Identi.ca could not have come at a better time
Talk about good timing. If you needed a good excuse not to use Twitter on July 4, this is it. Announced just yesterday is a new microblogging service called identi.ca. It's a lot like Twitter, only better.
How so? It's open source.
The software is available for download. In other words, instead of relying on one set of servers as with Twitter, the system is distributed among its users, or can be at least. Read/Write Web explains it this way...
"I put a customized version of the foundation software (called Laconi.ca) on my server, you put one to your liking on yours, we both get friends on our local copy and any other versions around the web - and everyone can communicate with each other just like we were using the same service from the same provider."
Technology pundit Duncan Riley says the biggest breakthrough is "support for the new OpenMicroBlogging standard, which means that in theory, anyone could host the script and each service would talk to each other, creating a distributed, decentralized Twitter."
Does this guarantee reliability and scalability? Not necessarily, but, as Brian Solis suggests, it's "incredibly promising."
It's the community, stupid
So much for the technology. That's obviously not the glue that holds Twitter together. If it was, Twitter would have gone down in flames months ago. No, it's the community. Twitter has such an avid following that any attempt to pry users away, even for a short period of time, is met with incredulity.
"No matter how much we hate the Twitter system, we love the Twitter community. That’s what makes us put up with Twitter’s bullshit," says SheGeeks blogger Cordiva. "We know just how hard it would be to find what we’ve found on Twitter. We’ve been looking for it for so long and whether or not it was there before, the community was never there the way it is today on Twitter."
She's right. What crack is to drugs Twitter is to community. It would take a massive failure to dislodge it from its place of prominence. Most are willing to put up with the Fail Whale so long as, sooner or later, we can get to our peeps. Twitter is where they are, so why leave. That's the conventional wisdom.
On the other hand...
There are those of us so frustrated with the service that we're willing to try anything that holds promise. Personally, I've become a fan of Plurk of late, partially because of the advent of Plurkshops. I'm willing to give identi.ca a try too. In fact, if you'd like to connect with me there, my ID is http://identi.ca/pchaney.
A quote from puts it in perspective..."[W]e're all so desperate for a Twitter that works," he says.
That's really it in a nutshell. If Twitter worked there wouldn't be an issue. It's just that, when it should be more or less invisible, the software continues to call attention to itself.
Based on the comments I've received, it's primarily those who use Twitter for business purposes that are most upset (and most willing to endorse a boycott).
A final word about identi.ca
I'm concerned that identi.ca's immediate success may lead to its downfall. So many share Leo's desperation that we're willing to try anything that even looks like it might work. Already identi.ca has exceeded its creator's expectations in terms of the number of users and messages. And, it's already experiencing problems as a result. Too much, too soon. Identi.ca has Twitter to thank for that.
What about you? Have you tried identi.ca? Do you intend to? If so, do you think it holds promise, or is Twitter's hold so strong nothing will shake it from its kingly throne?
