Plurk = Death of My Writing Skills

For those who have never heard of Plurk, it is an online service that allows users to keep “a social journal for their life” through micro-blogging or posting of entries not longer than 140 characters each. For those who are more familiar with Twitter, think of Plurk like Twitter on a Gantt chart, with each entry pegged on a timeline corresponding to the actual time the entry was posted, instead of the usual chronological arrangement. Because of the 140-character limit of each entry, plurkers are compelled to write as briefly as they can. The result of this is that people on Plurk generally just provide status updates about what they’re doing at a particular time. Unlike a regular blog entry, wherein one has to think of an attention-grabbing title, a body consisting of a coherent train of thought, and an ending with a mind shattering conclusion or profound food for thought, Plurk (or Twitter) does not require you to think and ponder and stew in your creative juices anymore. All you need to do is type what you’re doing, and voila, you got yourself a blog entry, albeit a micro-sized one. And it spelled the death of my LiveJournal account.