twitter or Friend Feed or the like.

It certainly won’t be a Twitter-killer. The a-list, early adopters, and power users weren’t terribly enamoured of it and while they created accounts, haven’t really used it much. But it will appeal to a certain segment of users. I expect that Plurk will thrive and endure – and will provide a nice alternative when Twitter outages occur.

That’s my 2 cents anyways!

By: Sam Stevens

Sam Stevens — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:50:19 +0000

Meh, I’m not impressed with Plurk. The timeline is awkward, and the Karma points system is too cutesy. If Twitter could simply solve it’s scaling problems, Plurk would be a moot issue. If Twitter fails, I’d prefer to see Jaiku take it’s place.

As for Pownce, it’s a wonderful system—you should try it out! It’s more than Twitter, so comparisons aren’t entirely appropriate. In my view, Pownce is microblogging while Twitter is messaging. They each have their place.