Paul Jacobson

Pownce has more to do with email than Twitter

twitter.pngI use most of the new social web services that come out (at least the more popular ones) at least once. I have active accounts on Twitter, Jaiku and Pownce and I have found it a bit difficult to consistently stick to one service so I have been using all 3 in varying degrees. Not too long ago I used Jaiku almost exclusively until I decided to rather use Jaiku as one of a couple lifestreaming services I use (others include Plaxo Pulse and FriendFeed).

I have tended to use Twitter as my primary “status” service and I have a bunch of contacts on Twitter already so it makes sense to keep using it. That being said, I really like Pownce (good design gets my attention) and I would like to find a place for it in my online repertoire that makes sense. A number of people cross-post to Twitter and Pownce simultaneously and if you see Pownce as a glorified Twitter then I suppose that makes sense.

Pownce and Twitter are both services I enjoy using and which feed into my lifestream services which are, in turn, intended to be convenient points of contact for people who want to keep tabs on what I am doing, saying and creating. So it doesn’t really make sense for me to have two identical streams of content running into my lifestreams.

pownce-logo-tagline.jpgAt the same time there is tension between Pownce and Twitter and the groups of people who regard their preferred service as the better one. I can see how people could think that Pownce is a Twitter/Jaiku competitor (I certainly did for a while) but I don’t believe that this perception is accurate. Pownce’s competitors, if anything, are email and perhaps even tumblelogs although Pownce is really more of a messaging platform than a tumblelog lite. I listened to an interview with Pownce founders Leah Culver and Daniel Burka earlier today because I really wanted to get to the real business model as a way of working out where Pownce fits into my toolkit. I recommend the interview because, in it, Leah talks about her vision of Pownce and it isn’t to replace Twitter. It is a pretty flexible messaging service and given a number of suggestions that IM is going to replace email as the preferred communication tool of choice, Pownce as a messaging platform makes a lot of sense to me. So you can use Pownce as a Twitter-style tool but try thinking of it more as an email-style tool.

Heck, people are even using Twitter in ways that it was not intended to be used. Twitter is designed to answer a single question: “What are you doing?”. It isn’t meant to be a general chat service but because of features like the @ reply thingy and even direct messages, that is what it is used for daily. Me? I’d rather open an IM session for a chat. At least then I can better track what people are saying to me.

Anyway, you can find me on Pownce here. Feel free to connect to me.


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8 responses to “Pownce has more to do with email than Twitter”

  1. Melissa avatar
    Melissa

    This is great – I’ve picked up that many ppl seem to be battling to make a distinction between the different apps. I think your point about Pownce being a more flexible messaging service puts things into perspective for me. I’m currently investigating it based on your recommendation and I do feel it has a wider range of services available. I’m suffering from ‘partial attention disorder’ (btw I’m in awe of your ability to keep up 🙂 ) but like you, I aim to try out as many social web services as possible so that I’m up to date. For me the main challenge is to find a consistent use for each while trying to balance my life – in between facebook, twitter, pownce, friendfeed, e-mails, IMs, RSS readers, work and friends and family it becomes pretty difficult!

    At the moment I’m throwing myself into as many tools as possible in order to find the right use for each and then stick with selected ones that I know I can balance and control and use responsibly and productively. What I’m trying to assist people with is choosing the service that works for them, that adds value, boosts productivity and ultimately manages time (basic RSS readers are a good case in point.) I have seen how you’re using each one differently, I’ll stick with it and see what happens.

    Reply
  2. Melissa avatar
    Melissa

    This is great – I’ve picked up that many ppl seem to be battling to make a distinction between the different apps. I think your point about Pownce being a more flexible messaging service puts things into perspective for me. I’m currently investigating it based on your recommendation and I do feel it has a wider range of services available. I’m suffering from ‘partial attention disorder’ (btw I’m in awe of your ability to keep up 🙂 ) but like you, I aim to try out as many social web services as possible so that I’m up to date. For me the main challenge is to find a consistent use for each while trying to balance my life – in between facebook, twitter, pownce, friendfeed, e-mails, IMs, RSS readers, work and friends and family it becomes pretty difficult!

    At the moment I’m throwing myself into as many tools as possible in order to find the right use for each and then stick with selected ones that I know I can balance and control and use responsibly and productively. What I’m trying to assist people with is choosing the service that works for them, that adds value, boosts productivity and ultimately manages time (basic RSS readers are a good case in point.) I have seen how you’re using each one differently, I’ll stick with it and see what happens.

    Reply
  3. Melissa avatar
    Melissa

    This is great – I’ve picked up that many ppl seem to be battling to make a distinction between the different apps. I think your point about Pownce being a more flexible messaging service puts things into perspective for me. I’m currently investigating it based on your recommendation and I do feel it has a wider range of services available. I’m suffering from ‘partial attention disorder’ (btw I’m in awe of your ability to keep up 🙂 ) but like you, I aim to try out as many social web services as possible so that I’m up to date. For me the main challenge is to find a consistent use for each while trying to balance my life – in between facebook, twitter, pownce, friendfeed, e-mails, IMs, RSS readers, work and friends and family it becomes pretty difficult!

    At the moment I’m throwing myself into as many tools as possible in order to find the right use for each and then stick with selected ones that I know I can balance and control and use responsibly and productively. What I’m trying to assist people with is choosing the service that works for them, that adds value, boosts productivity and ultimately manages time (basic RSS readers are a good case in point.) I have seen how you’re using each one differently, I’ll stick with it and see what happens.

    Reply
  4. Melissa avatar
    Melissa

    This is great – I've picked up that many ppl seem to be battling to make a distinction between the different apps. I think your point about Pownce being a more flexible messaging service puts things into perspective for me. I'm currently investigating it based on your recommendation and I do feel it has a wider range of services available. I'm suffering from 'partial attention disorder' (btw I'm in awe of your ability to keep up 🙂 ) but like you, I aim to try out as many social web services as possible so that I'm up to date. For me the main challenge is to find a consistent use for each while trying to balance my life – in between facebook, twitter, pownce, friendfeed, e-mails, IMs, RSS readers, work and friends and family it becomes pretty difficult!

    At the moment I'm throwing myself into as many tools as possible in order to find the right use for each and then stick with selected ones that I know I can balance and control and use responsibly and productively. What I'm trying to assist people with is choosing the service that works for them, that adds value, boosts productivity and ultimately manages time (basic RSS readers are a good case in point.) I have seen how you're using each one differently, I'll stick with it and see what happens.

    Reply
  5. Paul avatar
    Paul

    Hey Melissa

    I think the key thing is flexibility. Find the tools that work best for you and stick with those, at least until something better comes along. The sheer number of tools and ways to interact does pose a challenge. These tools are supposed to make our lives a little simpler and they only seem to complicate things.

    That being said, you need to try these tools out to determine which ones work and which ones don’t. That and thank goodness for lifestream apps!!

    Reply
  6. Paul avatar
    Paul

    Hey Melissa

    I think the key thing is flexibility. Find the tools that work best for you and stick with those, at least until something better comes along. The sheer number of tools and ways to interact does pose a challenge. These tools are supposed to make our lives a little simpler and they only seem to complicate things.

    That being said, you need to try these tools out to determine which ones work and which ones don’t. That and thank goodness for lifestream apps!!

    Reply
  7. Paul avatar
    Paul

    Hey Melissa

    I think the key thing is flexibility. Find the tools that work best for you and stick with those, at least until something better comes along. The sheer number of tools and ways to interact does pose a challenge. These tools are supposed to make our lives a little simpler and they only seem to complicate things.

    That being said, you need to try these tools out to determine which ones work and which ones don't. That and thank goodness for lifestream apps!!

    Reply
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