Microblogging Has Reached TPJC.net

Microblogging is not something new to our college bloggers, especially those who have been utilizing Twitter or Plurk for a long period of time. For those who are unfamiliar with the thirteen-word term, it is simply a form of blogging that allows users to send short text updates.














TPJC.net's microblogging service is known as 'Say What You Want'. Yes, you read it right...you can say whatever you want (at least for now). Students are also able subscribe to the feeds of other users by clicking on their avatars. It follows a similar format with that of Twitter, which -in this case- enables users to follow other members. Students can also view their subscriptions and subscribers (who are either their friends or stalkers) on the right hand panel of its main page.

I have yet to use the service but I was definitely entertained by some of the messages published. Initially, students were confused by the whole thing. Nonetheless, they soon figured everything out and can now be seen using the service expertly. In fact, I think the service has managed to earn its first few regular users already.
















Although the idea is great, I am still struggling to figure out the objective behind it. TPJC.net already has an active online forum and a useful 'Ask A Question' platform (which is similar to Yahoo! answers). Somehow it seems like our student portal is becoming more like a venue for students to socialize. Perhaps that is the whole purpose of TPJC.net since we also have the AsknLearn platform (the not-so-popular educational workspace for students).

It is good to innovate new features but I fear our beloved student portal may look terribly messy at the end of the day.