Even though it’s already been said, I sorta’ figured it needed to be said again. For those who haven’t yet heard – and trust me, you will – Jaiku is Web 2.0’s latest bright idea, and I for one am mightily impressed. It’s as if someone took a look at my messy online life and just rolled up their sleeves and said: “Alright – I’m cleaning this shit up”.
While many have compared it to Twitter, Jaiku’s primary function is to aggregate one’s own RSS feeds. So rather than working like a straight RSS reader, if, for example, you have a blog, post photos to Flickr, use last.fm and use a social bookmarking service like de.licio.us, Jaiku puts your feeds from all those sites in one, neat, aesthetically pleasing location. Yes, there is a little 140 character spot for microblogging, but you can even put your Twitter feed on, so there’s no need to leave that service – unless, of course, you’re Leo Laporte.
While many have claimed that Jaiku continues the nanoblogging trend – a trend that is as equally reviled as it is adored – Jaiku seems to be more concerned with RSS consolidation, or what has been termed ‘presence management’ by some. While that sounds awfully fancy – and in conception actually is quite sophisticated – what it does is quite basic: takes everything you do online and puts it one place.
Of course, here’s my Jaiku, because I’m pretty convinced this is going to make waves. It may not be Jaiku itself – other sites may begin to incorporate it or just appropriate its ideas – but presence awareness is here to stay. Here’s some more reading:
Eric Berlin’s take at the Online Media Cultist
Rafe Needleman’s Take on Webware
