Pownce

Guide Note: Pownce is a micro-blogging site similar to Twitter and Jaiku. Pownce users may post short messages and media to be seen by the public or just (all or some of) their friends. Such messages can be posted via the website or with the use of an external application. Although the service is comparable to Twitter in virtually every way, it has not garnered the user base or third-party support of Twitter.

Fast Facts

1. Open to everyone
2. Launched: June 2007
3. Founders: Leah Culver, Daniel Burka, Kevin Rose, and Shawn Allen
4. Platform: Adobe AIR

Though there is less third-party support for Pownce than there is for, users who prefer a desktop application can use one that was developed by the Pownce team. The Ponce application is very similar to Twitter applications Twitterific and Twhirl.

Kevin Rose, one of the founders of Pownce, already had a successful track record in the technology industry. He gained public attention as a host on Attack of the Show on the G4 network, then called Tech TV. He star rose even further after he left; he went on to found the social link-sharing site Digg and to host the popular webcast Diggnation. Leah Culver was known for her "Help Me Buy A Laptop" campaign, but she quickly became one of the most visible and talked-about women in the tech sector after the launch of Pownce.