Webupon

Are you a fan of Twitter, the microblogging website that asks, “What are you doing?” If so, you’ve probably noticed the ever-increasing load-time of it’s pages and service. Word of Twitter has caught wind of businesses and persons as a service that allows you to tell your networked buddies what your doing whenever you please. As more and more people flock to Twitter, more and more people are punched in the nose by a long page load time and a run-of-the-mill website layout. Twitter seemed okay, that is, until I learned of a wonderful new service that is everything Twitter could have aspired to and more: Plurk.

Plurk is a microblogging website that’s been described as a synergy of Pownce and Twitter, sans all the chugging and isolation to one question (What are you doing?) Plurk has an attractive timeline design and a great color template. Wayne Smallman calls Plurk “more than a Twitter clone. Plurk is themed IM (Instant Messaging) for groups of people spread out on a time line,” (What is Plurk?). Plurk has a karma system, allowing users to grow and gain more freedom of customization and use as they participate and invite friends. The karma system encourages continuance of use and conversation amongst users.

Plurk has a very wide variety of features. Here are a select few:

• Whatever you want to say: Plurk is not isolated to the question “What are you doing?”, but it allows you to say or narrate whatever you want to say or do!
• Karma system: Plurk features a karma system which indirectly promotes conversation and site-utilization.
• Cliques: Groups in Twitter are what Cliques are in Plurk. Plurk allows you to easily segregate friends and associates into cliques.
• Timeline: A very attractive timeline design that allows one to not only view a large array of plurks, but also shift through timelines to see what went on two or three days in the past!
• Lag: If you’re coming off the boat from Twitter, for one, it must have taken the boat a long time to get here. Jokes aside, the lag of Twitter is not seen nearly as frequently as on Plurk.

If you don’t think it’s worth it to at least check out Plurk, think again, I checked out the site out of sheer curiousity and now plan to make a full migration to Plurk. Plurk is basically Twitter without the slow motion and with so much more freedom you can feel the wind against your bare face when you make the switch.