Social messaging revisited --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Social messaging tools allow one to send/receive the updates via one of the several channels. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS EDITION of NetSpeak examines the latest developments in the social messaging arena and explores a couple of new tools available in this realm. Among the various communication tools, social messaging systems, primarily meant for communicating with a group, have generated considerable interests among savvy netizens. Currently, we come across a plethora of such tools. The advantage of a social messaging tool lies in its potential to help you easily form a community and send message updates/alerts/notifications with ease. Generally, these tools allow you to send/receive the updates via one of the several channels (such as mobile, Instant Messenger or the web) of your choice. The micro-blogging service, Twitter (http://twitter.com/), featured in this column earlier, is one such service that has gained immense popularity. The utility of Twitter as a social messaging tool is evident from the growth of alert/notification services that piggyback on it (such as Crictimes - http://crictimes.com/ - a cricket score update service). Yet another development on the Twitter front is the mushrooming of several Twitter tools for accessing it easily. The Firefox extension, Twitbin (http://twitbin.com/), is the latest one tried out by this author. Twitter is just one of the services of this kind. Yet another service, emerging in the social messaging space, is Jaiku (as per Jyri Engeström, one of Jaiku's co-founders, this name is a play on the word `haiku', a form of Japanese poetry, known for its brevity). When one signs up with the service, she gets a Jaiku page with the domain name `your-name.jaiku.com' (example: http://jmurali.jaiku.com). By accessing this page anyone can read your jaikus. Besides helping you send updates via the web/mobile, Jaiku has certain unique features. One notable feature is the `Comments,' which lets a reader enter her comments on each of the Jaiku messages. Yet another advantage worth a mention is the web feed integration. You can integrate your favourite web feeds on to your Jaiku account and the service displays all the entries from these feeds automatically on the Jaiku page. Yet another notable advantage is the `Channel' feature, a facility for group of people to post on to the same Jaiku stream. Many client tools for helping you access Jaiku with ease are also emerging (like the desktop client Jay-Q - http://jay-q.com/). Another service in this category, stumbled on by this author, is `loopnote' (http:// loopnote.com), the application meant for creating topic specific communities or loops, where subscribers can read/post content alerts. So, if you are a technology enthusiast, who monitors the latest tools/service offerings, you can start a loop for sending tech alerts. The subscribers can receive the updates via IM/e-mail. You can even allow the subscribers to contribute to the loop as well. Metromela Given the growth and vibrancy of the IT industry in India there is a frequent movement/relocation of professionals across metros. This has given rise to the need of location specific information for greater adaptability. Such information needs include the city's best restaurants, hospitals, schools and the like. Rather than relying on information from friends/colleagues users need a platform where all kinds of relevant information is available. The new online service, Metromela (http://metromela.com/), launched by a few former Non Resident Indians, serves to fill this need. Through services such as Metro's Best (list of vendors along with contact details), Metro's Blogs (reviews of vendors) and Hot Deals (sales, discounts and other deals being offered in the city), MetroMela brings together a variety of information relevant to these professionals. Besides providing information relevant to them, Metromela offers its users tools to interact/contribute information through personal blogs, comments and so on- in a true Web 2.0 style. If one finds interesting information, she can pass it on to her friends via e-mail or SMS. Currently the service is present across four cities: Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Pune. As mentioned by Sateesh Andra (a Metromela board member) in a Skype chat, Kochi, Vishakapatnam and Mysore are the next three cities on the radar. J. MURALI He can be contacted at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.hindu.com/2007/05/28/stories/2007052800211500.htm Vikas Kapoor, MSN ID: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo ID: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype ID: dl_vikas Mobile: (+91) 9891098137. To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
