When I started using Twitter seriously not all that long ago, I wanted a way to be able to manage my tweets and to monitor the tweets of my friends without having to go to the page repeatedly throughout the day. I found many ways to do this on the Mac – Twitterfox, Eventbox, Twhirl, etc. I settled on a mix of Twitterfox and Eventbox but at around the same time, I saw Stephen Fry testing out posts from something called Identica. He had a few exchanges with some people who didn’t seem to like this service and I thought I’d check it out. When I got there, I was immediately struck by the lack of beautification in the way that Twitter is a sort of cutesy world of design. I must admit that I like the way that Twitter looks and didn’t immediately like the way that Identi.ca looked. That was soon not to matter to me, as I discovered all of the neat things which Identi.ca does better.
Identi.ca allows me to post to it via xmpp. I use GTalk through Adium to do this. Not only can I post this way, but I can also get my messages this way. This allows me to only go to the site when I really want to, which is a liberating experience for what is essentially a microblogging social network. The other thing I love is the ability to see the replies other people have received, which I cannot do via Twitter to my knowledge. I can also tag posts on Identi.ca and these tags will be clickable and when clicked they will take you to recent items which have included those tags. It really makes it easier for people to find other people with similar interests. In this same way, you can tag your profile with interests so that people can find you easier.
Some other key features are the ability to favorite posts by people, and the posts with most favorites will go into a popular tab on the main site where everyone can see them and see what is happening in the larger community. It is the community which really makes this service magical, though. When I first got onto Twitter, I felt as if I was alone in my little world, tweeting away to nobody. When I got onto Identi.ca, I was immediately surrounded and embraced by like minds and differing minds, by geeks, poets and hippies and all sorts of people I’d never think to immediately seek out. It happens on Identi.ca because it is a wild and strange world in which anything can happen.
I sort of see Identi.ca as the Facebook of the microblogging world, to Twitter’s Myspace. While this analogy is not perfect in any way (mainly because Facebook is not Open Source and still has many flaws) but maybe you’ll see my point. Twitter is the closed old system while Identi.ca is the trendy new system which is growing fast and making changes which Twitter will eventually be scrambling to make itself. The software on Identi.ca is Open Source and enabling in nature, allowing people to connect instead of just sticking to their individual groups.
I still use Twitter, as many people on Identi.ca do. I’ll tell you one thing though. Twitter may look prettier on the outside, but Identica has more heart. I’ll be looking forward to seeing your ‘dents’ as opposed to your ‘tweets’ in the future.