Scaling Back
I’ve been testing pretty much every social media site out there and it has been fun. The past few months have been a blur of microblogging and status updates on sites like Twitter, Plurk, Jaiku, Pownce, Brightkite, Tumblr, etc. It’s been working well (using Ping.FM to crosspost everything), but I’ve decided it’s now time to scale back a bit and go with just two sites for my updates — Twitter and Brightkite.
Why? Well, I never intended to keep on using all of these sites. I was merely testing the waters… I wanted to check it out firsthand. But no worries, I will continue testing new sites as they’re released (and there’s no shortage of that lately). Here’s where I stand for now…
I intend to use Twitter for all my microblogging *and* status updates. I may post an occasional update on Facebook, but it’s pretty much going to be just Twitter. I think this will give me the best flexibility to use the various Twitter clients out there, e.g. Twitterific, TweetDeck, Twittelator, Hahlo, TwitFire, and even just plain old Twitter.com.
With Brightkite I plan to continue using it for location related services, e.g. “checking in” when I visit places. For the most part, social networking with Brightkite has been light, but it seems like more people are using it lately. It will be neat if Brightkite really catches on… definitely some interesting possibilities for social networking.
As for the other sites I’m “abandoning”:
Plurk: Neat concept (threaded replies, timeline, karma, etc.), but Twitter is simply more popular. Hopefully Twitter implements similar features in the future.
Pownce: So much potential, but the majority of my friends are *not* using it. The file sharing concept is great, but now with Drop Box I don’t really need it.
Jaiku: Nice interface, but once again not many of my friends are using it. I do like the “channel” concept, but with Roomatic and TwitScoop for Twitter, it’s not that compelling anymore.
Tumblr: I still love it and will continue using it for experimental stuff, e.g. www.kw2dio.net. For now it’s just an informal life stream… pretty much a regurgitation of my FriendFeed (but prettier).
Facebook: I always use it. Although, the status updates were awkward when I was crossposting from Ping.FM (I never started my updates with “is” — primarily because I geared them for Twitter). In a nutshell, Facebook wins for social networking. Most of my friends are on it and the wave just keeps on getting bigger. For the record, I actually LIKE the “new” Facebook. There, I said it! 
Posterous: Although I don’t use it for status updates or microblogging, I thought I’d mention it anyway. Very simple to use and they’ve been adding new features very quickly. For now, Posterous is my informal moblog — pretty much the same pics I post from my iPhone to Flickr. In my eyes Posterous is very similar to Tumblr, but Tumblr wins for it’s custom theme capabilities (for now at least). Either way, I will continue using it.
Finally, with me scaling back all of the above I’m not sure where that puts Ping.FM in my ecosystem. Ping.FM has been awesome for posting to multiple sites simultaneously — fast, effective, and easy. However, I’m not certain I’ll be needing it now. Time will tell.
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