Is Pownce Instant Messaging 2.0?
· Jul 2, 01:29 PM
During the past week or so, I had been hearing a lot of buzz surrounding the launch of a new web app called Pownce. Some were saying Pownce was another Twitter clone like Jaiku. But, I had yet to make a judgment due to the fact that Pownce is currently open only to users that have been invited by other users. This past weekend, however, I was able to wrangle myself an invite from Centernetworks. (Thanks Allen!) Let me just say, Pownce is not a Twitter clone. At first appearances, it does look like a clone of Twitter. In fact, unless you meditate on the potential of the use of this application, it is just another clone of Twitter. Twitter allows you to update your status (What are you doing?) from the web, or your mobile phone. All your "tweets" are public. You can also receive your friends' tweets via your mobile phone. (Although, this is sometimes annoying.)
Pownce, on the other hand, allows you to update your status by sending a message. It also allows you to share links, files, and events. The default is to send these messages/links/files/events to your friends ONLY. Hence, the Music Industry Fascists won't know that you shared a Killers song with your group of friends. Of course, you can create public posts as well.
Think of the possibilities of this application. The potential for project collaboration is enormous.
Hypothetical scenario:
Say Jerry and Elaine are working on a website together. Jerry lives in the U.S. Elaine lives in the U.K.
Before Pownce, Elaine had to send Jerry an e-mail saying, "Jerry, I need the logo for the ACME corporation completed and sent to me as soon as possible."
Jerry would then say, "Well, I'm working on it, what format do you want it in?"
Elaine says she wants the logo in all formats available.
Jerry then attaches all the files to an e-mail and sends it off.
Elaine e-mails Jerry and says, "Have you sent it? I haven't received anything yet."
Jerry says, "Umm, maybe the mail server's taking a while. If you don't get it in an hour, I'll send the message again."
Well, it turns out that Elaine has crappy e-mail service and only allows her to receive attachments totaling less than 1MB.
If Jerry and Elaine had Pownce, all these problems would be eliminated. No waiting to see if an e-mail went through. No guesswork.
Also, Jerry and Elaine can set Milestones and To-dos for themselves by utilizing the Events feature (which as of now, could use some improvement) in Pownce.
Sound Familiar?
If any of this sounds familiar, you're right. I think of Pownce as Instant Messaging 2.0.
We've been able to share files with Instant Messengers for years. In fact, it's one of the ways to bypass the annoying "Send it to my by e-mail" problems.
We've also been sharing links via Instant Messengers since the beginning.
Now, the folks at Pownce have taken the ideas of Instant Messaging and meshed them with the concepts of Twitter and Dropsend.
Now, your friends don't have to be online for you to send them a link. They don't have to be online for you to share the latest music. You don't have to have all your friends online to notify them of the party you're having next weekend.
If it's done with Pownce, you create one message, and it's sent to all your friends. The next time your friend logs onto Pownce, he sees your messages, files, events, etc.
Jeremy Keith had some very interesting things to say about Pownce. See his thoughts here.
Folks, Instant Messaging 2.0 IS here and it's name is Pownce.