After reading Ciaran’s excellent post “A Few Things That Irk Me About Plurk,” I made the offhand comment that if I were going to abandon Twitter (or if, as seems more likely, Twitter’s technical problems result in a final, Hindenburg-like crash) I would most likely move to Pownce. In fact, the only reason I use Twitter and not Pownce can be summed up with the quote I stole from someone else and used in my comment to Ciaran: “The only problem with Pownce is that everyone is on Twitter.”
Rebecca asked me if I could go into more detail about what I like about Pownce. Truthfully, I think the short and sweet version is that compared to Twitter, which has become a de facto IM client, Pownce is designed for true microblogging, including embedded audio, video, and fully-viewable links (and considering how many times I’ve been rickrolled in the last year, that is no small consideration).
One thing that has always bugged me about Twitter is that they limit you to one website for your profile link. Considering anyone who is on Twitter probably has a minimum of three fairly active social media profiles, including potentially multiple blogs, it always seemed ridiculous to me that you had to pick just one as “your website.”
On Pownce, you can include a link (with appropriate iconography) to as many social media profiles as you like, including multiple blogs in your profile sidebar (just as you’d expect in an ordinary blog). Pownce allows you to pack a lot of info into your profile sidebar, and yet it’s still nowhere near the train-wreck clutter of Myspace. And despite allowing a full range of media in posts, it doesn’t devolve into the app-riddled mess of most Facebook profiles.
For an example of this, check community manager Ariel Waldman’s public profile. And oooo, look! There’s also those threaded, blog-like comment conversations everyone is so excited about on Plurk. Minus the disturbing headless dog and bizarre horizontal scroll (because suddenly, people LOVE horizontally scrolling? But I digress).
You have to upgrade for full profile customization outside their pre-set themes, but I tend to think that’s probably a good thing. (Once again, see Myspace for a counterexample.)
When Pownce first debuted in closed beta, evidently friend-finding was a bit of a pain, but they’ve since rectified that situation, allowing you to search for your existing friends from other social nets or webmail address books.
And remember those Groups that everyone loves on FriendFeed and thinks will be the bees knees whenever Twitter possibly-maybe-someday decides to add that functionality (assuming they get the whole “consistent uptime” thing mastered eventually)? Pownce already has it. (Although it’s not as nicely implemented as Ma.gnolia’s Groups, but ma.gnolia is a different animal altogether.)
One big early complaint about Pownce last year during the closed beta was the lack of mobile/SMS accessibility, but again, that’s been addressed in the form of a dedicated mobile version of the site, and 3rd party apps like hellotxt.com and Pownce IM that allow for SMS posting.
Lastly, let’s look at the issue of advertising. There’s advertising on Pownce, but for a measly $20 a year for a Pro account, you can ditch it, as well as getting expanded functionality and customization. And personally, I find the fact that they’ve actually given some thought to monetization from the outset reassuring.
So why haven’t people moved from Twitter to Pownce in droves during the most recent downtime frustrations?
My personal theory is that Pownce’s extended closed beta, which everyone hailed as brilliant marketing, backfired. Badly. Don’t get me wrong; I find the idea of doing proper QA and beta testing refreshingly practical. But from a marketing standpoint, the idea of the “invite only beta” was that it would create a “premium, exclusive” brand positioning for the service when compared to Twitter. If by “exclusive” they meant “only a tiny number of people will end up actually using it,” then mission accomplished, folks.
Pownce wasted the fleeting attention of the “Shiny Toy Syndrome” crowd on a period when the service wasn’t completely functional, and when the masses that follow those shiny toy lovers couldn’t get access to the service. So while the Beta testers were critiquing from behind the velvet rope, most users were getting building a nice entrenched community on Twitter, and figuring out workarounds for its technical shortcomings.
Twitter was the flawed-but-authentic “best friend” who’s almost always available, while Pownce was the unattainable cheerleader/football captain. There was a brief “prom night” when the site opened to the public and everyone could satisfy their curiosity, but by that point, it was too late. Most folks had already fallen for Twitter.
So aside from a marketing theory pulled from cheesy teen movies, I do think it’s time to take a second look at Pownce, if for no other reason than as a Plan B for when Twitter realizes we’re all too shallow and superficial for her, and dumps us for a nerdy white label social networking startup that can bring home the Benjamins.
Kat French is the Social Media Manager at Doe Anderson, one of the nation’s oldest advertising agencies. In addition to working with clients, she blogs with boss Jason Falls at SocialMediaExplorer and on her personal blog, Internet-Bard. And for the record, she was both exceptionally nerdy AND a cheerleader back in school.
