I wanted to love Pownce but it sucks. Well, not suck, there is just no there, there, which might be worse. All it is is a rethink of a BBS, a forum, boards. Twitter is safe, for now. I love you, Twitter, for now.
“Once I started playing around in Pownce, I realized that while Pownce was more visually appealing to me, Twitter just brought the goods. The simplicity of the solution, and the fact that I had already made the investment of adding a bunch of my core “friends” in, was enough to convince me that Twitter was in fact better for me. In the end, it’s really about usefulness and time not wasted. Twitter got there first, and kept it simple. Therefore, they win.” Via Jim Kukral
There is very little innovation there besides turning a tool like phpBB on its side, turning it from hierarchical to streaming. But it is not a stream and it is also not a forum, which offers useful tools such as “read all posts since last visit.”
Threaded replies are cool and so are file attachments, but they’re not cool enough. Pownce isn’t innovative, it is just a reinterpretation.
Twitter is superior at doing Twitter than either Pownce or Jaiku, and Facebook is better at doing Facebook than Pownce. I am Pownce member 954 and I got a huge spike of friends, 105, and now only a couple folks keep my entire “Pownce experience” alive.
I just received 6 more invites, so pop me an email if you would like to try it out yourself.
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I was one of the very early people on Pownce but I have never found it useful or fun. Twitter is both for me.
Twitter is everywhere I am; Pownce is not. Twitter is a virtual water cooler; Pownce is the bulletin board in the hall.
I have met up with or talked on the phone with people I found through Twitter. I’ve hired someone to do a website that I met through Twitter. I’ve made and received business referrals because of Twitter. I’ve been able to make connections with industry leaders through Twitter. And I have a heck of a lot of fun expressing myself in 140-character spurts.
Only one question, Chris: why aren’t you following me on Twitter. :-)
Connie! You’re killing me! I would love to!
Time’s wasting. Jump on my Twitter bandwagon. :-)
I don’t know what your Twitter ID is… that’s what I was getting at, actually :)
Mouse over my name, dude. I left you a clue. :-)
“In the end, its really about usefulness and time not wasted” i’ll second that. I had interest in trying Pownce, but the time and commitment it takes to build a new profile and learn a new community. too much time for an uncertain value. although, I still have an itch to try it out.
Julia, if you need an account, I have 6 new invites. Let me know.
Have to say I think Pownce is superior. Just a lot more fun…
I believe that it’s about what you need: if you want simplicity, there’s Twitter, if you want to be up-to-date with everybody about all your RSS-stuff, there’s Jaiku. I’m still searching the black cable in Pownce. Let’s see how it does.
Geoff, what do you like about it? Why more fun?
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