Shankar Ganesh

Twitter is getting more slow by the day, a lot of downtimes and slow responses, along with third party tools failing. Here are some Twitter alternatives to enjoy with than frown at its bad performance

Jaiku

Jaiku is a similar service like Twitter that lets you post what you’re doing on the internet. But it has some lovely additional features unlike Twitter.

• In addition to posting Jaikus (status messages) you can also customize them with icons
• You can use your smart phone to access Jaiku
• Commenting on your friend’s Jaikus is possible
• If they’re on their mobile, you could have details regarding their location, calendar and availability
• You can live stream your favourite RSS Feed entries as Jaikus on your account
• Badges are available to put up on your website

Get a Jaiku account now here.

Tumblr

Tumblr is another such service, but it’s still unique in some way or the other

• Tumblr lets you create the so-called Tumblelogs
• Tumblelogs have an URL in this form: thenameyouselect.tumblr.com
• Tumblelogs are short, little blog entries that you could use to update your status
• Tumblelogs are faster and easier to post to than ordinary blogs
• You have a variety of themes to choose from for your log
• Photos and videos can be easily added to your Tumblelog
• Your followers are listed out in your Dashboard

In short, Tumblr is a whole new way of posting what you’re doing. Get a Tumblr account here.

Plazes

Plazes is another unique one, but still it can serve in someway the same purpose as Twitter does.

• You have to pin-point your location in a Google maps mashup at first (this facility is still to come, but for now, you have to download a software to join Plazes)
• You can then know who’s nearby you
• Update your status then, a mobile version too is available
• People can subscribe to receive updates about their friends or favourite plazes
• Badges are available to put up on your site, blog or any other profile pages like MySpace, etc.

Go to Plazes

Which among these is your favourite? Or do you still prefer to use Twitter? Share your views in the comments