Plurk
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 Screenshot of a Plurk timeline |
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| URL | Plurk.com |
|---|---|
| Commercial? | Yes |
| Type of site | Micro-blogging |
| Registration | Required |
| Available language(s) | Multilingual |
| Owner | Plurk, Inc. |
| Created by | The A-team[1] |
| Launched | May 12, 2008[2] |
Plurk is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates (otherwise known as plurks) through short messages or links, which can be up to 140 text characters in length.
Updates are then shown on the user's home page using a timeline which lists all the updates received in chronological order, and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Users can respond to other users' updates from their timeline through the Plurk.com website, by instant messaging, or by text messaging.
According to Alexa, as of December 24, 2011[update], 37.6% of Plurk's traffic comes from Taiwan.[3] Plurk is also ranked 36th in Taiwan and 1,732nd worldwide.[3]
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[edit] History
Plurk was developed by and envisioned as a communication medium meant to form a balance between blogs and social networks, and between e-mail messaging and instant messaging. After months of development, Plurk was launched on May 12, 2008.[4]
The etymology of the name was explained by the developers as such:[5]
- abbreviation of 'people' and 'lurk'
- portmanteau of 'play' and 'work'
- acronym of peace, love, unity, respect, and karma
- verb neologism, similar to how Google was eventually used as a verb
[edit] Features and technology
Plurk's interface shows updates in horizontal form through a scrollable timeline written in JavaScript and updated through AJAX. Users can modify the interface using CSS and HTML scripts as well. Users can post new messages with optional 'qualifiers', which are one-word verbs used to represent a thought (e.g. "feels", "thinks", "loves", etc.). There are also advanced features such as sending updates only to a subset of your friends, posting updates on events earlier in the day, and sharing images, videos, and other media.[6] Users can upload media files through youtube, links, webcam and upload from their computer. Plurks can also be "liked", as in other social sites. In addition, it also has a birthday reminder feature. This feature places a birthday cake sign on the all messages of the user on their birthday.
Plurk also supports group conversations between friends and allows usage of emoticons together with the usual text micro-blogging.[7] Plurk also supports user to upload their own pictures as emoticons that they can used in the messages with their friends.
The Plurk.com developers allowed public access to the API on December 4, 2009.[8]
Due to messages being sent between users in near-realtime, many users use Plurk as an alternative to chat.
[edit] Availability in other languages
To help translate their base list of qualifiers/verbs, Plurk hosts its own translation website where users can submit translations of the Plurk user interface in other languages.[9] As of July 2008, Plurk is translated into over twenty languages.
[edit] Reception
Plurk has often been considered to be a rival to Twitter, an earlier micro-blogging service.[10][11]
In June 2008, Plurk received online attention when it was featured by Leo Laporte and Amber MacArthur on their net@night show in the TWiT.tv podcast network.[12][13]
[edit] Controversies
[edit] MSN Juku controversy
[edit] Post calling for the assassination of President Ma Ying-jeou
On March 20, 2010, Taiwanese police investigated an Internet threat posted on plurk.com that called for the assassination of the President of the Republic of China, Ma Ying-jeou.[14]
[edit] References
- ^ Plurk.com. "The A-Team". Plurk Inc.. http://www.plurk.com/plurkteam. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
- ^ Amir Salihefendic (2008-05-12). "Plurk.com opens up". http://amix.dk/blog/viewEntry/19320. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
- ^ a b plurk.com - Site Info from Alexa. Retrieved on December 24, 2011.
- ^ akan (2008-05-20). "das leben der anderen - a window into the lives of others.". Plurk Inc.. http://blog.plurk.com/2008/05/20/das-leben-der-anderen-a-window-into-the-lives-of-others/. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
- ^ akan (2008-06-02). "‘Plurk’? An etymological deconstruction of the word you love to hate". Plurk Inc.. http://blog.plurk.com/2008/06/02/why-plurk-an-etymological-deconstruction-of-the-word-you-love-to-hate/. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
- ^ Plurk.com. "FAQ". Plurk, Inc.. http://www.plurk.com/faq. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
- ^ Prashant Sharma. "Why Plurking is more fun than tweeting". TechPluto. http://www.techpluto.com/plurk-over-twitter/. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
- ^ alvin (2009-12-04). "Plurk API Service". Plurk.com. http://blog.plurk.com/2009/12/04/plurk-api-service/.
- ^ akan (2008-06-28). "Introducing the Plurk Collaborative Translation Project - Help Us Bring Plurk to your Language". Plurk Inc.. http://blog.plurk.com/2008/06/28/introducing-the-plurk-collaborative-translation-project/. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
- ^ Michael Muchmore (2008-06-23). "Plurk.com - Full Review - Reviews by PC Magazine". Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc.. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2321480,00.asp. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
- ^ Stii Pretorius (2008-06-03). "Plurk, the new Twitter?". Mail & Guardian Online. http://www.techleader.co.za/stii/2008/06/03/plurk-the-new-twitter/. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
- ^ Amber MacArthur and Leo Laporte (2008-06-04). "net@night 55: Tiffany Roll". TwiT.tv. http://twit.tv/natn55. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
- ^ Rafe Needleman (2008-06-02). "Plurk: Like Twitter, in good and bad ways". CNET Networks, Inc.. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-9957487-2.html?tag=bl. Retrieved 2008-07-23. "An influx of users over the weekend (which is being blamed on or credited to Leo Laporte) has apparently overloaded the system, and occasionally users may find elements of it not working."
- ^ "Plurk User Calls for Assassination of Taiwan President". taipeitimes.com. 2009-03-21. http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2010/03/21/2003468547.
[edit] External links
- Plurk.com homepage
- Plurk API
- Plurk Collaborative Translation Project
- Plurk Themes - Showcasing the best Plurk themes in the world
- Plurk Layouts - style your Plurk profile
- Beautifying Your Plurk World! - Plurk Templates
- Plurk for android, powered by Maxthon
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