banannie

New kid on the block, Plurk, seems to be either loved or hated. With Twitter tragically borked over the past couple of weeks, I’ve found myself on Plurk more and more, and Twitter less and less. Twitter, when it works, is still my social network of choice. Plurk is quite different, and doesn’t have some of the basic functionalities that I’ve used on Twitter, such as SMS & tracking. But then, Twitter doesn’t have those functionalities lately either.

What Plurk does have is a fun, different interface. The timeline scrolls horizontally, with recent posts on the left. Replies to posts are self-contained in little Ajax boxes, and each post has a link to its own page where replies can be read as well. There’s also a mobile version that is more traditionally vertical, and users with web-enabled devices, as well as those who don’t like doing the horizontal bop scroll, use it.

Like everything else, it takes getting used to, and it takes a routine. I thought I’d post mine in case it can help others who want to try to use Plurk more.

My Plurk Routine

When I first log into Plurk in the morning I click on the drop down box on the lower right side of the timeline. I look at “only my plurks” to see if anyone has replied to them overnight, and then I check “only private plurks” for replies as well. If there’s a specific topic I’m interested in I might do a search using the recently added search function. I can also search for my username in case I popped up in conversation while I was gone . Finally I go back to “friends and my plurks” (which annoys me grammatically but whatever…)

I head over to the box on the lower left to read new reponses. If my friends have been especially prolific overnight I go ahead and click Mark all as Read in the box on the lower left. But if the number isn’t too large I’ll scroll back through the past and click on threads that look interesting.

Now I’m all caught up. I might pop in and say good morning to some friends, post something myself, or just get on with my day away from Plurk. Later when I come back, it’s usually easy to scroll back a bit in the timeline to see what’s going on, or just click on the “new responses” box to narrow it down to active conversations.

Grouping, or “Cliques”

First, let me say that the use of the term “cliques” for groups is evidence to me that Plurk was not created for business.
Grouping, a feature many have wanted in Twitter forever, is a user-side feature. You can add your friends into cliques so that you can post only to that group of friends, but they don’t join your clique. Responses to the original post are seen only by clique members. A post to a clique is a group private message. I have two cliques, one for other Plurkers from New Jersey, and one for my colleagues from the Push My Follow podcast.

Karma is stupid

Karma is awarded, and taken away, in Plurk depending on your usage. No one seems to fully understand the algorithm used, and a lot of people would love to see Plurk do away with Karma completely. Some even refuse to use the service because of it. The main issue appears to be that Karma is tied to features such as new smileys and the ability to change your username.

Personally, I don’t take Karma seriously. You can link to external images so if smileys matter, grab a handful and upload them to a Photobucket account you can link to. I generally ignore my Karma, and never take note of other users’ Karma. I don’t think it affects my use of the service at all, it’s just an occasionally fun plaything.

A note about quantity

Plurk is not Twitter. It isn’t possible to keep up with hundreds of friends on Plurk. Of course, like all services, not all of the people you friend will actually post. But I’ve found it useful to only friend people who I know from elsewhere, adding new people as I get to know them. I don’t automatically accept friend requests from strangers.

Even among those I know, I admit I turn off some in the timeline (a great little feature.) I follow even less in IM, since if I’m using IM (when it’s working) it’s usually because I’m busy and want minimal interruptions.

Plurk is still playtime for me. I’m sure there must be some way for a business or freelancer to get some value from it, but it’s really not built for that. More and more I use FriendFeed to keep track of my social media friends, and as more of the conversation moves there the value is increasing.

So, Twitter = broken. FriendFeed = useful. Plurk = fun.