Plinky has brought new life to the microblogging arena. Launched in May 2008 and open to the public in 2009, it’s a twist on Twitter’s ‘what are you doing’ question. Instead, Plinky helps you to find something to microblog about by providing daily prompts such as questions or challenges. Look around the site and you will find answers to questions as diverse as ‘have you ever gone a day without a mobile phone’ and ‘what’s one of the oldest buildings or landmarks you have ever seen’. Plinky aims to make you first think and then share your views.

Answers can be long or short and may include photos and media. Once you have answered a prompt you can quickly share your answers on your blog, with seven blogging systems currently supported. You can also post answers to Twitter and Facebook and a number of other social networking sites. Plinky also has a friend finder tool to help you locate your existing friends on Plinky.

Plinky is an interesting service, though its functionality is a bit limited at the moment. Unlike similar services you can’t block followers and you can’t tag answers for future reference. However, you can keep a list of favorites and you can edit your answers after they have been submitted, which is a feature lacking in many services.

Practical Uses:

• Cure your writers’ block by using the daily prompts to stimulate creativity
• Use Plinky to collect class answers to a question
• Search the questions and answers for prompts on a particular topic

Insider Tips:

• If you make a mistake, edit your post in Plinky to update it on all your shared services
• Follow daily prompts by email, Twitter or in iGoogle
• Add your blog and other social networking services to your profile page
• Use images when you post to attract more attention to your content
• Submit your own prompts for consideration by the Plinky team

What we liked:

• Plinky is a great concept, and is likely to make people want to write
• The ability to edit your posts after publishing is a killer feature
• Plinky is easy to use and it’s quick to get started

What we didn’t like:

• The feature set is limited
• There is no option to block users yet
• You cannot tag your posts
• There is no private messaging

Alternatives:

Nothing quite like Plinky but here are some similar services:

• Identi.ca – identi.ca
• Kwippy – kwippy.com
• Tumblr – tumblr.com
• Twitter- twitter.com
• Twitter Pigeon – twitterpigeon.com

Company Info:

• Launched: May 2008
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: Lafayette, CA
• Founded by: Jason Shellen
• Web site: www.plinky.com

Costs:

• Free

Rating:

• 3 out of 5 (good)