I've Joined Jaiku

Before I proceed, I'm sure my loyal readers would have realised by now that my blog has gone through yet another redesign. It's been a few months since I did some decluttering on my blog. I thought it was time for a little more decluttering and I've also taken into account the comments I've received (such as the narrow blog column in particular :P) and made some changes to the whole layout. Let me know how you feel about this new layout. :)

Alright, back to topic. I've joined Jaiku. So what's Jaiku? It's actually a micro-blogging service where you get updates I post about myself (or whatever I decide to comment on) immediately on your mobile phones (or emails if you prefer). Sure everyone's on Twitter and Malaysians are warming up to PacMee but I think Jaiku's for me.

With Twitter suffering constant outages and PacMee being a paid service (and only restricted to Maxis and Hotlink users), I think my choosing Jaiku is quite justified. Also, it has a lot more features than Twitter which I feel will come in real handy. For example, you can also share your RSS subscriptions and comment on each Jaiku update, something Twitter and PacMee isn't capable of.

So how does this thing work? Everytime I post an update, say I'm watching Ratatouille at Queensbay Mall or I'm eating Char Koay Teow at New Lane or I saw something interesting that I wanted to share with you all, you will receive that update through SMS, email and/or instant messenger quite instantaneously.

So why have I decided to let you all in on mundane stuff like what I'm eating? Well, actually I'm not exactly gonna flood you guys with what I'm having for breakfast, lunch and dinner but if I do find something interesting, I can immediately post an update. It's much easier than writing a full length blog post but will definitely not replace blogging.

So fret not. I will still be blogging here but you may have realised I've not been blogging as frequently as before and I constantly get requests for new blog entries to be posted up (or even storytelling sessions through instant messaging) although I do not have the time and/or motivation to do so. So with Jaiku, I'll be able to update more frequently and you won't have to wait so long for updates (and stories). With each update limited to only 140 characters, the longer "stories" will still be featured on this blog. ;)

Some have complained that the updates take awhile to reach their intended recipients but from the trials I've run, the updates are quite instantaneous. Maybe there will be times when the service will suffer a little lag time but I'm sure it's better than Twitter and its constant outages, no?

So how do you get my Jaiku updates? See the Jaiku badge on the right side of my blog? Click on the "Follow kshern on Jaiku.com" link, register for a Jaiku account, add me as a contact, set and confirm your notifications for mobile, email and/or instant messaging and you're set. The process is very simple, really.

Will it cost you anything to receive the updates? Nope, it's totally free even if I flood you with a million updates a day (which I will not...I promise...cross my heart and hope to die :P). The only time you need to pay anything is a one-time charge of 20sen (if you're from Malaysia) for the international SMS reply to Jaiku to confirm you would like to receive updates from your mobile phone. You'll have to set this through the notification page.

It's more costly for me to update from my phone than PacMee (20sen vs 10sen per update) but I can always opt for the web or Google Talk option to post updates which is totally free. At least with Jaiku, my friends on Digi can still receive my updates whereas PacMee is exclusively for Maxis and Hotlink users only.

Come on now, register your own Jaiku account and join me on this journey. Get ready to receive my Jaiku spam! :)

Keywords: Jaiku blog redesign layout Twitter PacMee Malaysia Maxis Hotlink micro-blogging nano-blogging SMS instant messaging