the edges of (some) transitional web apps ( including what’s missing in transitional web apps)
For a while now I have been researching transitional web apps and how they are evolving. I have also done some thinking about what is missing in transitional web apps and how they are different from one another…
I did this drawing to explain the difference between some of the different mobile transitional web apps ( btw. it says twitter in the bottom right corner)
I have decided not to add nabaztag or chumby this time around…
first of all, I will like to explain the different words I have been using -
Presence: is all your activities to show your presence, a mash up of different feeds to show your path, both online but also in 1st life.
Statements:is the “me first” when you are doing something active to be a part of a community.
so what’s the difference ?
I have chosen to put Plazes and Imity in the lower left corner of the drawing, because of their very specific way of dealing with presence. Basically both are showing your location and the people around you. Imity is furthermore showing people that aren’t on you buddies list by finding all bluetooth devices in the area. So they are showing a part of your presence but they are both more applicable in 1st life and via mobile than online…
Twitter I would call somewhat egocentric, because it evolves around yourself and the statements you want to make to the world. I am on the edge to call it “impulsive personal outbursts”. hell people are even twittering about twitter ( ohh dear… reminds me of those people who used to - or are still blogging about blogging)
At the same time it’s so giving to be able to read what people are doing and stating everyday on an impulsive basis in addition to reading their blogs. Twitter however, in my opinion, doesn’t scale right now… not technically or community wise..
Jaiku is combining the different tools of presence ( mostly via RSS) it’s shows people from a context point of view by adding up your activitiesMoreover on the website you can comment on the different presences ( you can even comment on bookmarks). So as far as I see Jaiku and Twitter are becoming two very different things. Jaiku is different from blogging because everything is happening in a community that isn’t personally targeted (comments on blogs are personally targeted) but people can actually not only see your jaiku updates, they can also see who has commented them, and what has been commented - in a public community.
So what’s missing?
I would claim that the primary reason that people aren’t using twitter on their phone is that you recieve somewhere around 300 sms’es each day from twitter - which goes into your sms inbox, which makes you a really annoying person if you don’t have your phone on silent. If you have your phone on silent, you might miss important phonecalls. So I would say that most people are deciding not to use twitter mobile.
If I was an transitional web app my next step would be an “mirror” inbox - receiving updates ( not sms’es) ( either presence updates or statements) and putting it all out on mobile - no matter if it was direct statements, presence updates from del.icio.us and last.fm…
For me that would be a step in the right direction to stay in touch with my community mobilewise. - so as far as I am concerned THAT’s what’s missing right now - a presence mirror defined by contacts and what presence they want to put out there.
oh and I definetly should be able to comment on presences on the mobile too…
March 24th, 2007 at 12:49 am
I am able to put my messages on silent and still hear if I get calls - I think you can do the same. Since I joined Twitter, I have switched off sound for messages - especially because many of the people I follow are americans, and I sleep most of the time they are twittering.
March 25th, 2007 at 9:02 am
I have the same problem, but putting messages on silent doesn’t really work for me… basically because I have as many incoming “important” messages as I have phonecalls.
but cool that you figured out a way to go about it !
March 26th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Luckily on my treo I can control text message announcements separately from voice calls. The phone doesn’t even vibrate on text messages now.
That’s what I like about being able to download replacement programs: there’s probably a program for the Treo to allow me to control exactly which contacts (Twitter vs. my wife) do and don’t make a noise. It’s also the bad thing about being able to download replacement programs: wasting all this time looking
March 26th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
*s* you’re so right Martin, now you got me wondering if it’s just me who doesn’t know how to use a phone or there is a serious issue here ?
March 27th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Jaiku on my mobile phone is very convenient. The messages are shown in the addressbook (sort of) and I don’t get any vibrations nor rings for updates.
It *is* however more “toy” than really useful.
April 2nd, 2007 at 3:53 pm
How come you didn’t place Jaiku as far to the right in your drawing as Twitter? The way I see it, Jaiku is everything Twitter is and more…
April 4th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
@asbjørn - I agree… but I would say that jaiku is more presence where twitter is only statements. Jaiku is twitter and everywhere else you roam and can track.. that’s why they are not in the same place on the drawing =)
April 22nd, 2007 at 9:56 pm
Oh oh oh… so now I know why Jaiku excites you… hmmm… not a bad analysis… even now, except for the ability to do a “threaded” conversations (replying to comments individually), both jaiku & twitter (and even other players) have a lot of room for imporvement (think of group feature, colloborative twittering etc etc).
In my honest opinion, its too early to conclude which is better. the race has just started. What do you say?
PS: I’m also on Jaiku and liking it until now.
April 22nd, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Hi Manoj -
I am sure that we are going to see both jaiku and twitter improving - I think it’s to early to conclude which is better in the future - but my bet is on Jaiku - Twitter lacks too much for my liking - and is more of a stress factor than an actual community to me.. *s*
im redsoda.jaiku.com - if you want to add me *s*