Will Twitter Survive SXSW ?

Here we are on the eve of the ever ever growing in popularity SXSW conference in Austin, TX.  Last year the darling of the dance was our favorite, yet fickle, micro-blogging platform twitter.

Over the last year, Twitter has seen exponential growth and experienced the growing pains that go along with that growth.  We have seen events in the recent past take Twitter to its knees and many fear that may happen again as we get ready for SXSW.  CenterNetworks had a good post on Twitter’s preparations for the event.

Frankly, I think this may be a make or break week for Twitter.  Many of there biggest fans will be at the conference and be wanting full and unfettered use of Twitter to get news out.  This same group is and can be a very fickle group whose loyalties will wane as quickly as they come.  If Twitter hiccups this week, it may be their last.  I think the likes of Pownce, fresh off the release of their new API, can pose a serious threat to Twitter this very week if things do not go smoothly.

So here you go Twitter, here is your big shot to step up and prove all the naysayers wrong.  Personally, I am preparing for the quick switch over to Pownce, which has been made all the easier with their new API.  Good luck twitter, I think you will need it.

Will Pownce’s New API Finally Battle Twitter?

As many of us Twitter users are aware, it can be a fickle experience at best.  Our alternative has become Pownce in those bleak times of Twitter outages.  Many have often wondered why Pownce has not given Twitter a little better run for its $$.  I mean Pownce has some great features that Twitter does not, like the ability to post events, notes, links, and share files.  The common argument that had Twitter always winning out was its API that developers have used to their advantage to give users so many choices.

Well that may change now.  On Thursday, Pownce announced the release of API 2.0, a much more complete and robust API opening the door for developers to code away to utilize the Pownce platform.  Here is the announcement from the Pownce blog.  To me this may be a turning of the tide.  If Pownce can build a critical mass of developers coding cool things like we see on the Twitter platform and give us a more robust and stable platform … the twitter phenomena may be in trouble.  We are a fickle bunch and if the currents carry us in a new direction to the shores of Pownceland, we may have a huge shift.

On an ending note, I wanted to pass along one of the first cool new tools for Pownce based on the new API.  It is a Pownce It bookmarklet.  Simply drag the bookmarklet to your browser toolbar and click it to share cool links with your friends via Pownce.

hellotxt.com: Cross Platform Posting

As our platforms we interact with continue to grow, our needs to connect to those platforms also grow. But it is becoming more and more difficult to have to log into each one to submit status. I was online this AM and saw a post from a friend @troyturner asking if there was a way to post to both Twitter and Pownce at the same time. As I noted in an earlier post as well, Twitter has been very unreliable and people are looking to new ways to keep in touch and status their friends and followers.
Enter hellotxt.com. It is a great service that llows to to interface with twitter, pownce, facebook, jaiku, tumblr, as well as some others. Here is a shot of your dashboard to send messages from:

I have tested it and it seems to work great. Just type your message and select where you want it sent to and viola ! You can registered an account and it will keep your account info saved for easier use. They have a timeline as well, but form what I can see, it is only your Twitter timeline. It would be great if this timeline could include all the services as well.

PownceMeme: Whats Hot on Pownce

I have recently began heading over to Pownce a bit more as Twitter has been becoming more and more flaky.   Since Pownce added a mobile interface a little while back, it seemed to be a viable alternative to twitter.  Anyway, we are aware of the great Twitter tools for tracking all things Twitter, sites like Twitter100, Tweeterboard, Favotter, Tweetmeme, and our local favorite Politweets.

Well now the Pownce crowd has its own Meme tracker, its called PownceMeme.  It is a site tracking the hot stuff taking place in and around Pownce.  Not only is it tracking the popular threads, but also photo and links, which is one thing Pownce has over Twitter.  They even have RSS feeds for each type for you to follow along as well.

I think that the arrival of tools like this revolving around Pownce may signal a shift toward Pownce as more of a Twitter alternative.  What do you all think?