Tumblr continues to confuse me. As the team continues to add new features to their platform, I no longer know what Tumblr is and even more what it wants to become.

Early last week the Tumblr team announced two new features. One continues to build on its strength of making it easier to publish content to the web while the other feels like a hand forcing Tumblr to be something else. Tumblr is growing, but with these latest changes it seems like Tumblr just made the leap out of microblogging.

A great addition to the “how” of posting to Tumblr is the new call in number feature. From a phone registered with Tumblr users can record an audio post from their phone. After recording, the call is then published to the tumblelog in a matter of a few minutes.

Providing this service continues to build on what Tumblr does best by making it even simpler to post your content. Overall this is a great addition, however, Tumblr needs to drop the creepy computer voice if it still wants to considers itself “sexy as hell“.

Tumblr now provides several publishing options

Along with calling into Tumblr users now have more control on when their posts will be published. Posts now have the option to be published at a specific time, processed in a queue or saved as a draft.

Options like these have been popular on Twitter as a third party service. Many blogs also allow for this type of scheduling however there is something about this new feature being developed by Tumblr that has me questioning its future.

Over the last few iterations Tumblr has become more blog-like. From a use perspective, Tumblr no longer competes with other microblogs but instead pushes features that match up with other blogging platforms like Blogger, Wordpress and Vox. Tumblr is walking a thin line of being a robust microblog or becoming a crippled blog.

We know Tumblr is searching for a business model and needs to start focusing on premium services, but these last few updates have me questioning what Tumblr is and how to balance it with my current mix of online publishing.

Hopefully the Tumblr team comes through with some answers soon because right now I’m getting lost in the noise of new features and losing sight of Tumblr’s real advantages in the blogging/microblogging world.

It’s safe to say by now that Twitter has taken the United States (and a number of other countries) by storm. Competitors have risen and continue to grow their user base, but none can match the numbers of Twitter. However, just because Twitter is the biggest (right now), it doesn’t mean its the platform of choice for microbloggers everywhere. An article by @thw, started in 2007, currently maintains a list of nearly 200+ microblogging platforms from countries around the world. Twitter has probably garnered users from most (if not all) of the countries boasting their own platforms, but for some reason those other sites still exist.

Microblogging with Users of Similar Interests Increases Value

My longtime theory about geo-centered or interest-specific microblogging platforms was furthered enforced by a recent article from Joel Backaler (@joelbackaler) on Chinese microblogging that was passed around this weekend:

It did not take me long to realize the value of microblogging goes way beyond answering the Twitter question, “What are you doing?” Microblogging helps build communities centered around shared interests and keeps groups of followers and those being followed up to date with the most recent happenings in their area of interest.

Microblogging builds communities of individuals who share things in common, whether it be interests, professions or locations. While I follow nearly 400 people on Twitter, a majority of the users in my stream are from my area. I can’t see a Des Moines, Iowa-based microblogging platform making sense, but would it be easier for nationals of another country to use a platform developed by their own countrymen rather than scope out friends on a website built by a small English-speaking crew from California? Twitter definitely gets credit for sparking this medium, but I think that platforms in each interested country have been able to tweak and tune the model for users in their area.

Microblogging in China

In his post, Joel Bakaler cites Adam Schokora (@ajschokora) for his list of the top Chinese microblogging platforms. Adam prefaces his list with an explanation of Twitter’s relevance and perceived impact:

Twitter itself is the choice of China’s more internationally-oriented digerati: (a) because they were early adopters, before the Chinese clones got off the ground, and (b) because there’s little interoperability among all of the different choices, so users tend to join services where there are already conversations they want to follow.

Outside of Twitter, the four most popular platforms to emerged in China are Taotao, Fanfou, Jiwaide and Zuosa. While some of them follow the Twitter user experience quite closely, none are supported by any third-party clients and they have little interoperability amongst themselves or Twitter.

Translation or Partnerships Could Expand Twitter’s Reach

With hundreds of microblogging platforms in existence, it’s hard to imagine a single federated platform existing to serve everyone. However, Twitter was able to successfully launch a Japanese version of the service in April 2008 through a partnership with Digital Garage. If Twitter launched similar partnerships in the coming years, they could penetrate even further into the global microblogging market. Plurk crowdsourced similar translation initiatives earlier this year, though traffic seems to have peaked on their platform for the time being.

With $50 million+ on the balance sheet after a recent unsolicited $35 million injection from investors, Twitter has time to build the right business model and to figure out if world domination is on the table.

The 0.7 release of the Laconica platform brought a very important feature in the form of group communication. With groups, the admin – the user who created the group – has the ability to control all the details of the group. To communicate with a group, simply add the “bangtag” (! character) in front of the group name and everyone who subscribes to the group will receive the message.

Twhirl's Group on Identi.ca

Sound familiar? Yep, that’s how a hashtag works too. In fact, there are a number of users on the Laconica Dev Request list (subscribe here) that think the way groups work infringes on the way hashtags work. For instance, some users might feel inclined to add “!twhirl” and “#twhirl” to a group, reducing the number of characters you’re left with.

Laconica front-man Evan Prodromou (@evan) rebuts, saying that there are more features that will be implemented to groups that will differentiate it from a hashtag. Upcoming features include tighter membership, higher privacy, and more granular control in general. He argues that while hashtags are created at-will and have no concrete real-estate (so to speak), groups have a home page, a logo, a description, and a location. Groups also have members whereas anyone can contribute to a hashtag.

This post is meant to be a starting block for discussion on your thoughts on the Laconica implementation of groups. If you’re not using Identica, here’s an example of a group and an example of a hashtag. Do you think they got it right? If not, what would you do differently?

During my daily travels through cyberspace, I’m always looking for great examples of companies and individuals using the microblogging medium in new ways. This time around we’re looking at a few accounts aimed at making your time in the air easier.

@myflightinfo

The first account is @myflightinfo, a Twitter bot that can check and report on your flight status. This bot was developed by @lmai, an entrepreneur, developer and all-around geek working on projects under the Iron Monkey Ventures brand. Larry uses simple commands initiated by users via direct message to manipulate and check data provided by FlightStats.

Though Expedia and others have already developed their own proprietary systems for notifying travelers of flight delays and statuses, I like the @myflightinfo solution because it is essentially maintained and monitored by a third-party, which sometimes lends more credibility to the information (in my opinion). Also, this Twitter bot lets the user pull the information whenever they want it, instead of the airlines pushing out information when they see fit.

It does not appear that Larry (the bot’s developer) has any connection with FlightStats, though based on its functionality it might be something they’d be interested in hearing about or seeing (anyone from FlightStats out there listening?).

@seatguru

The second account is @seatguru, an outpost account for SeatGuru.com, a website operated by TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor is a consumer-driven website that allows travelers to review and give opinions on hotels, vacations and more. SeatGuru is a microsite that more specifically tracks airplane seating, in-flight amenities and airline information. The @seatguru account appears to be of the customer service variety, actively engaging in conversations with site users and people looking for airplane seating information.

While keeping in touch with customers IS one way to use Twitter, it would be great to see them expand a bit more into something similar to @myflightinfo. Perhaps if a user followed the SeatGuru account (or a new @myseatguru account) and DM’d an airline’s shortcode, the bot could send back a list of amenities and/or a link to the airline’s info page at a potentially-mobile-optimized SeatGuru.com. This pushes aside the basic search-and-find method of discovering information and takes a more semantic approach to quickly providing users with the information they need in whatever format is necessary.

The @seatguru account looks to be driven by an employee or associate from SeatGuru, but their main website doesn’t have any links identifying the account and TripAdvisor seems to lack any presence on Twitter at all. Their brand name (@tripadvisor) is currently being squatted on. I’d recommend they take a look at getting that brandjacked account back.

The Idea That’s Missing: Ticket Ordering

If each of these accounts can build applications and tools on top of readily accessible information, what will it take to get the airline companies on board? At a time where airline tickets have basically become commoditized and people are always looking for the best value, it’s the little things that can really make a difference. If users can check flight statuses and research simple airline amenities, how hard would it be to look up ticket information? The airline companies (and third-party booking websites) do a good job presenting ticket price look up, but doing it over Twitter takes a sometimes daunting process and makes it even easier. With a few commands and semantic-style queries, it doesn’t seem like looking up ticket information would be that difficult to automate in 140 characters.

While I love the idea of Twitter bots with lookup and query functions, there are probably only a few airlines even capable of handling something like this. The two most recognized airlines already using Twitter today are Southwest Airlines (@southwestair) and JetBlue (@jetblue). Racking up 10,000 and 23,000 followers respectively, it might be a tool worth investigating (pending development cost) to further build each airline’s credibility amongst its customers.

Though one of these companies could develop (or pay someone like Larry to develop), it’s likely we’d see an entrepreneurial Twitter geek putting something together before any official apps would surface. However, outside of airline companies themselves, this could also be a space for travel-booking websites like Expedia, Kayak and Orbitz to get involved.

Who Will Build It?

Now that I’ve laid out my idea, who’s going to build it? I (or any of the other guys at Microblink) would be happy to work through a project like this (or anything similar) if a company or brand was interested. There are plenty of great developers and entreprenuers out there, but it’s all a matter of connecting the right people together. Drop us a line if you want to chat about the possibilities.

UPDATE: Jacob Morgan (@jacobm) brought up the idea of placing a Starbucks order over Twitter back in January, but it still doesn’t look like anyone is capitalizing on the opportunity to use microblogging for this type of a tool.

I often have a number of my “in real life” friends tell me they have signed up for a Twitter account only to have it go unused for weeks. When I ask why the common response is they just don’t know how to get started. Honestly, that is a completely reasonable response given that Twitter gives almost no guidance on the topic. So, to help my friends I have compiled this quick getting started list.

1. Set them up with a profile they can be proud of. Make sure the account won’t be immediately flagged as spam by other Twitter users by having them fill in their name, location, website and bio. Then dive into the customizer to change up the background images and colors.
2. Give them some content to feed from by helping them find people to follow. My preferred approach is setting someone up with a diversity of Twitterers. This should include at least following one person who tweets about topics they are interested in, a few people from around the area, and a couple of funny or random Twitter profiles such as Tiny Buddha or Cobra Commander.
3. Get them off of the web interface and on to one of the many desktop and mobile applications available. Tweetdeck may be a little overwhelming for new users so I tend to point people to Twhirl (and if they are on a Mac Twitterific). As for mobile applications I still haven’t found the one but for my iPhone the combination of Twitterific and Summizer has worked well for me.
4. Spark their competitive nature with a Twitter ranking system. My favorite is still Twitter Grader. It gives a solid amount of data and providing a simple grade to try to improve on provides enough of a spark without having to view the local Twitter Elite.
5. Publicly welcome them on Twitter and get your network to follow them. Twitter is a community and as such you will need to step in and start introductions to let others know someone new is here that they need to meet.

In just a few steps you have given someone a crash course in Twitter and shown them enough to spark interest so they can start exploring on their own. However, in doing so you must acknowledge that you may have created the next Twitter addict and in that case look for our follow up post, 5 Steps to a Twitter Intervention.

On Monday Don Reisinger posted his 5 Twitter improvements we’re still waiting for on Cnet’s Webware blog. While I agree with a couple of his picks from the number of Twitter services and applications available there is no doubt that Twitter is lacking features.

If asked, my list of five improvements would include::

1. Robust people search – for a service that sells itself as a tool to communicate and stay connected, Twitter does a horrible job at helping users find each other. Its people search is limited to name/username and only recently did they add “Suggested Users” to the mix to help users expand their network. What I would like to see from Twitter is advanced search options that allow searches by name, username, location, and keywords from bios. Suggested Users should also become meaningful and provide a list based on the followers of the people I am following.

2. Search integration – search from my Twitter profile or any other page is a must. Twitter has yet to integrate search outside of redirecting Summize to search.twitter.com. If users can create Greasemonkey scripts to add search one would think this would be a quick win for the Twitter engineers.

3. Groups – Don and I are on the same page with this one. Twitter’s competitors are creating ways to allow users to post to specific groups, and Twitter needs to be doing the same. Users can already make their tweets private, so groups shouldn’t be that far behind. At a bare minimum users should be able to selectively make their tweets private or public; not all or nothing.

4. Analytics – I’m somewhat on the same page with Don however I am not only concerned with how many users visit my profile page. I want a mix of analytics from Twitter. Feed me with information on how I use Twitter, how many are actually receiving my tweets, visiting my profile, clicking my links and anything else that can be reported on. A number of services are already pulling together a number of amazing data points and providing useful charts and graphs so why isn’t Twitter making some of this available?

5. Threaded conversations – Add this to the list of things Twitter’s competitors do but Twitter has failed to address. Twitter makes following a single conversation nearly impossible. There have been a number of times I have had to open multiple windows to track back what tweet was being referenced to in a reply. This becomes increasingly frustrating when I moved on to another topic and later get a reply that someone doesn’t agree with one of my tweets only to find it was two topics ago.

Not on my list is 200 characters. In my mind more characters would just add more noise. I enjoy the challenge of fitting my thoughts in 140 characters and while I do most of my tweeting from the desktop I still have a good number of friends who twitter by SMS. And if given the option to pay for more characters, my answer is no.

Though we’ve already asked, “How much would you pay for Twitter?“, Adam Covati (@covati) is stirring the pot with a specific feature suggestion brought up by @mike9r that he feels people may get excited about.

Expanded Character Counts

Mike’s suggestion for a paid feature of Twitter is to open up the ability for that user to post up to 240 characters in a tweet instead of the normal 140. I’ve always been in favor of a pro-version of Twitter that would allow for more functionality, but hadn’t thought about an expanded character count as one of those features.

The more I think about it, the more I actually like that idea. While Twitter has been built around the idea of 140 characters, it is frustrating when you’ve got to go back and edit a few words down just to make the character cutoff.

The Problem With More

Adam was quick to point out several reasons in his post why more characters could cause problems.

• Part of the value in twitter is that it’s quick.
• [it] could break many twitter clients.

The problem I see is that if we pay and start to use 240 characters, what happens when that isn’t enough space? Do they extend it further? Do they uncork the limit on characters?

Why Have Limits At All?

There are several other microblogging platforms that don’t implement character limits, though they still seem to operate in short bites (for the most part). There are some exceptions, but most people agree that microblogging is for short style updates, so that’s what the majority are.

If people are worried about scrolling through their timeline and having to deal with lengthy posts, I’ve got an idea:

Twitter could truncate all tweets in a timeline at 140 characters and then include a small plus sign (+) that would expand the tweet into it’s full glory.

TwitWall uses a variation on this idea by posting up to 140ish characters on Twitter and linking to the rest of the message on TwitWall, but the main issue is that it takes you outside of Twitter. Implementing an idea as I suggested to keep everything contained within Twitter’s own walls.

Would you pay for more characters on Twitter? Some feel it goes against the very fiber that Twitter is built upon, but sometimes those 140 characters just aren’t enough.

Let us know what you think in the comments or participate in our twtpoll.

Twitter users from all over have posted a number of New Year’s Resolution. While many are tweeting to use Twitter more we have created a simple list of things all users should do to get more out of Twitter in 2009.

Complete your profile – this one seems like common sense but still isn’t always done. Before you jump into heavy twitter use or ask your network to promote your account there are three simple things to do: upload your picture, link to your website, and post a simple message in your bio. You don’t need glamor shots, but you should get your face out there so your account identifies you as a person. The website link should point back to your site or a profile page where readers can get additional information about yourself. And everyone should have a bio regardless of how simple the line is.

Add some flair – Once the profile is complete continue to express yourself creatively by customizing your profile page with a unique background and color scheme. If you need some help getting started you check out TwitterBacks.com for examples and PSD files.

Follow people in your city – Twitter is about building a network and engaging the community. Following others will make Twitter more rewarding and it is a great way to engaged with your local community and find people to network with in real life. Twitterlocal is a great way to started and if all else fails ask the network you have already built for recommendations.

Follow people who are experts in your interests – Make Twitter work for you by letting it feed you content from experts who work in your interests everyday. Whether it something you are already an expert in or a skill set you want to to learn following the experts on twitter will create a stream of experiences and links links to feed your knowledge base. To do this you may want to try user directories such Just Tweet It.

Use Search – Twitter search is probably one of the most powerful tools in the microblogging scene. Search will allow you to listen into tweets you are interested in regardless of who you are following. Search is also a simple way to follow your replies and any tweets with your name. Use this tool and leverage the RSS feed to stay up to date without having to be one twitter every moment.

Follow a hashtag – Speaking of search, it is the perfect way to follow a topic that has developed a hashtag. Follow an ongoing topic or event by subscribing to a hashtag on twitter search or monitoring it on Hashtags.org.

Start replying to tweets – listening and posting your own content is a great start but that is just half of a conversation. Dive into a topic you have been listening to by sending a reply to a tweet by using the @ symbol before a user name.

Retweet – when you find an “ah ha” statement forward it on to you network and give the tweeterer warm fuzzies by retweeting it. There is no real format however starting your tweet with RT or Retweet followed by an @username and their tweet does the trick. This will increase the chances it gets read by others and send the same “ah ha” message on to your network.

Promote other twitter users – Retweets are just one way of promoting another Twitterer. Make it your goal to find someone who is posting great content everyday and share why you value them to your network or nominate them for the latest event recognizing Twitter users.

Stop giving out your password – Because of recent events (here and here) this should be on top of everyone’s list. Simply stop giving away your twitter password to every new service that gets created. Do your research on the service and ask yourself why it needs your password. Unless it provides a real benefit it may be safest to just pass.

These simple nine New Year Resolutions will help any user become more engaged with the community. In doing so you will increase your own reach and tap into the power of twitter.

If you have developed your own list or have other Twitter Resolutions for 2009 let us know by leaving us a comment and we may add it our list.

Truth be told I am a technology news junkie, especially when it is about microblogging. However, there are some activities that make it inconvenient to read the news regardless of characters constraints.

Luckily for me, technology podcasts can’t stop talking about Twitter. The latest podcast I have subscribed to is Net@Night with Amber MacAthur. The show is part of the TWiT network created by Leo Laporte (and is not to be confused with Twitter the microblog). On the show Amber and Leo discuss the latest news in the social web and feature a guest from a site Amber has been playing around with.

The first episode I listened to was an interview with Ming Yoew Ng, one of the founders of Mr. Tweet. On the show Ming gave a great interview fielding a number of questions about how Mr. Tweet works and some additional insight into how it defines influencers and works through subjective measurements. That episode was followed up with another great interview with Robert Scoble and centered around his thoughts on microblogging, how it is changing and how it is changing blogging. For the hat trick, the latest episode was released yesterday and Twitter hackers made the line up.

I cannot say that every episode of Net@Night is going to cover Twitter or some other microblog, but from the couple of episodes I have listened they are doing a great job of covering the latest events and services.

Net@Nite has earned a place in my playlist and I highly recommend giving it a listen when you cannot navigate over to Microblink. You can subcribe to Net@Night from iTunes or listen to any of the episodes on twit.tv/natn.

Side note: Evan Williams is the guest for episode 15.

Over the holiday break I spent my time visiting with family and old friends. The trip was an eye opener for me as I realized the things we write about on Microblink were completely foreign to them. This does not just include my parents, aunts and uncles but also college friends, brother and sister in laws and even their kids.

This brought me to the realization that as much as microblogs have gained traction over the last couple of years they have not gone mainstream (yet). Even Twitter which has reached the 4 million user mark, and has seen a number of company and celebrity profiles, still continues to live in its own world. By this I mean lots of things are happening on Twitter everyday, but only a small piece of it ever makes it out into the wild. Some small pieces have captured the attention and lead to coverage by mainstream news outlets, however, explanations of Twitter are kept very generic and the power of Twitter is rarely captured.

Because of this coverage it is not unreasonable to believe that most have at least heard of Twitter (especially with all of its coverage and use during the election), but over a couple of beers I was challenged by a close childhood friend with defining what Twitter is and why I use it. Admittedly, I choked initially and struggled with a coherent train of thought, but here is a run down of what I came up with:

Twitter is a social network, however, the emphasis is in sharing. From my use the other key difference with other networks such as MySpace and Facebook is that on them I have only connected with people I already know. On Twitter I have found and connected with others who post about things I am interested in. Simply put, the content comes first, not the profile.

I continue to use Twitter because outside of the 140 characters there really are no other limits on how I use it. Twitter has been a tremendous networking tool for me. There are specific things I am interested in and through searches I can find people who share those interests and connect with them without the weirdness of having to be friends. I have found that I ‘ve connected with Twitterers on a more personal level than on any other social network. The easiest example is it has allowed me to meet people like Mike and Mark which then spawned Microblink. The important part is that regardless of how I use it, I know I opted in to the content I receive and within a couple of clicks I can just as easily opt back out.

The conversation continued on through a couple more beers about specific use. I unintentionally sold him on Twitter by telling him the only way to really understand is to sign up and let yourself get lost in it.

As someone who frequently attempts to write about Twitter I found it a challenge to communicate what it is. Going through an experience like this myself, now I’m curious to know who else has had to give either friends or family a crash course on Twitter and how you defined it?