Posted 8 November 2007, by Aaron
So, microblogging eh? What is it all about? To be honest with you, I haven’t got a clue. In the past I’ve been quite vocal about the pointlessness of Twitter, but something strange must have come over me today because I’ve joined the microblogging revolution.
Before you start deleting my RSS feed and cursing me for being a hypocrite, I haven’t joined Twitter… mainly because I think it’s got a bloody daft name. Instead I’ve joined Jaiku, which of course is a much more sensible name… (at least it doesn’t mean something rude).
Aside from the cool name, I was attracted to Jaiku because I’m a bit of a Google fan (Google acquired Jaiku a couple of months ago) plus I was interested in playing around with the mobile phone app (which I’ve subsequently found is blocked by my phone provider).
The long and short of all this is that I now have a Jaiku stream. Why not check it out or even subscribe to it? You’ll be able to find out fascinating up to the minute information about me, such as the fact I am home alone with the dog, and it is raining outside, and how joyous I am at the way Manchester United are playing at the moment.
Well, maybe all that isn’t quite so fascinating, that’s up to you to decide. I’m just fascinated in why people do this? Is microblogging just a tech toy for the geeks and nerds that are just too nerdy for good old fashioned blogging? Or is there something more to it?
A lot of high profile bloggers who have their heads screwed on a lot tighter than I do are leveraging some good use out of microblogging. The likes of Chris Garrett, Darren Rowse, and Ben Yoskovitz are all using services such as Twitter, Jaiku and Pownce to generate traffic and network.
I’m sceptical whether I’ll still be using Jaiku six months from now, but then I was also sceptical I’d still be writing miLienzo.com after all this time and here I am.
Are you a microblogger?
If you are, speak to me - I need to know what this is all about? How do you use microblogging? What benefits do you see from it? If you use Jaiku, please add me 
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Tags:Google, Jaiku, Microblogging, Pownce, Twitter
I really like Jaiku. I love the fact that you can incorporate all of your “lifestream” into one place. I haven’t actually used it much of course, but I don’t use any of them much.
I may try out Jaiku. I currently use Twitter. The few friends of mine that use microblogging use Twitter, so I figure I don’t have any reason to switch unless I can find something that posts to multiple accounts at once.
I can’t remember the last time I sent a text message from my mobile phone, never mind microblogging. You never know though, some time in the future I might just get with it.
So that’s what it’s called: micro-blogging. Well, without really knowing it, I’ve been micro-blogging away for a little while now. I use twitter (must be careful not to misspell that one); I was very dubious about it; in fact, I’d used it before and dumped it pretty quickly.
However, I can see the benefits now; if one is careful who one follows (don’t just follow every Tom Dick and Harry), then it can be a great resource. So now I’m instantly updated; I get news in real time–news that’s relevant to my interests, and…it’s kind of fun in a non-geeky way of course.
I use the twitterfox FF extension, so it’s pretty unobtrusive; I love it.
I like the fact that you can comment on things, but i’m still a huge pownce fan just because you can post photos and links etc, I had to make my jaiku private because when I signed up for the mobile thing I accidently put in the mobile number of someone I dont speak to anymore!
I added you though I do love the random things people come up with on these sevices!
Randa - The fact you can put all your various feeds into Jaiku is certainly very cool. I’m still not 100% sure many people actually care about what I’m listening to on Last FM right now, but hey if you do it’s all there on Jaiku.
Jake - I think there are various tools that post to both Twitter and Jaiku simultaneously, but you can actually put your twitter feed straight into Jaiku anyway.
Armen - You’re either with it or you’re not mate 
- I think I’m not - I hardly send texts too - but it cant hurt trying to be cool.
Johno - Hmmm… it seems lots of people I know are on Twitter, not Jaiku. I’m not sure if I can handle TWO of these things.
Han - Thanks for stopping by and commenting, and thanks for adding me. So do you use Jaiku, Twitter AND Pownce? That’s the height of geekyness
I use Twitter, but not Jaiku. Truth be told, I haven’t used Twitter much lately, but I do get a kick out of it while traveling.
I find a lot of good URLs on Twitter - people post breaking news there before it goes live on the Web.
I also find it’s a cool way to stay in touch with people that you otherwise couldn’t. And there’s not much in the way of pressure to track, follow, respond, etc. (like there may be with blogs.) So if you miss a whackload of Twitters, it’s OK. It’s intended to be quick bites of content…
I do find that once you ignore Twitter for awhile it’s hard to get back in. I’ve posted very little to Twitter in the last few weeks, and as a result I almost feel out of the gang…
Ben - Cheers for stopping by. Another Twitterer eh? I’m finding it hard to find ‘friends’ on Jaiku I may have to go back on my word, swallow my pride and become a Twitterer.
I never tried Jaiku because I was already in Twitter. Same reason I didn’t try Pownce (although I signed up.) I don’t have enough time for Twitter, let alone other services that are nearly identical.
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Randa Clay
8 November 2007, 11:34 pm