Dear Mr. Rose, Pownce
That nice Mr. Rose got me so excited about his new project, Pownce.
I ended up being incredibly disappointed. Was I too critical? Was he too quick to release? Am I expecting too much of a private beta?
More thoughts after the link.
Issue 1: Not updating your blog for almost a month.
Don’t release a new product and then not hold a conversation with its users for almost a month. I was scared — honestly. I was confused — honestly. This so-called “web” that the New York Times and something called CNN just figured out — if you don’t talk to us, we’ll talk about you. And the conversation is not always necessarily good, Pownce.
Issue 2: API
Mr. Rose, et. al: Seriously, no API? Are you out of your mind? I recognize a private beta complicates the introduction of an API, but are you going to show me a Model-T Ford without gasoline? Your service only makes sense as a supported and distributed API. Otherwise — frankly — it sucks. Twitter works because it is everywhere: my phone, my IM, Twittlicious on a PC, Twitterific on a Mac, Tweet-r on Adobe Air, that Twitter & Google Maps mash-up I don’t care to understand, and so on. Please open up.
Issue 3: Why?
Please explain why you started this project more succinctly and what differentiates you from other players in this arena. I have to to think really hard to figure out why you did this, and that’s not fair to me. “We send stuff to our friends” is not a good vision statement and certainly doesn’t help me understand where you’re going.
Answers?
A new “Pownce Community Wiki” launched. Thank Buddha. It’s beyond me why any web service, or really, any business, wouldn’t have a wiki at this point. A department at my current employer remarked that they didn’t want to have an open forum online because someone might say something negative about the organization. *Sigh.* Isn’t that why you’d have an open forum? Isn’t the larger question why somebody would say something negative in the first place? Work to eliminate the complaint through conversation, not forced solitude. Glad Pownce is figuring this out sooner than my peeps, though later than I’d imagined.
Onward? Backward?
Who is Pownce to tell me how to access my data?
In conversation with my brother, we laughed until milk (beer) came out of our noses regarding the discussion over HTML 5. Seriously. This is a semi-aside obviously, but it comes down to the reality that HTML markup is somehow… so… well, why should you tell me what my data looks like? Or how to describe it? If I want my Pownce/Twitter/Jaiku data I should have it however I want. Let’s say I do want it HTML5-ish, for some reason. Great. Don’t force that on me. Likewise with Adobe Air. Yeah, yeah: Air is great. Flex is great. I get it. But maybe I want my network data on my phone. Or through IMified. Or in ones and zeroes sent to me through individual one-character SMS messages at 4 p.m. every Wednesday that has a temperature above 25 celsius. Who is Pownce to tell me how to access my data?
Well, theoretically, that’s possible — which adds a few points to Pownce’s scorecard. They’re working on an API. How open and flexible will it be? Not sure yet. But it needs to happen quick before I even consider moving over there with any gusto.
Pownce is exciting because it is theoretically better than Twitter (and Jaiku), addressing many of my concerns with existing microblogging and small-push services. But it needs to be more responsive and open to compete — luckily it looks like that’s finally starting to happen.
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