Go ahead, Plurk your world!

This post first appeared in Manila Bulletin’s Terchnews last December 24, but I don’t think it was uploaded online. So here’s sharing with you my thoughts on Plurk and the many ways by which you can Plurk your world!

Is the Philippines on its way to becoming the next Plurking capital of the world? Unlike in other countries where Twitter continues to reign, Plurking appears to be the more popular microblogging medium now, at least among the denizens of the blogosphere. Not a few have said that they’ve left Twitter for good, or visit there now ONLY occasionally.

Let us dissect some of the reasons why.

Firstly, Plurk is addicting because of the karma philosophy involved. You gain points every time you Plurk, and lose points for even a day of missing it. It’s a slow, uphill climb but human nature dictates that nobody wants to go down, as far as thge Plurk score is concerned. You see, after attaining so much number of points (let’s say 80), you’re supposed to reach Nirvana, or the state of eternal Plurkiness. After Nirvana, one’s supposed to aspire for more, and it escapes us what’s the highest Plurk points out here. The only secret we can tell you is that you Plurk with consistency every day and Plurk Buddy will take care of the rest.

Then, there’s the concept of having Fans and Friends. The more, the merrier; and the more friends/fans you have is supposed to indicate how popular/likeable you are. You’re given Plurk icons if you’ve attained the desired number of fans or invited this many users.

Perhaps, Plurk’s most endearing trait is its ability to give instant interaction among Plurk users. Let’s say I greet everyone “Good Morning!” and 12 of my friends will greet me back.Perhaps, along the way, somebody will make a totally zany comment, or reciprocate with an equally zany emoticon.

The Plurk banana is certainly one emoticon I love. The Plurk banana dances and rocks. I wonder they haven’t imported him to YM or Google yet, he’s certainly lovable. Other unique Plurk emoticons are W00t, Ninja, Hungry and Music 🙂

In my barely six months in Plurk, I’ve been witness to some weird happenings. Like this one time a pair of lovebirds quarreled, in public! It was like a Korean telenovela unfolding. Or how some people seem to Plurk everything they do, even the most trivial ones, just to up their karma points. Whew!

Another has the fondness for attaching photos of sexy to nude women. He says its Not Safe For Work (NSFW), but I actually wonder now why I am able to see it…. at work! LOL. There’s also the touching tale of Harley_Quinn, a Filipina plurker based in France, who died in a car accident after her engagement party. To pay tribute to her, friends and family requested Plurk admin to set her Plurk karma to Infinity, a request which was immediately granted.

In Plurk, some people post recipes and food photos like there’s tomorrow. It’s almost a never-ending routine to see them Plurk about what they had for breakfast, lunch and dinner!!

Plurk is also becoming the penultimate source of information, especially among bloggers. Am afraid they don’t even email each other anymore, and texting probably has become secondary.They now use Plurk to be updated about the latest blogger events and happenings. Plurk Team Philippines has created a totally new term to describe Plurk meet-ups, usually held in coffee shops and doughnut stores. It’s called the Plurk Fiesta.

The Plurk Fiesta is where newsbits and rumors are discussed more extensively In Real Life (IRL). Online , one can choose who to share the juicy tidbits with those in your circle, and it goes by the name Private Plurk.

It’s really a wonder why I don’t check my news feeds anymore. I just log on to Plurk and I get apprised of the latest links to newspaper headlines or the latest posts made by bloggers. The beauty of Plurking is that links and reactions are made instantly and in a jiffy.

Of course, there’s the bonus of having some celebrities among my Plurk friends. These include the great Brazilian author Paulo Coelho and good ol’ IcanHazCheezburger. Locally, I dig the philosophical humor of Bob Ong.

So there, just some of the reasons why you must Plurk your world!