Pownce goes live

Filed under: Internet, News, Web services, VoIP, Social Software

Pownce goes live

by Christina Warren Jan 22nd 2008

As of 12 AM PST, Pownce, the Twitter-esque social messaging tool created by Kevin Rose, Daniel Burka and Leah Culver, leaves private beta and becomes open to the public. Pownce became open to a limited group of users in June of 2007 and has thus far amassed 150,000 users.

Although the developer has repeatedly claimed that Pownce is "not a Twitter clone," it is hard to look at the two services and not see the similarities. Both offer a way to send a message to a large group of people at the same time and have similar friend/follower structures.

The differences are that while Twitter can be highly integrated with mobile devices and SMS messaging, Pownce can only be used from the web site or the Adobe AIR client. However, Pownce allows user the ability to share files (up to 10 MB for free users, 100 MB for Premium users), invitations and set-up personalized groups. When Pownce goes live, it will also make it easy to import friends from services like Twitter, Facebook and Flickr.

Pownce's Main Messaging Page

Several of us here at DownloadSquad have been playing with Pownce on and off for quite some time, and while we think the service show considerable promise, Twitter still has our heart. The inability to use Pownce from an IM client or SMS outweigh the benefits of being able to share a file (we prefer e-mail or a link to a service like box.net anyway) or send out a group invitation. We do like the grouping feature and really wish that Twitter would implement somethign similar.

In the end, for us, it will all come down to what service our friends are using. As of right now, all of our friends are on Twitter; however, now that Pownce is open to the public, that could change. Check out Pownce and tell us what you think.

Tags: pownce, social messaging, SocialMessaging, twitter

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

moby said 2:12AM on 1-22-2008

Good idea but poor implementation. I've been a member for months and they still haven't fixed a simple upload bug in the desktop program. They also charge for extended service which is still in Beta. If Twitter were smart they'd incorporate file sharing. It would obliterate Pownce.

I do have to say though, Pownce doesn't have as many outages as Twitter.

Julian Bond said 5:07AM on 1-22-2008

No RSS feed for friend's updates? No comment.

bert said 6:03AM on 1-22-2008

Signed up months ago, I dont really see the point of the service. All I tend to see is people boasting about how much electonics they have in their desk. Only reason i joined was leah is pretty hot!

Franklin said 9:17AM on 1-22-2008

Leah looks like Veronica Mars! :)

Er, what is this Pownce meant to be used for again?

Insomnic said 9:48AM on 1-22-2008

@Julian - You can sign up for RSS feeds for friends or yourself. Look for the little RSS icon on their page.

There is also a mobile version of Pownce that works pretty well at m.pownce.com.

Pownce works well for handling multimedia that you want to share and also works as a launch pad for your other social services since you can provide links to your other social profiles and IM very easily. It also has better security/privacy options than Twitter.

You do run into the problem of who is using it and who isn't though and twitter has a big following. I like mixing the two together using twitterfeed and allowing my pownces to show up in twitter in order to share YouTube and photos since they automatically get embedded in the message on the page instead of only getting a tinyurl link.

I think that Pownce will definitely be a real contender to Twitter now that it has gone public. Hopefully Pownce will find a way to make it more obvious why it's useful. I didn't find the full usefulness of it until I gave it a real chance.

Zacharias said 10:29AM on 1-22-2008

Wow, Pownce! I thought everyone forgot about it. The other day, TechCrunch, today DownloadSquad. That brown bomber!

Seven months ago, Uncov.... Six months ago, I wrote about it. I don't get why anyone should care.

http://www.bsgeek.com/2007/06/29/pownce/

GoOrange said 10:56AM on 1-22-2008

A friend of mine told me about Pownce and made me sign up. I received my beta invite, added him, and haven't heard from him since. Sigh.

I just don't get Pownce. Twitter I get - it's easy to create an account, follow a person or two, discover more people through them, have people discover your, and quickly your on your way to microblogging. Pownce - I haven't quite figured out yet.

I think Pownce could use a good "getting started" section with screenshots, tutorials and maybe even a video demo. Make it look exciting and fun to use.

Right now I think Twitter is just seeing the tip of the iceberg. I predict within a year it will expand its functionality greatly and the userbase will go through the roof.

I'm not writing Pownce off, I think they need to get their act together a bit more before it gives Twitter a run for its money.

Mike Cohen said 11:12AM on 1-22-2008

I've been on Pownce for a few months and I almost never use it. The lack of SMS support and being forced to either use the website or the ugly bloated AIR client make it a lot less useful than Flickr.

If they ever add SMS, an improved API for third party clients, and RSS feeds I'll start using it.

Insomnic said 12:28PM on 1-22-2008

They do have RSS feeds, they just need to make them more obvious. The new client which was released today as well is much better than the betas.

kingkool68 said 2:23PM on 1-22-2008

I must say I prefer the visual look of Pownce, but it is a ghost town over there.

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