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Twitter’s problems, Pownce’s gain or FriendFeed’s opportunity?

by Tris Hussey on May 21st, 2008

Earlier today I say Mark Evan’s ponder getting back into the Pownce habit (which ironically is down/sluggish right now):

I’d really like to use Pownce because it has a richer set of features, including things such as the ability to share files. And while Twitter become the dominant player, Pownce continues to quietly make it ways as the second-place player that tries harder. The biggest challenge facing Pownce is there’s a raging party happening in Twitter’s backyard, and no one wants to leave a rockin’ party for a party with fewer people - even if the Twitter party gets out of hand from time to time.—A Chance for Pownce to Pounce? | Mark Evans

Which got me to thinking about Twitter, FriendFeed, Pownce and all of the other services we are tapping into.  Using Twhirl I can post to Pownce as well as Twitter, then both can be pulled into FriendFeed (maybe, I think that might be overkill on FF).

FriendFeed, which I’ve been waxing and waning on, is getting interesting to me not as the alternative to Twitter or Pownce, but the glue that might stick it all together.

Chris Brogan posted on FriendFeed a bit of frustration with Twitter and followed with a quick blog post on Twitter bashing, both of which is saw in my FriendFeed stream in Twhirl.

But could or should FriendFeed replace Pownce or Twitter?

No, I like Twitter.  Not great for conversations because if you keep hitting refresh on your API-based client, you will quickly max out your request limits.  FriendFeed seems like a better place for conversations, while Twitter for bursts of thought.

However, it’s not 360 yet.  The replies to a tweet and replies/comments are getting pulled together in FriendFeed.  Disjointed, but it’s early isn’t it.

I think both Pownce and Twitter will become like email.  It won’t matter which you pick because tools like FriendFeed will become either services (like now) or applications (I know we’re getting there, but I’m thinking like Outlook scale) to aggregate the information you want.

Right now FriendFeed needs some filtering and aggregating options, but I see FriendFeed becoming a portal.

Twitter and Pownce, gateways … now if Twitter and Pownce would freakin’ stabilize!

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