Pownce or Bounce?
So the master mind behind Digg.com, Mr. Kevin Rose, launched another Web 2.0 venture: Pownce. It was long rumored that he was working on “something”. Well turns out that “something” was Pownce. Lets make it clear that it’s not just this dude, there are other people behind Pownce as well. I assure you he didn’t code the freaking thing entirely by himself one afternoon after a Diggnation recording just for shits and giggles. I’m just sayin’…
So you may be wondering, can the succes of the D-I-double-G transfer succesfully to his new Web 2.0 endeavor?
If you are not up to speed with what Pownce is, allow me to give you a quick “heads-up”. Pownce is currently in Beta stage (like most Web 2.0 services) and is an invite-only Twitter like alternative. According to their Wikipedia entry,
“Pownce is a social networking and micro-blogging site started by Internet entrepreneurs Kevin Rose, Leah Culver, Daniel Burka, and Shawn Allen. Pownce is centered around sharing messages, files, events, and links with already established friends.”
Basically, it can be summarized as a take on Twitter by Kevin and the Gang. However, in contrast with Twitter, Pownce offers a much richer experience. Lets start by pointing out that Pownce is more aesthetically pleasing than Twitter. Although the availability of themes is limited, what’s available looks professional and a easy on the eye. Secondly, Pownce offers much better tracking of messages to friends/public which is a welcomed feature. Lastly, the guys over at Pownce have decided to embrace Adobe’s new AIR platform technology for their desktop app. This basically translates to self-contained Flash applications that you can run without needing a browser. In the case of Pownce, their desktop app is pretty nice… simple yet nice.
So what are the special features that set Pownce apart from the rest? You can upload files to share among your friends. There’s an impose file-size limit on the free accounts, but if you are willing to pay for a “Pro” accouny you can send files up to 100 MB in size to your buddies. There’s also the sharing of events among your friends which can be very handy when getting the word out on a certain event. It kinda reminds me of the way you setup events in iCal, which is nice. Lastly you can share links among your friends of interesting stuff you stumble on across the web.
So is it worth “Pownce-ing”? I say yes. For the features that it has, for the look, I believe Pownce is a good alternative to Twitter. No doubt. Keep in mind that this is a fresh startup with (I hope) many new features in the pipeline. I can only see it getting better. In the end it all depends if people get on the Pownce bandwagon, so far its off to a good start.
Pownce or Bounce? I say Pownce. If you are interested in trying it out yourself, I have some invites to give out. So hit up our contact email and let us know.
Filed by sebaz at August 2nd, 2007 under Web
