In case you were waiting for it, Pownce no longer requires an invite to join. For some time, this has been a limiting factor toward wide spread adoption of this particular microblogging platform. Despite that, it has racked up quite a few impassioned users. Opening the doors will only bring it more success.
Microblogging — short entries formatted for multiple media types — is becoming more and more appealing to me. It is often too much trouble or just seems silly to post a single link, or one tiny picture, or a silly quote in my “blog”. While my writing here at revjim.net hasn’t been all that structured or well-thought as of late, that is sort of the goal with a site like this. Adding short posts in the middle of these well thought essays just doesn’t seem right. Microblogging is an answer to that.
As mainstream microblogging is a fairly new concept, there are really only two high profile contenders in this arena today: the above mentioned Pownce and Tumblr. While having an account on both is annoying, if you know enough people on each of the two platforms it just makes sense. But updating both on a regular basis just seems ridiculous. So, how to choose which one to adopt for my own purposes.
Instead of going with the most popular option, or the option that was around first, I’d prefer to weigh them by their merits and hope that the popularity will follow. There is a certain subset of features that both of these platforms have. I will not get into that list. Instead, here is a list of Features each platform has that the other does not, as well as a list of annoyances present in that platform.
First, some links: My Tumblr. My Pownce. (And My Twitter too.)
Filters. In Pownce, each note can be directed at the public, at all of your followers, at a subset of your followers, or at a single person. While this in some way starts to cross over into the “email” territory and, due to the lack of instant notification (outside of email notification) doesn’t offer any distinct advantages in that regard, the ability to be “private” in some way is certainly useful from time to time. Tumble does not have this feature.
Templates. With knowledge of HTML and CSS, Tumblr allows its users to format their Tumblelog in any way they can imagine. This is not possible with Pownce. A fairly extensive list of tags and a clean templating engine makes this a very flexible platform. This also means that including Google Analytics stats, generated content from other systems, and various widgets into your Tumblelog is entirely possible. With Pownce, if the feature wasn’t built for you, then it’s simply not available. In the event that you’re not so HTML-savvy, just like Pownce, pre-made templates are available too.
Comments. Part of what makes publishing on the web rewarding and fun is the response it creates. And comments are the easiest, most public way of getting that response. Pownce provides the ability to reply to any note built in. While Tumblr does not offer comments explicitly, Templates allow you all the control you need to integrate 3rd party commenting systems like Intense Debate or Disqus with ease. Comments are not the primary service being offered by these microblogging platforms and, because of that, they may not be as full featured as some of the 3rd party offerings. For some, like myself, this will be considered a PRO. For others, this will be considered a CON because, despite the features and flexibility, additional work is required to make it happen.
Content Types. Tumblr supports 7 different content types compared to Pownce’s 3. However, Pownce’s “Link” content type is smart enough to determine the use of popular media hosting services (like Flickr, YouTube, etc) and format those notes in a special way. However, if you use a service outside of those known services, Pownce offers nothing but a plain, boring link. Tumblr, on the other hand, allows for customization for each of these content types. While not as automated as Pownce, this allows for a lot more compatibility and customization.
RSS Reading. While both services produce RSS feeds of the content you create, Tumblr will read in RSS feeds and update your Tumblelog automatically when the RSS feed updates. Using some clever HTML/CSS tricks, you can even customize the way information from certain feeds looks when it is added.
Domain Customizing. It’s not really “useful”, but it sure is fun. Tumblr allows you to point a domain name (or a subdomain) at its servers giving you your own brand name even in the URL bar.
File Sending. While Tumblr will allow you to share Video, Photos with your followers, and will even allow you to upload some of these media types directly to their servers for sharing, Pownce will allow the sharing of any file. This additional freedom opens the gates to providing application downloads, entire folders of information in a zip file, torrents, and much, much more. Tumblr will allow you to post a link to anything, including the above mentioned media types, but you have to host the media yourself, which adds to the complexity.
Tags. Tumblr allows you to tag your posts. At this point, you can’t sort by them or filter by them. However, you can use these tags to format those posts in a special way. In the future, tags may offer a whole new set of features that Pownce doesn’t offer.
Conclusion!
If I need to share a file that Tumblr doesn’t host, I’m fully capable of uploading it myself and linking to it. And I’d prefer to use a feature-rich, centralized comment system instead of whatever little bit might be provided by the microblogging engine. And, being a hands-on, control-freak kind of guy, being able to format my media types in anyway that I desire trumps the little but of automation that Pownce provides in this arena. And, while I really, REALLY, really like the ability to filter who is reading what I’m sharing and be a bit more private from time to time, I probably wont use it all that often. So, with that, for me, Tumblr makes the most sense.
What about Twitter?
There seems to be a common misconception that Twitter is a microblogging platform and is in direct competition with the likes of pownce and tumblr. I’ve actually seen blog posts comparing Twitter with something and indicating “having posts longer than 140 characters” as a “pro” for the non-twitter system.
There are lots of different ways to use Twitter. Some of those ways come close to the same usage pattern you might see in Pownce or Tumblr. But, where it really excels, and what those other systems do not challenge, is as a personal mass communication tool. Twitter is a more accessible version of the “away message”. It’s a Facebook status outside of Facebook. It’s updateable via SMS, Instant Message, and even Email. No matter where I am, I can usually update Twitter. And, because Twitter also sends out SMS messages, I know that using it means that I’m updating lots of people in a very immediate way. This is far different from the way Tumblr or Pownce was meant to be used.
TTOW: Intense Debate
In this Tech Tip of the Week (TTOW, get it, almost seems like a feature, doesn’t it?), I will present, once again, Intense Debate, a centralized commenting system that has benefits for content authors and readers alike.
Earlier this year I looked at both Disqus and Intense Debate. I weighed each of their merits and drawbacks. I even had phone conversations with then CEO of Intense Debate, Tom Keller, in hopes of coming to an agreement about the future of Intense Debate. In the end, I finally decided on Disqus.
And now I’m changing my mind.
Comparison
Both services get the core right. You can leave comments on various blogs. Your reputation and comments are stored centrally (view my profile) and go with you from site to site. Threading is supported as is advanced comment moderation and spam control. The devil is in the details.
In the past 9 months, Disqus has added OpenID support. However, it was hacked on in such a poor fashion that it’s not even worth mentioning. Despite my complaints and the complaints of many others, this has not been fixed. Intense Debate already had working OpenID support that behaves as you’d expect, and that hasn’t changed.
Both Disqus and Intense Debate upped their plugin technology to allow moving from system to system that much easier. This shows great pride in their work on both sides and is commendable.
Intense Debate has added Reply By Email functionality. And, in fact, has done so in a lightly better way than Disqus because of the additional moderation options available directly from email. Disqus already had Reply By Email.
Intense Debate still looks nicer. Of course this is subjective. However, I feel that not only is the interface more attractive, it’s easier to use and easier to find what I’m looking for. Disqus has made some small improvements in this arena over the last 9 months, but it’s nothing drastic.
Intense Debate offers integration with Twitter and some really cool integration features with FriendFeed. The appear to have more integration ideas on the horizon. I notice little tiny things all the time. For instance, if I am logged into my blog but not logged into Intense Debate, some magic happens (is it OpenID based? or just plugin based?) and it automatically logs me in. That’s just smart.
Intense Debate was also recently brought into the Automattic family, the fine folks behind WordPress. This leads me to believe that Intense Debate will be the innovator of the two. Features and flexibility are what make tools like this successful and useful.
Intense Debate allows unregistered users to, not only comment, but receive notification of replies. Disqus claims they are adding this, but I haven’t seen it. Even though registration is a piece of cake and has lots of benefits, users are reluctant to fill out another signup sheet. I get that. So, with Intense Debate, they can still get notification of replies.
Disqus wins in only two areas.
First of all, Disqus has a “claim comments” feature. This is nice for those who have been leaving comments on Intense Debate enabled sites without registering and then finally decide to take the plunge. I’d like to see Intenese Debate enable this using both URLs and EMail addresses (both confirmed first, of course). Then as new sites bring their old comments into Intense Debate, I can claim the comments I’ve left there as well.
Secondly, Disqus seems to have a better uptime record. I’ve seen Disqus go down once. I’ve seen Intense Debate fail several times and, considering that I wasn’t using their service, I would imagine that means it probably happened even more often than I saw. However, their move to Automattic should certainly help this. And everyone has growing pains, I’m certainly not going to spend too much time harping on this unless it becomes a real problem.
So, with all of this considered, Intense Debate is the right tool for me right now. And I think it’s the right tool for you too.
Installation
If you have WordPress, installation could not be easier. You install a plugin, you answer a few questions, you sign up for an Intense Debate account, and you’re done. It automatically syncs all of your old comments into Intense Debate and keeps them synced just in case you decide to stop using it in the future.
Of course, my writing this is coming at a bad time. Because of their move to Automattic, Intense Debate is currently closed for adding new blogs to invite only. You can still sign up for an account, but you can’t install it on your blog without an invite code. I managed to get one from my friend Joel (who happens to run a very funny online comic called Hijinks Ensue) but I don’t think they are all that easy to come by. Worry not. Sign up for an account now and let me know your interest and, as soon as I can find some codes I’ll let you know. UPDATE (2008-11-12): IntenseDebate no longer requires an invite code. GO WILD!
Commenters, read this!
(Those of you reading this in LiveJournal, Facebook, or any of the other millions of places this gets syndicated to, you will of course, have to visit my actual site to see and use these features.)
Intense Debate works for you as much as it does for me. If you like a comment (or don’t) use the up (or down) arrows next to each one to promote them. Additionally, take a few seconds and sign up, or just use your OpenID (any Google, Yahoo, MSN, or LiveJournal account is an OpenID, among many others) and you can sign in to Intense Debate like that. The features is provides are well worth it and it only takes a few seconds. At the very least, be sure to supply your email address when you comment so you can get replies sent to you.