Kevin Rose (of Digg-fame) launched his new startup, Pownce, last month, which some have described as a potential Twitter-killer. And while the application can be used in a Twitter-like fashion, with its micro-blogging functionality, I think it’s more an attempt to bridge the gap between asynchronous and Instant Messaging, in a post-email era.

From the website: “Pownce is brought to you by a bunch of geeks who were frustrated trying to send stuff from one cube to another.” The service basically allows users to send messages, links, files, and events, to their social network or to be published on their public profile.

So essentially, Pownce can be used in two modes:

1. as a public micro-blogging platform (similar to Twitter or Facebook’s status functionality), with messages made public
2. as a closed communication and sharing platform. “Kind of like CC’ing an email, only recipients can see and respond to what you send”, explains the site.

Which explains why many — like myself — are having trouble understanding the value of Pownce, and what, if anything, it brings to the table. If you need the micro-blogging features, why not use Twitter or any of the other dedicated platforms? And if you need the group messaging and sharing functionality, why not stick to the traditional combination of email, IM and media sharing services such as Flickr?

However, before I write off Pownce too early, let’s drill down to some of its features and look at their strengths and weaknesses.

Different kinds of messages

One of the better features of Pownce is that it distinguishes between different kinds of messages: with free-form text, links, events, and files, as separate options. This enables each kind of message to have additional functionality. So for example, events can be RSVP’d, not unlike upcoming.org, or links formatted distinctively from other messages. By categorizing messages this way, you can also filter your ‘in-box’ by link, file, event etc.

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