Plurk: Spot The Difference

When a new microblogging site comes along, we can’t help feeling that we’ve heard it all before, yet Plurk is a microblogging site with a difference. Let’s get the similarities out of the way first. Like other social media and social networking sites, you can add friends or have fans. You can also import friends from other social networks such as those on Twitter or your email contacts, and your updates are limited to 140 characters but that’s where the similarities end. Here are the differences:

1. The View

Most of the microblogging sites have a linear interface. That means the latest updates are at the top, with the others further down. Plurk has a unique timeline which moves left to right, with the latest entries to the left of your screen. It’s a strange interface at first, but it makes it easy to see what several people have been talking about recently. A scroll of the mouse wheel lets you move back in time to see what you have missed, and that’s far easier than the paged views on some microblogging sites.

2. The Conversation

Whenever you make an update on Plurk (updates are known as Plurks), all responses are stored with the original entry in a drop down box. That means you can easily see when people have replied to your plurk and add something new to the conversation. Each conversation has its own plurk page, which is handy for replurking. You can also use this to bookmark any favorite conversations. The result of this is that Plurk has a conversational feel, much more so than other microblogging services.

3. The Qualifiers

Qualifiers are verbs that form part of your status updates. There are several of them in different colors, or you can go freestyle. The built in qualifiers don’t count as part of your character limit, so you can actually say more in the same space.

4. The Karma

All your interactions on Plurk are rewarded with karma points, with 50 being the magic number. As your karma increases you can change your plurk icon, change the title of your profile page, and get cooler emoticons for use with your plurks. Once you get over 50, there’s not much point, but it’s fun to see the karma number rise and fall. Plurking regularly raises your karma; not plurking has the opposite effect.

5. The Friendship

Uniquely among microblogging services, on Plurk you can add someone as a friend without following their updates. That could be useful for sending private plurks. In addition, even if someone wants to add you as a friend, you can choose to add them as a fan. That means they can follow your updates, but you don’t have to follow theirs until you get to know them. Feel free to add me if you like it.

These are five ways in which Plurk is different from other microblogging sites. What other differences have you spotted?