“Why did Pownce and Jaiku not take off like Twitter? Because everyone was on Twitter. If everyone decides to leave Twitter, that puts Pownce and Jaiku back in the game.”
The file sharing aspects of Pownce (esp for Pro users) is enticing, but I agree, the community is definitely still on Twitter for the most part. Will be interesting to see how this plays out. - Brian Daniel Eisenberg
I wish I could have made that "If" in big bold letters. :) - Bwana
The community plays a big part, yes, but there's more to it than that. Twitter had a complete feature set (for what it is); at launch, Pownce was limited by a lack of API, and is still hindered by the customization options. Jaiku is now inherently limited by Google's invite-only approach, and last I checked still lacks SMS and a full API. - Evan Sims
i see more and more posts from jaiku every day. - edythe
I disagree that Twitter had a complete feature set at launch. One of its most powerful features to date, track, didn't come along until much later in the game. Also @reply features were not built in in the beginning. For the record, Jaiku now supposedly has a US shortcode: http://www.jaiku.com/blog/2008... - Bwana
Agree Evan - what really spawned the growth of twitter was their api. look at how many Twitter-related sites there are. all the more reason that twitter better be careful not to alienate the developer community. Edythe - am also seeing a lot more activity from Jaiku, but not Pownce here on FF. - Brian Daniel Eisenberg
I didn't say Twitter had a complete feature set at launch, Bwana, I said Pownce lacked an API at launch. And that's great about the US shortcode on Jaiku, but I think it's too little too late. Besides, Jaiku has way too much noise IMHO; I used Jaiku exclusively for three months trying to move away from Twitter, and it worked well enough I suppose- but the noise added by people's feeds to the stream is extremely annoying. - Evan Sims
Yeah, Brian. The API is where it's at. The developers are the ones who make all these cool tools that get people to use the service in the first place. - Evan Sims
I am not sure a large number of "Twitter related sites" is all the much of a positive. I think most are hard to find and use in context, are often flakey (maybe this is the service though). - Brian Sullivan
That said, I do hope the fail whale gets a horrible, painful death. :P - Evan Sims
I agree the API is very important. This is why this article really troubled me: http://staynalive.com/articles... Twitter disabled some API features at a moment's notice. (It affected an app that I use, Hahlo). That's one way to really tick off your developers and their users. - Bwana
I agree that feeds in Jaiku stream is too much. I have friendfeed for that. - rambn
via Alert Thingy
I hear you, Bwana. I've been developing apps using the Twitter API for well over a year now, and am in fact developing one for a client right now. I was shocked and more then a little concerned to hear they crippled the API over this. It doesn't appear to have really helped all that much, either. *stares at the fail whale* - Evan Sims
100% correct. It was never about tech, it was ALWAYS about community. However everyone isn't going to leave Twitter no matter how much Twitter deserves it. - Duncan Riley
Summize and Twhirl are pretty impt tools I rely on for my Twitter workflow. I also like Twittervision, Twittermaps, and Quotably as complimentary sites that provide different ways to view the Twitterverse. - Brian Daniel Eisenberg
Twitter is *simple*: RTS = Real Twitter Syndication. It's a *human* feed of information *and* only allowed 140 characters. Less is more. People *love* that aspect: keeps online activity to its greatest minimum :) - Barbara K. Baker
It was about tech, too. I keep trying Pownce and Jaiku out and just don't like their layouts and feature set as much. But at this point? It absolutely is about the community. That's the ultimate lockin. - Robert Scoble
Exactly, rambn. Do one thing and do it right- it's the motto of web 2.0. Jaiku tries to be too many things, and just ends up being so/so at all of them. - Evan Sims
That doesn't put them back in the game! There's plenty besides a community that Jaiku and Pownce are missing such as a shitload of apps that caters to Twitter. - Corvida
According to Twitter, the fail whale is going to be around for "months". (via Scoble's interview) I know Twitter has a really really loyal fan base. I don't know if they'll put up with 2-3 months of sporadic uptime and no IM functionality. Ouch. - Bwana
If everyone leaves Twitter, what good are those Twitter apps? The qualifier for Jaiku and Pownce is if and I do mean IF everyone leaves Twitter. - Bwana
I could probably deal with the downtime, but I know about half the people I really use Twitter to stay in touch with (that is, my very close friends) are already looking at alternatives out of frustration. - Evan Sims
Jaiku and Pownce do have open APIs that killer apps can be written on, but it's always about the community. - Kris Gainsforth
via twhirl
If the Twitter population drops I think we'll see a lot of products adapt to use other services. It could, potentially, be a good thing. Thwirl's support for FriendFeed, for example. - Evan Sims
They do now, Kris, but they didn't at launch. Pownce didn't get one for almost a year. First impressions are a lot more important than you might think. Perhaps even more so for the developers that use those APIs. - Evan Sims
I think Pownce makes it harder to connect with people using the Friend model. Twitter, like Flickr, made the right choice to just Follow people. If they decide to Follow you, then great. If not, it's not like you have to bug them with a Friend Request. - William Beem
