The blogosphere was all abuzz this week with another case Twitter crashing. Apparently, the microblogging site wasn’t able to handle the flood of traffic they were receiving from Steve Jobs’ speech at this year’s Mac World.
And this wasn’t the first time Twitter has failed, and I doubt it will be the last. But this catastrophe serves as another opening for Twitter clones to gain some headway on the market leader.
One microblogging/social networking site that’s rapidly picking up some steam is Pownce. Started by Digg founder, Kevin Rose, and several other e-famous entrepreneurs, the site has been described as “Twitter on steroids”.
Like other microblogging sites, Pownce lets its members share their status and links with their network of friends.
Unlike Twitter, however, the site also offers the ability to share files by simply dragging items from their desktop. This is an invaluable resource for those of us who are accustomed to filling up our contacts’ email boxes with videos of a delusional Tom Cruise.
Users can also download a desktop application that lets them update and view their friends’ status without having to open up their browser. Now that’s service.
But with any new piece of technology, there’ll always be room for improvement, so here’s what I’m thinking so far. One of the most attractive aspects of Twitter is its tie-in with Facebook. Updating status on one of the two sites automatically pings both, offering a nice touch for us too lazy to constantly monitor all of our networks.
Unfortunately, as it stands now, Pownce does not offer this service. We’re seeing this integration of social networks happen more and more on the web each day, so if Pownce expects to keep up, this feature is a must.
The site is currently still in it’s Beta form, but don’t worry – it opens up to the public on January 22 with some additional features, including a new upcoming events page, improved desktop application and mobile events section.
But if you can’t wait any longer to try it out, you can visit Mashable for a free invite. Once you’ve got it all installed, add me as a friend (mghwom) and see what I’m doing at all times (don’t be scared).
Final review of Pownce Beta: awesome.
