Jaiku, Twitter or Plurk

microblogging has been around for quite some time now. as the name speaks for itself, it is a micro blog, usually limited to 140 characters. and from this site, you can actually find a list of over 200 microblogging services! it really amazes that people actually start a new microblogging site when there already exists hundreds of them.

personally for me, i currently use jaiku, twitter and plurk. (without having to sign up, you can click on the links to see how they're like.) facebook also has a microblogging feature, aka status update. but they aren't really a dedicated microblogging site, so i'll leave them out of the picture for now.

so what do i like about the 3 services and which of them would be my favourite? let me just list out some of my personal pros and cons of their services. if the features are common within the 3, then i'll leave them out.

jaiku:
pros 
- has channels that allows users to join and post within that channel
- has integration with IM like Gtalk, LiveJournal, MSN (using IMified.com) ..etc
- has facebook status update integration
- has mobile SMS integration
- has the ability to add icons to your post
- able to read rss feeds and post them
- proper organisation of comments

cons
- registration via invite

twitter:
pros
-  allows html style badge for transparent background
- detailed post search
- has the ability to set device updates on specific users
- has facebook status update integration
- public registration

cons:
- says that it supports IM, but it doesn't
- all replies to a specific post are not viewable as a whole
- no channels/groups

plurk:
pros
- funky and dynamic timeline interface with ajax updates
- ability to set settings for each post (privacy, language, comments)
- ease of view for different kinds of posts (all, your own, private, those you responded to)
- has colourful qualifiers
- has emoticons
- able to post images/videos
- has cliques function (similar to jaiku's channels)
- has very logical commenting view and organisation
- able to view all post from everywhere with filters (eg from various country .. etc)
- constantly updating and adding of new features
- public registration

cons
- IM support has been under servicing ever since i joined
- karma to "force" you to keep updating

as you can tell from the list, twitter would be my least favourite, and it is. i really like the features of plurk and it's extremely intuitive interface. it's really fun to use and it gives a very good overview of your posts aka plurks. so is plurk my favourite of the lot? well, not exactly. i really like it, but it doesn't make it to my if-i-really-have-to-choose-one-it's-you list. and that would be jaiku.

why? for the main reason that it has good integration with IM, SMS and facebook. with these features, i'm able to send/receive posts/updates without having to log into the jaiku page. i can do this via my gtalk (or gmail) and sms. this is really cool because it also means that my darling can "sms me for free". for my end, i can sms for free using singtel/starhub web sms services. but for her, there isn't any free web service sms from my provider. as such, she could use jaiku to do that. neat trick rite? ;)

after being acquired by google, jaiku has removed their limited invites. so if anyone would like to use jaiku, just let me know and i'll send you an invite.