Twitter and Brightkite

Posted on February 24, 2009 in Micro-blogging

Twitter is most famous as a “micro-blogging” platform. I can’t tell you exactly what that means, but it seems to me that Twitter operates at times like a bulletin board, at others like a comments thread, and still at others like a chat room. This blog article will appear within the half hour as a link on Twitter and you can find me there under the name of EmperorNorton sputtering my point of view and exchanging pleasantries. The ambiguity of Twitter cements its appeal for me and for many others.

Brightkite operates on a different principle. You mark where you are in the world ((Some people are scared about using Brightkite because they fear stalkers. You don’t have to indicate your exact place — you can broaden it to town, state, or even nation. You can set varying levels of trust so that those who are friends can see an exact address if you wish to offer one and everyone else only sees your city. There are many ways to ensure privacy in Brightkite and still enjoy the sense of locale that it offers.)) and report on what is happening in your location through notes and photographs. A few Brightkite users, however, don’t get the concept of reporting from place. They treat it as another Twitter, filling it with miscellaneous news articles, funny stories, political comments, and the like that have nothing to do with where they are. I think this marks a weakness in understanding that clutters a good idea.

Brightkite is not another Twitter. You’re called upon to give a sense of where you are, what you are doing. I’ve seen people post photos of the meals they are having. Such stuff would be tedious on Twitter, but on Brightkite it shows you a little bit of the world beyond you. If you use Brightkite, accept its challenge: look around you with your camera or with your mind. Report on what is around you, within arm’s reach, around your house, in the sky above you. Leave the punditry and the article links for Twitter because that is what Twitter is made for ((You can always set Brightkite so that your notes and photo links appear on Twitter)) . Let Brightkite be a place where people can look in on the various corners of the planet, not just another open-ended micro-blogging spew ((I do wish to register one complaint: the coders of Brightkite have been promising the ability to edit location information and notes as a soon-to-be-implemented-coming-feature for the last nine months. OK, “very soon” needs to be NOW, guys.)) .