Pownce remains a hot topic in the blogosphere. Kevin Rose’s latest creation launched two weeks ago, and everyone’s considering it a serious entry into the social network realm. This microblogging platform is exciting, and after spending the weekend playing with it, here’s a review from both a user’s perspective and a marketing perspective.

User Review

Some say the main microblogging platforms — each unique– do not compete. How to put this diplomatically… Keep smoking that funny stuff, fellas. There’s just so much time each user can spend every day. Eventually, they will come to rely on one platform. To be frank, I am going to use the one that’s both enjoyable and best suits my needs. Like blogging guru Robert Scoble said, how can all of these networks survive? In fact, if you check the Alexa stats (this idea came from Mike), Jaiku’s definitely looking at last place.

Of the big three microblogging platforms — Jaiku, Pownce and Twitter — I like Pownce the best so far. It flat out rocks — even with all of the beta bugs. When I first entered Jaiku, I thought Twitter, plus more difficult. That was the last time I played with Jaiku. And Twittering is very enjoyable, so a vote for Pownce should not be taken lightly.

Pownce really is buggy, though. For example, Powncers experienced a three hour outage today. There’s no badge (which would be nice), it’s not mobile (SMS bill is relieved), and the private messaging seems iffy. Unlike Twitter there’s no API, so we have less apps to play with. Further the Facebook plug-in seems to be on the fritz. Finally, the invite system — seven per new user — has caused folks to go onto ebay to get into Pownce. If you opt not to take the $20 user fee, you sporadically get an ad, which is a tolerable nuisance.

At the same time, it is so much more robust in function and peering than Twitter. You can take friends and put them in groups, the UI is superior to Twitter, and you can add events, files and URLs to any post. The user interface is fun, too, so it goes beyond function into aesthetics.

Most importantly, from a social standpoint, it’s a lot easier to make friends, and it’s a lot easier to interact with them. I like my Twitter friends, but in 6 days I created more friends on Pownce than I have in 6 weeks on Twitter. Further, we’re having more meaningful conversations. So it’s meeting my style better than Twitter. Does that mean I am going to abandon Twitter? Not yet.

Marketing Review

OK, from a marketing perspective, what’s the so what for any or all of these microblogging platforms. First of all, they do represent a great participation pull mechanism. Meaning, if you actually participate in your networks of choice (this also applies to FaceBook and other networks) transparently and honestly, then people may actually be interested in your blog, video, podcast or whatever else. Until this post, I have not promoted a URL on Pownce other than my profile, and it’s already becoming a top five referrer for me.

Participation in social networks for serious bloggers and corporations is a must. The facts are simple. Blogging has hit a point where you need to rise above the rest of the blog voices out there to garner interest from your community. To do that, participation in select, relevant social networks like MyRagan or Twitter is becoming one of the best methods to begin interacting with your community.

Secondly, it’s easier to build a network here. So for cause marketing (Red Cross, Live Earth, etc.), it’s probably easier to spread the love and keep your contacts updated. This is a really likable Twitter feature that allows updates from your favorite membership organizations. It would be great if more non-profits got this. It’ll be interesting to see if cause-based marketing takes off in Pownce, too.

Lastly, advertising! At a flat rate of $3.00 per one thousand displays ($3CPM), this seems pretty reasonable. Of course reaching a network of ten million would cost you $30,000. Hey, that’s what a full page ad in the Washington Post costs (an educated approximation). It’ll be interesting to see how these ads fare, and how well they take off.

What do you think? Take the poll and let the world know which microblogging network you like the most. Also, if you’d like a Pownce invite, ping me. I have two left.