Plurk: An anti-micro blogger’s perspective

Let’s get one thing straight… I hate Twitter. I know it’s hard to hate something you’ve never used, but the concept just seems completely lame to me. Anyone who’s seen my blogging diary would know that my free time is very limited. So why on earth would I want to enter the Twitter-verse? Do I really need to endure constant interruptions of inane small talk…? Certainly not! Indeed, while Twitter mania reached a frenzy over the last 12 months, I have remained the epitome of an anti-micro blogger. That is, until now…

Ironically, it isn’t the adoption of Twitter that has me reconsidering my stance. I have spread my anti-Twitter message to just enough people that adoption would result in endless ridicule and torment. It is the emergence of Plurk, Twitter’s latest competitor that has me rethinking my attitude towards micro blogging. You see, despite my hardcore anti-Twitter sentiments, I couldn’t help but be curious as to what all the fuss was about. So when Plurk started to gain popularity, I saw the opportunity to check out this whole micro blogging craze for myself (minus the ridicule).

Now… I’m still far from a complete micro blogging advocate. I can see both positives and negatives to usage. But with all the Twitter & Plurk love-posts out there, I thought it’d be interesting to share the thoughts of a pessimist. And on that note, I’ll start with the negatives…

Micro Blogging Negatives

Karma

For some reason, Plurk has decided to allocate a ‘score’ to each user. This score is also known as karma, and is calculated based on a person’s usage of the service. The more a person Plurks, the higher their karma score. Undoubtedly, the objective is to keep people engaged with the service.

Karma sucks! It promotes pointless and inane usage in order to maintain or increase karma. It fosters endless discussion, not meaningful discussion. To Plurks credit, they’ve responded quickly to criticisms of the algorithm with more equitable improvements. But the fact is that as long as a karma score is maintained, people will abuse the system with the objective of reaching the ‘Top Plurkers’ list. Why exactly do we need to know who the top Plurkers are anyway…?

Clutter

The reason I hate karma is because it causes clutter. The majority of people I have befriended are digital marketing professionals. I have the utmost respect for all of them. Yet to my surprise, even some of them are getting caught up in the karma chasing shenanigans. Most of their Plurks remain semi-relevant, but there is still an element of pointless drivel to sort through…

Furtermore, Plurk’s timeline interface isn’t particularly user friendly or scalable, especially once you’ve got 70+ active friends. Clutter is a real issue. And for that reason I’m hesitant to continue to grow my friendship network. More friends means more clutter. And as I add friends I know less and less about, the likelihood of the drivel factor increasing is significant.

Time wasting

Plurk is addictive. Far more addictive than I ever imagined. Which means the site can be sticky. For some reason I find myself returning regularly to monitor conversations I’ve created or contributed to. I often wonder why… At 140 characters per response, how important or insightful can they be?

On a number of occasions I’ve visited Plurk with the intention of taking a quick look at the current conversations. Yet an hour later I’m still mucking around in there. Don’t get me wrong, Plurk offers some great networking potential (which I’ll talk about in the positives), but it should not suck up hours of your time. Of the time I’ve spent in Plurk I suspect about 40% has been productive and 60% has been pointless. And that is time that I could have spent working on my blog. Plurk is good in moderation, but usage must be controlled.

ROI for newbies

Ultimately, I believe micro blogging platforms offer the greatest potential to experienced bloggers with established audiences. Renowned bloggers can use Plurk to drive traffic, solicit immediate input and find new readers. But that potential is severely limited when you don’t have a sizable audience. If a newbie Plurks in the woods but nobody’s around… does it make a sound…? Probably not.

And while ongoing commitment to usage will be likely to leverage some benefits for newbies, there are far better ways to make your voice heard. Like writing great content for your own blog. Or if networking is your objective, start commenting on other industry blogs. Fellow bloggers are far more likely to take notice of someone that adds intelligent and insightful thoughts to their blog discussions than a Plurker leaving 140 characters of wisdom. Plurk should be part of your networking strategy, not your entire strategy.

Micro Blogging Positives

By now it probably seems like I’m a walking/talking contradiction… singing Plurk’s praises at the start of this article, only to rip into the negatives. But there have been a range of positives. Let’s have a look at what I’ve liked about Plurk:

Extending relationships

As I stated earlier, I don’t think Plurk is the best place to start your networking initiatives. I prefer a more targeted networking process. But I do believe Plurk is a great place to deepen established relationships. Once a connection has been created, Plurk can be the perfect place to learn more about a person. Most micro bloggers reveal more about themselves within this format than they would via their blog. Simply watching a person’s Plurks will often tell you what their interests are and what they do in their spare time. I’ve found myself chatting about sports, insomnia & other random topics with my Plurk friends. And I think it’s helped to deepen some friendships I’ve formed.

Research

I often find myself wondering whether the processes I implement in maintaining my blog are normal. I’ve always wondered how other bloggers manage their tasks/life. Plurk gives me the opportunity to throw random questions about blogging out there, and gather some insight into the topic. So far I’ve learned a little more about:

• How people deal with writer’s block
• How long people take to prepare and write a new post
• Which social media applications people use
• How people turn their brains off at night

With Plurk I no longer need to wonder what other people do. I simply ask…

Access to industry stars

To this point, Plurk has not reached critical mass in the way Twitter has. It’s still predominantly for the early adopters. As a result, the superstars of the world are have far fewer followers than in other mediums. Which means they’re far more accessible. I’ve never had any sort of contact with Maki from Dosh Dosh or Darren Rowse from Problogger, yet both have responded to questions I’ve thrown out into Plurk-overse. Which almost floored me when it happened! Indeed, one of the highlights of Plurk for me was trading Australian Rules footy banter with Darren (a fellow Melbournian). Undoubtedly, this level of accessibility won’t last forever, so now is a good time to get in early if you want to attempt to connect with some A listers.

The verdict

I’m a little hesitant to admit it after developing my strong anti micro-blogging stance, but I do think I’m going to continue to use Plurk regularly. The positives are outweighing the negatives for now and I can see real benefits in extending deeper relationships with fellow Sphinners in particular. The key will be to moderate my participation so that my time Plurking is productive.

So, if anyone has some humble pie baking, I’m willing to swallow my pride and eat a large slice. But I’m still not joining Twitter…