Posted on September 19, 2007 - by Justin Hartman
Pownce will kill Twitter
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Pownce is similar Twitter, only better. I’ve been using it now for a couple days and I’m far more impressed with the the user experience and reliability than I am with Twitter. Some experts will swear Jaiku is the one to watch but there are a couple things which make Pownce a winner in my opinion. The big one is the ability to send links, files and calendar events which both Twitter and Jaiku lack.
While Pownce has a very similar profile page to Twitter the overall structure seems more intuitive to me. There is a bio of who I am, better structured friends listing plus the added column of other social networking profiles that I belong to.
The site is still in Alpha stages so I’ll forgive them for only having a choice of four themes to select from.
One of the best tools I like about Pownce is the Social Network profiles. There is a selection of almost every social network site out there and you can setup all the ones you belong to. You also have the option of adding your Instant Messenger contact details as well as various websites that you own.
The net result of this is a Profile box which appears on your main profile page.
Website aside I think Pownce’s best value comes in the desktop application they’ve created. Instead of writing their own software Pownce decided to build their desktop application using Adobe’s Integrated Runtime (AIR) environment.
AIR is a cross-operating system runtime that allows developers to use existing web development skills to build and deploy rich Internet applications for the desktop. The result is a really slick user interface that just works.
From the desktop application you can send messages, links, files (up to 10MB) and create events that can go to individual contacts, all friends or the public in general.
What has become clear through applications like this is that if Twitter is to survive it better start playing catchup as Pownce and Jaiku are hot on their heels.
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September 19, 2007
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Wow! Surprised to see you got the desktop app up. It has never worked for me, might be our proxy though. But yeah, I like Pownce far more than I do Twitter, Jaiku and the rest - I just dont have enough interested SA mates using it religiously to keep me interested. Hopefully it will pick up.
http://pownce.com/wezzo
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September 19, 2007
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Wow! Surprised to see you got the desktop app up. It has never worked for me, might be our proxy though. But yeah, I like Pownce far more than I do Twitter, Jaiku and the rest - I just dont have enough interested SA mates using it religiously to keep me interested. Hopefully it will pick up.
http://pownce.com/wezzo
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September 19, 2007
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Yeah I actually wanted to say that I like Jaiku and the uptake seems better on Jaiku than with Pownce but personally Pownce just rocks.
The big issue with Pownce & Jaiku is uptake but if they had the exposure it would define the end of Twitter.
PS. Added you to my pownce http://pownce.com/justinhartman/
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September 19, 2007
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Yeah I actually wanted to say that I like Jaiku and the uptake seems better on Jaiku than with Pownce but personally Pownce just rocks.
The big issue with Pownce & Jaiku is uptake but if they had the exposure it would define the end of Twitter.
PS. Added you to my pownce http://pownce.com/justinhartman/
Visit My Website
September 19, 2007
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I think Pownce came out at a time when I had a number of options that take care of what Pownce does so it hasn’t appealed to me as a replacement for my existing tools. My personal preference is Jaiku because it is a lot easier for me to use. I set out my thoughts about Jaiku versus Twitter at http://tinyurl.com/yrommu and many of the same thoughts may apply to Pownce.
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September 19, 2007
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I think Pownce came out at a time when I had a number of options that take care of what Pownce does so it hasn't appealed to me as a replacement for my existing tools. My personal preference is Jaiku because it is a lot easier for me to use. I set out my thoughts about Jaiku versus Twitter at http://tinyurl.com/yrommu and many of the same thoughts may apply to Pownce.