williamhartz.com/blog

Click here to try out Plurk.

So the Internets have been all abuzz for the past 48 or so hours with this new, or new-to-us, website called “Plurk.” I heard about it first on Twitter and even Pownce from many people that I am following, and so I decided to check it out. Upon first inspection of the main page, it seems to be a Twitter-like website. I figured I’d sign up just to see what it’s like.

So you sign up and log in and there’s a screen that has a somewhat common 140-character box in which to enter an update, or a Plurk as it has been taken to be called. Sounds familiar so far. Well, Plurk has a little drop down box associated with the text box in which you can select a modifier (is, was, feels, thinks, has, etc). In essence you select the modifier and enter your update and get something along the lines as “williamhartz thinks that most squirrels are crafty and up to no good.” Something to that effect. And therein is your Plurk. Sounds easy enough, right? Feels like Twitter but with a reminiscing touch of the old “is” of Facebook status lore. I kinda like it.

And then you see what really makes Plurk different from other Twitter-like websites. The timeline. Your plurk is entered onto a timeline, which looks like a stream or river of time flowing across the screen. It is placed at a random spot that matches up with a timestamp at the base of the stream. The plurks of those you are following also appear along side your plurkstream. And herein lies the first oddity of Plurk. I understand the timeline, but I don’t get it. The plurks scroll from right to left, with the newest being on the left and the oldest on the right. They are placed at what seems like a random place on the timeline, and when bunched with “everyone’s” plurks, it feels easy to get lost in it all. It seems a bit unorganized. I mean, I understand what they were going for, and I do think it’s cool to see all the updates in a space-time as to really give you an idea for when things occurred. It definitely is a nice new take on the common timestamp employed by most other websites. But it feels confusing. Maybe it’s because it’s new. Maybe because it’s a bad idea.

Then there are the replies. The plurk replies are also something I love-hate. We’re all familiar with the @replies of Twitter, and they work for the most part. The replies in plurk act sort of like blog comments, placed beneath the plurk they reference. They appear in a little window that extends from the plurk when you click on it. I like how all the replies are grouped together, but when it’s all put together, it feels a bit overwhelming. A little icon notifies you of all replies you have yet to read from all your plurks in the stream. When your friend list is fully populated, I can see this being really frustrating…. “You have 10464 new updates to read.” So, the reply/comment system feels right, but I don’t think it will work all that well when used in real life.

Then there’s the decapitated dog with exposed vertebrae… I mean….. really? The scaryfish isn’t too appealing either.

Oh, and let’s not forget Plurk Karma. It’s an ingenious little creation they’ve put on the page to create addiction and keep people coming back. And it works. Karma is a meaningless number based on some mathematical formula combining your posted plurks, replies, friends invited, etc. The more you use it, the higher your karma is rated. And they have arbitrary levels of karma for you to aspire too. I have no idea how it really works, but there was a sort of brief excitement and personal party I threw when I reached a karma of 10, and held anticipation for when I break level 2 karma… 20-points. Kudos to you, Plurk People, for finding the little things that will draw us back.

One last gripe, Plurk already seems to be broken. On their blog they seem to attribute this to the fact that Leo Laporte is now a Plurker, and Leo has a way of breaking any website he goes to as everyone follows him there. Last night both Twitter and Plurk were broke at the same time. Talk about frustrating. On top of that, Plurk seems to hate some of my friends, not allowing them to do things such as updating their profile. It took several tries for them to even get a picture uploaded. Not cool, Plurk. Why do you hate my friends?

Don’t get me wrong… it’s a cool little site. I’m just not sure it handles everything the right way to take over the market for the kind of site it is. Things feel a bit foreign and weird to me, though it is still a bit addictive. Perhaps that’s only because it’s new and shiny though. But what do I know? Maybe this is the next big thing. I just don’t see it dethroning Twitter. I mean, yeah, Twitter has it’s problems… ok, a lot of problems. Twitter is like the child who, though you give them everything you’ve got, still spits in your face and tells you that they hate you, but you love them just the same despite their abuse and neglect and storming off in a hissy fit, leaving you standing there wondering what happened. No, I think we are well addicted to Twitter and the simple way it handles the process… when it works. I don’t see a mass migration away anytime soon.

I will say that the mobile version of Plurk is pretty nice. I was playing with it on my iPhone earlier today and if felt a bit more natural than the big website. Maybe it was the lack of plurk stream.

Anyway, feel free to check it out, even if just to experiment with it. Here’s an invite link for all of you.

And follow me on Twitter or on Plurk.

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