A good idea is a curious thing. The one who came up with it will get the chance to test it, and if it works, he will stay complacent and try to smooth the details out. In some instances, someone else comes along to improve things and sets up a similar service with bonuses. Now, let’s talk about Plurk and Twitter. Two web 2.0 services that are free to join and extremely addictive. Twitter was “it” until Plurk arrived. I’ve noticed that Twitter use has decreased among my own circle, while Plurk has been attracting more members. Both sites ask users a question, which basically means “what’s up with you.” You can tell the world what you’ve been doing, what you’re crazy about as of the moment, or what you plan to do today. You can start a conversation within your circle and read what others have to say in small windows.

•    In Twitter, updates (called “twits”), yours and others, are posted on your profile. People can follow you and they will see your updates, as well as your current followers, and people you have been following. You, in turn can follow the individuals that your followers are following, until you form a complicated community when everyone can see what everyone else is doing. It’s fun! In Twitter, you can send private messages, presented in the same way as updates, to others. Other systems have evolved as a result of this Twitter fandom, one of which is Twhirl. Numerous plugins have also been created to put your twitters on your blogs.

•    In Plurk, when other users want to read your updates, they may add you as a fan. They stay as your fans until you add them back, which will turn them into friends. A private plurk (message) may also be sent to a user you want to talk to privately. Like Twitter, there are many applications for plurk that you can use to enhance your messaging and community building experience.

The Main Differences Between Twitter and Plurk

•    The Update Management. We hate spammers, and we hate how updates at Twitter move off the list so easily in just a few hours because of some spammers.  Twitter displays updates one after the other, and place the newest items at the top, and the older ones at the bottom. How about if we want to view the older ones, do we have to go through the numbers at the bottom just t view this morning’s twits? Plurk presents user updates in a timeline, putting the newer items on the left. This timeline can be dragged across your screen to display other dates. You can even customize your viewing of messages and only show new comments, An option to not see a discussion about an update is also available and you can do this by “muting” if you don’t want to read any further comments on an update.

•    Discussing an update also becomes confusing in Twitter because you can reply to an update by typing the at sign before a user’s name and clicking reply. In Plurk, you can isolate one discussion (read: further comments) to one update, so that those who want to join in may do so.