I had meaning to check out jaiku for a while after reading about it on several blogs and hearing that it was a much prettier and more functional alternative to twitter. So today I got an account and I have to say, I like it, at least as far as the idea. jaiku is based in Helsinki, Finland (you should definitely check it out Nanna) so unfortunately the North American text messaging component will only be working upon activation of their shortcode. This means that currently it is not really a twitter competitor here yet, but I emphasize yet. The user interface of the site is so much nicer and the service has loads more functionality.

First, the sites developers seem particularly interested in presence, so you add your location to a map. It didn't seem to work when I added thornwood, ny however. Maybe I should have added US? But I like the idea of visualization, even though I have become wary of map interfaces as a way to do this. Jaiku also allows you to add feeds from any site that has one, like your blog, flickr and del.icio.us. They do this by scanning the page for the actual feed rather then logging into your account using a username and password that you provide. This could be more attractive to users that are not comfortable with providing third party companies personal information, but I wonder if they have anticipated people submitting feeds that don't actually belong to them and what they would do if this causes a problem. The nice thing is, any page, site, topic, tag etc that has a feed you can add, which means you are not limited to just providing your own del.icio.us feed for example, but you can actually add the feed for a particular tag. I added the freeFormed RSS for the ITP circle page (YAY!).

Jaiku also has a mobile application for Nokia phones (pretty sure its a python app) and a java app in private beta. I am planning to download the app to my N80, although it is unclear if the service will work in the US right now.

The service also has some pretty cool flash based badges that you can add to other sites (website/blog/msypace/etc...although they don't seem to have a facebook app- perhaps they should look into that):

The site also has channels that users can post to from their phone. The channels don't seem as developed as the rest of the site, however, as I couldn't find any way to create one but they say that they are in alpha so perhaps more functionality is coming.

All in all, I think this site makes much more sense to me then twitter and feels much easier to use for some reason, at least from the web interface. Which is not necessarily the most important thing, as it is obviously a service designed around the mobile phone. But I like their concept of incorporating mobile functionality into a site that also has other functions/purposes and a lifestreaming component. It remains to be seen if it will catch on significantly here, as I'm sure they will not gain many users until their short code is functional. Thumbs up though!

Add me as a contact if you like!