Many know that I tinker in the social networking side of the Web 2.0 technology extravaganza. I have introduced several friends to Twitter, Pownce, Facebook, etc. In return a couple of these friends have introduced me to other things as well, which is part of the idea behind social networking. However, with all these sites and applications popping up everywhere, one only has but so much time in the day. For anyone who knows me, over the past several months my time as been a wee bit occupied. 
So to better organize my ‘geektime’ it would seem that I wil have to prioritize my activities. As you will notice, I have been blogging a bit more, and I plan to keep this up. I typically keep my Facebook account updated - it is just fun. However, the microbloging with Pownce and Twitter seem to be a bit redundant. So I have come to the conclusion that I need to pick one.
Twitter came first, and basically started the whole craze. It is centered around a webpage, multiple Twitter apps and getting updates to your mobile phone. I never really got into the mobile phone part and neither did any of my Twitter friends. So I found Twitterific (application), updated this blog with a nice little Tweet update box, and discovered PocketTweets for my iPhone. At times however, I wanted to do things a bit more, post more than 140 characters, or reply more easily to friends, or even post a picture I just took spontaneously with my iPhone to say look at this. Twitter really did not provide this experience and really it did not seem if the developers wanted it to either. But it would seem that I was not the only person thinking this. Kevin Rose and Leah Culver evidently were thinking similar thoughts, because along came Pownce.
Pownce builds on Twitter and takes it into a new direction. It is a web page, just like Twitter, and there is a desktop app based on Adobe Air. The best part is that you can create groups for your friends, you can send pictures, files, etc., links and even create events. So now when I want to say, checkout this website or look at this picture i can easily post it on Pownce. I can also limit to message or all or a subset of friends, and they can reply to just me with comments. So immediately signed up.
Well, it seems a bit redundant to post the same thing to both, and unlike others I do not see any different between what I would post to one or the other. I have noticed Veronica Belmont seems to differentiate between the two a bit. On the other hand it comes back to time, which is limited. So given this limitation, I have decided to Pownce rather the Tweet. If anyone has any other opinions on the difference between the two, please feel free to comment.
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I agree that time limited and that one must prioritize where they spend their time. I also find that it is helpful ti have some services integrated. I don’t like having yet another app to install be able to do something with a service. One thing I liked about Twitter is that I could integrate it with my IM. Tweets would come through my IM and I could tweet through IM as well. With so many services, it is hard to get a unified presence from people you want to stay connected with. I don’t spend time hanging out on Facebook so I dont’ see things as the happen. I am usually in email regularly so i can get updates that way. I’m even less in my Reader and get updates that way. I guess I’m more of a lurker because I don’t have methods by which to share things, except through Gmail and Reader. I think Beer Friday is a better way to stay connected than any social networking site!
Cheers!