10 Micro-Blogging Tools Compared
Micro-blogging is a term described by Wikipedia as "a form of blogging that allows users to write brief text updates (usually less than 200 characters) and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user". Several startups have witnessed phenomenal growth with micro-blogging services, most notably Twitter. In addition, numerous social networks - including Facebook and Bebo - have integrated similar status update services. The space is hot and it's still heating up. So let's take a look at 10 of the key players.
Twitter is the key player in space and the company name is used synonymously with micro-blogging. The free service allows users to post status updates via SMS, e-mail, or web browser. What's more, Twitter has an open platform allowing third party developers to build on top of it.
Pownce
Pownce recently launched a micro-blogging platform with added functionality. On top of messaging, users can quickly and easily share links, files, or events with any or all of his/her contacts. See our in-depth review of Pownce for more details.
Tumblr
Tumblr is a very clean, slick micro-blogging platform. Its focus is on simplicity and elegance. Similar to Pownce, users can share a variety of things, including text, photos, quotes, links, chats, or even videos.
Jaiku
Jaiku is considered by many to be Twitter's closest competitor. Most features and functions are similar. It will be interesting to see how the company plans to emerge from the shadow of its main rival.
MySay
MySay is what it says. Instead of text updates, users call MySay and say how they are doing today. Then, friends or family can listen via phone, e-mail, or the web.
Hictu
Hictu is a service for video microbloggers. A webcam and a mouse-click are all that is needed to create a videopost. This streamlined solution saves time and effort for traditional vloggers.
Moodmill
Moodmill is a way to express your mood or current state of being. A sliding scale facilitates this process, while a quick text update completes the personalized service.
Frazr
Frazr is also very similar to Twitter. The main difference is one of language. Frazr is focused primarily on the French and German markets.
IRateMyDay
IRateMyDay allows you the ability to (yes, you guessed it) rate your day on a scale of 'Worst' to 'Great'. Users can also provide a short text update to accompany the rating.
Emotionr
Emotionr is a way to gauge your happiness on a scale of 1-10 (decimals included). As the name touts, it is a way to express and share your emotions and feelings with those around you.
Conclusion
Micro-blogging isn't a short-term trend - it is here to stay. The evolution of blogging has spawned this new mini version of blogging and many are latching on. The simplicity and ability to post frequently are what attract most to the concept. We expect much faster adoption and mainstream penetration than blogging in general.
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This is a small subset of micro-blogs currently available. My last count was at 32...
There is a popular micro blogging service in Korea.
http://me2day.net
Do you think that Facebook status updates could be considered a type of microblogging platform?
Micro Blog is everywhere... actually, in China, there are so many microbsps already :)
hee hee - you are faster then me :)
But; dont forget the german "Baby" http://mambler.net
or http://boomloop.de
other twitter clone : http://www.yoyolog.de
http://www.pacmee.com . . and some more
good article. Facebook and MySpace, whatever becomes of them, must be recognised as bringing blogging and microblogging into the mainstream. When I try explain microblogging, the easiest example are the FB profiles.
Seriously, I see microblogging as the nexus for publising and communication: blogging and text/IM/email/phone. http://derek.abdinor.co.za/2007/08/18/microblogging-its-getting-hot/
I like the fact you showed me some new services, but where is the comparison? This was more of a paragraph from their about pages.
I'd like to see established hosted blogging providers to get into this space and also some kind of integration between existing blogging and the micro-blogging for this to gain momentum.
Sorry, but how could you meta microblogger brabblr ?
Russian micro-blogging:
http://www.mmm-tasty.ru/
http://smspr.ru/
I toyed with Twitter very briefly, found it dead-boring, though I'm probably not using it in the right way.
I'm absolutely enamored with Tumblr. It's fulfilling all my micro-blogging needs at the moment :). I'm at the point where I'm now trying to persuade other people to start one... A Tumblr Evangelist, I guess!
It's interesting to see these services listed here. However it would be great to actually compare these based on their features. A follow-up with a next article?
Did you forget GoZub? (http://gozub.com)
Here in Poland we have our Blip (the name stands for "I really like to stay in touch with my friends"): http://blip.pl/
It's amazingly convenient to use it via www, IM (Jabber or Polish Gadu-Gadu) or numerous APIs (eg. BlipFox for Firefox). We can also text our messages or send photos via MMSes.
Personally, I use it practically 24/7, besides having a traditional blog (OK, two blogs ^^).
correct link to Polish blip would be http://beta.blip.pl/
good usability;)
to be honest Polish Blip is not just miniblogging tool like twitter. It has similar functionality, but goes much farther with its social tools.
Hey, what about Tangler? OK, we are a forum, but people have been creating Tangles. Like a personal forum.
Like this one;
http://www.tangler.com/group/13345/discuss/
And my one;
http://www.tangler.com/group/2102/discuss/
And I blogged about using Tangler like a micro-blog here;
http://blog.tangler.com/?p=208
Big difference is that your readers can write their own posts by starting a new topic. Puts an interesting spin on things.
Other than Tangler, I find my Facebook feeds enough for quick updates on my friends. The social component where it only tells you news if more than one person does something.
While facebook and myspace status are a form of microblogging.. I think jaiku and twitter are the real deal, essentially these bare bones services do one thing and do it very well, without trying to be all thinks to all people (i.e. the proliferation of third party facebook applications. I enjoy twitter and jaiku a lot, they are both tapped into unique and idiosyncratic communities. If find both tools are quite useful as a means to network with friendly bloggers working in the same niche(s).
We've started a new microblogging platform called Blog Thot. It's still in heavy development and incomplete, but is technically live.
And another one, blabto.com
I had seen a post like this on other blog. But besides being longer, your list also made people comment about other similar services. So, thank you for the article, and thanks to the commentators above. :)
new microblogging service in indonesia: http://www.kronologger.com/
Why stress over the rest, Twitter is the app to beat