Websites like Twitter

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Twitter is not the only micro-blogging and social networking website. There many alternative websites that provide similar service without some of the problems plaguing Twitter. These websites are mostly free from Twitter spam and fake profiles because they are as yet not so well known. One of the best Twitter alternatives, and considered a potential Twitter killer, is Plurk:



Plurk has all the features of Twitter including real-time search, posting from mobile phones, and a timeline of posts. Unlike Twitter you can slide the timeline to an older period without changing pages. Plurk also has a Karma feature, which adds points if you post updates, and deducts points for spam or inactivity. Plurk is popular in the Philippines.

Jaiku is a micro-blogging website owned by Google. Jaiku badges can be embedded into your blogs or sites for displaying your posts. Replies to other's posts are on the same page, and not on your profile page as in Twitter. Updates can be sent via mobile phones or instant messaging. Google has stopped in-house developments on Jaiku but has made its source code open for others to develop.

Tumblr gives the functionality of a full blogging service. It has customized themes for profile pages, and allows you to post links, photos, video, and audio clips. Tumblr also lets you post audio messages with a phone call, but only to a US number.

Ping.fm is a useful service that lets you update all your social networking sites, including Twitter and Plurk, simultaneously. Ping.fm accepts text and image messages from mobile phones via MMS and SMS, through instant messaging, or by email and other applications.

FriendFeed is based around following all your social networking sites updates, including Twitter, and also the feeds of all your friends’ profiles. FriendFeed even lets you join groups with like-minded people. Another useful service is Twine that lets you create topic pages, with links text or videos, which others can follow.