A few months back I started using the open source micro blogging service, Identi.ca. It was the open-source alternative for Twitter. I have since signed up for Twitter as it is heavily supported by other services I use such as Linkedin and Tumblr. There is also a large community using Twitter and without an account I was missing out on contacting people I may know.

Differences between Identi.ca and Twitter

Twitter’s a bit different to Identica, it takes some getting used to. What I like about Identi.ca is that you can go to the homepage of the site and see what anyone in the whole community has been denting about in real time. You can tag your profile so it’s easy for people with similar interests to stumble across it to learn a bit more about you. You can also join groups on Identica and write messages to a group, allowing all followers of the group to receive your message even though they may not be following you directly. This makes message integration a whole lot more effective. Another plus is the small size of Identi.ca’s community compared to Twitter. It makes it easy to find and connect with people without cluttering too much of your home page. The community on Identica is great for me as most groups and messages are IT related and dents are usually insightful. I rarely see anything like “I just came back from the gym” on there.

But still, I opened up a Twitter account.

Twitter’s been around for longer, has more coverage and credibility. Most candidates running in national elections around the world use twitter during their campaigns to engage with the public. Organisations use it as a feedback tool, influential public figures also let you into their lives by the way of Twitter.

On Twitter, I couldn’t get the same username that I have for identica so I had to get creative as well as settle for something else. One plus is that Identica provides support for Twitter meaning that if I post something on Identica, it appears on my twitter page almost instantly. Now that Linkedin provide integration with Twitter, every time I send a message on Identica (which automatically gets published in Twitter as well) Twitter then sends the exact message to my Linkedin status on my profile there. All I have to do is remember to stick “#in” somewhere in the message.

Functionality

With Twitter/Identica, the functionality is only as good as the size and activity of your network. If you aren’t using Twitter to communicate events between close friends then, it’s usefulness becomes limited. On the same note, if you network isn’t using Twitter at the same pace you are then it becomes a bit irrelevant. I think that as long as the community continues to grow, Twitter will have an ever important presence on the internet.

Microblogging is a great service that fits between facebook or a blog. It doesn’t have to get too personal as you can set your profile to private. You also don’t need to invest a lot of time or effort as a blog would require. Another bonus is that it’s free.

Call me a nerd but I think that ipods, blackberry(s), wi, ps3, psp, xbox, HD LCD/LED, all become boring when all I really need to kill some time is an internet connection and access to Twitter and emails.

http://identi.ca/rbravo
http://twitter.com/rbravonet

The other night I was convinced that I found a meaning to all this web 2.0 publishing. So here are my thoughts on what you can use each publishing service for.

Blogging: Here is where one could post an article of medium or long length. The emphasis here is placed more on content than design. A blog is where text occupies most of the room unless you intend to have a photo blog. For photographers, services such as deviantart and flickr might be a better place to publish.

Microblogging: This can offer variuos uses. One could use this like an sms service to communicate amongst friends. It can be used for status updates – for when new blogposts have been uploaded, for travellers, or event announcements. I personally use it to post what obstacles or experiences arise during the week and also to drop in a lot of one-sentence opinions.

While I was using these two services I noticed there was a gap of information that did not qualitfy for either service. I would sometimes have something to say that was longer that 2 sentences but too short or insignificant for a blog post. I don’t wish to jam this site with every random thought so I was lucky to stumble upon tumble blogs.

Tumbleblogs (or tumble logs): – A place where you can express yourself with not so many words. Mix it up a bit by posting quotes, links, pictures, audio files, videos, or text. Definitely more laid back and the variety of options makes it more personal as you can capture many interests through these expressions. Someone who views my tumble blog would be able to know what music I like, what videos I enjoy, what objects I like to take photos of, what quotes inspire me and what I have to say when given more than 140 chars.

Summary
To sum it all up, here is my opinion on how to use each service.

Use your blog to post  articles (or long opinion pieces) that may impress or interest colleagues, people in your industry, or enthusiasts on that subject matter. A bit of research before posting is always recommended. Weekly updates are adequate for this medium

Use your micro-blogging account to be updated on people who influence you. Post important updates or links that might interest the people that follow you. Various daily updates are usually the norm when used well.

Use your tumble blog to express the personal things that matter to you the most. Things such as an inspiring quote, a picture of your pet, a video or audio clip of your favourite song, any photos that you think are worth sharing. Frequency of updates for this medium is entirely personal. I post daily to always express something worth reflecting on.

All three services have a niche and a use for today’s bloggers. Here are my other blogs to see how I have used them:
http://identi.ca/rbravo
http://rbravo.tumblr.com

http://identi.ca

When it comes to microblogging, a few services come to mind. These include; Twitter, Pownce, Jaiku and even Plurk. After doing a brief study of microblogging providers, identi.ca became my choice.

Identi.ca was launched in July 2008 and it has a similar interface to twitter. The reason I chose Identi.ca over twitter was primarily because the nick I was after was taken and it looked like a solid alternative. One aspect that appealed to me was that it runs on an opensource platform. I am not the best person to persuade people to use open-source alternatives over commercial service providers so I post Carsten Norgaard’s post on the article: status.net coming soon.

CarstenBN – April 2nd, 2009

Matt:
On Twitter the information simply exists on Twitter, they are the central where things are going on.
With decentralized Microblogging like OpenMicroBlogging, Laconica/identi.ca, etc., you can be registered at one community and yet get in touch with people on other communities (which would be compared to being registered at Twitter but being able to microblog with everyone using Jaiku).
Compared to Twitter, what you also get is features for socializing that that service doesn’t currently have properly implemented: message tags, groups and profile tags.
Finally, there’s no confusion about who owns the posted content on these services, or mostly isn’t. For example on identi.ca content is distributed through a Creative Commons license, meaning you own it but others can use it, whereas Facebook for a short while had it made so they owned all the content even if you removed what you posted. Who owns Twitter’t content? I don’t know.

I think identi.ca is a functional alternative to twitter. If you don’t have a microblogging account and are thinking of getting one, consider identi.ca as an option. I find that twitter like facebook has more of a social and informal aspect about them. I feel more comfortable asking people in a room whether they have an identi.ca account rather than a twitter account but that’s just me.

Here is the link to my account: http://identi.ca/rbravo