Pownce is a beautifully designed, new micro blogging social network that launched a couple of weeks ago and has been generating quite a bit of attention. In some ways it is similar to Twitter and Jaiku, but Pownce has more of a focus on sending things between friends, like messages, links, photos, music, events, etc. Currently it does not support SMS or IM and they have not released an API, but my guess is that those features will be added at later date.
Pownce started off as a side project by Leah Culver and then she joined forces with Kevin Rose (Digg and Revision3) and Daniel Burka (Digg) and together they developed Pownce into a new web service.
Pownce comes with a really slick desktop client (both PC & Mac), created by Shawn Allen of Stamen Design, that uses the new Adobe AIR (formerly know as Apollo).
Also, unlike many other web startups, Pownce actually launched with a business model. They sell unobtrusive ads that show up in the stream (they are currently running an ad for Laughing Squid) and an ad-free Pro Account that allows you to send larger files.
There have been quite a few Pownce vs. Twitter comparisons the last couple of weeks. Lane Becker of Satisfaction thinks that Pownce is actually competing with 37Signals, the company behind project management services like Basecamp.
Here’s Laughing Squid’s Pownce account. Pownce is currently in private, invite-only mode, but we have just a few extra invites, so if you are interested in one, just contact us and we’ll hook you up, that is until we run out of of them.
UPDATE: Well, that didn’t take long. We’re all out of invites.
Here Are A Few Related Posts You Might Enjoy:
- Pownce Shutting Down, Technology Sold To Six Apart
- Pownce 1 Year Anniversary Party
- Super Friends Cartoon Meets Friends Sitcom
- Pownce Party at Dennis Peron’s Cozy Castro Cottage
- A Bunch of Great iPhone Apps Are Starting to Surface
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Resources for getting pownce invites:
http://www.inviteshare.com/site.php?id=1
http://mashable.com/2007/06/30/pownce-invites/
Oh, and me on pownce:
http://www.pownce.com/vrogy/
We’re all whoring, all the time, here.
maybe I am missing something, but isn’t Pounce just fancy email?
This article about a Pownce security breach was posted on 07/08, has Pownce said anything about this?
http://www.efinke.com/2007/07/08/pownce-has-a-big-security-problem/
It’s email, twitter, IM, and microblogging in one, with an interface and structure that makes it logical..
The more I think about it, it’s sort of.. what messaging with computers should be. Well, as soon as all the online functionality is in the AIR.
So what was wrong with FTP?
@Anthony: FTP is too techy for most folks. Pownce makes it as easy as messaging someone on MySpace or poking someone on Facebook. Also, it makes the experience alot more casual – instead of configuring FTP, finding the folder where the file is saved, etc.
By the way, I’ve got invites here:
http://www.emergence-media.com/2007/07/invites-tuesday-powncecom-spockcom-iminlikewithyou-joost/