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Hi, I'm William. I'm the Director, Online Banking & Engagement at Vancity, Canada's largest credit union.

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Twitter is where my community is.

A few weeks back I wrote about the mass migration over the weekend of my Twitter community to Pownce. We were all impressed with Pownce's platform and the ability to have more detailed threaded conversations.

But it didn't last. Even Ron Shevlin who proclaimed that he had moved to Pownce and was never looking back, went back. Now it seems like no one is left on Pownce. And why is that?

I think it shows that community is more important than the platform. Twitter is where everyone is. Naturally there were some holdouts, and as a result the community was less fulsome on Pownce, and we went back.

I would guess this will happen to anyone using social media to foster community and relationships. It will happen a lot.

Labels: pownce, social media, twitter

posted on Sunday, February 24, 2008

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4 comments
This reminds me of my younger days, when a new bar/club opened, everyone starting going there. But after a little bit, we were all back to our old favorite (Yes, Morriss, that would be Arch Street Tavern).

It doesn't matter if it's online or in person, groups tend to stay together in a community.
comment from Nancy Ninesling on February 24, 2008

Hi Nancy, thanks for the comment.

Yes, and sometimes that old favourite is really a pit and everyone actually liked the new place that just opened across town better - but when someplace feels like home that's hard to deny.

I love a good analogy.
comment from

wazaroff on February 24, 2008

Shevlin also proclaimed he'd never be on Twitter in the first place. :)

Good to see everyone back.

Community trumps, indeed.
comment from

Trey Reeme on February 25, 2008

In the end, I figured this would happen to Pownce. If Pownce had been released around the same time as Twitter, the outcome may have been different, but I think Twitter has established itself as the leader in this category.

The other thing is that I HATE setting up new accounts for websites. If I were to have joined Pownce, I would have had to write my profile, add all of my friends, redistribute my Pownce profile link, etc.

It's much easier to find a good solution and stick to it.
comment from

Mike Templeton on February 25, 2008

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