Jaculate!
March 4th, 2009
You can’t end a conversation with digital types these days without them making their fingers into guns and saying ‘Tweet ya later!’. But is Twitter really the future? Or is it the forerunner of something better…
Jaculate! is a new web service that takes the Twitter principles to extremes by giving users just a single character to play with. It may seem restrictive but just as Twitter’s 140-character limit makes users wittier and more concise, Jaculate!’s rules are also stimulating new creativity. Already a highly compressed language has evolved that is capable of surprising nuance.
For instance:
‘L’ means ‘LOL. Jac u later!’.
‘c’ means ‘If anyone wants to meet up I’m coming to Crewe on the 1132 train on 12 October. Jac u later!’
‘C’ means ‘You have got to see this. Jac u later!’
‘F’ means ‘I’m stuck in a lift with Stephen Fry, not really. Jac u later!’
Whether Jaculate! will catch on outside the digerati is anyone’s guess. Its chief rival apart from Twitter is of course Extemporise, another new service which gives users a minimum word count of 140,000. Over a million users worldwide have already signed up to use Extemporise by giving a two-page proposal of what their first post will be about, and the treatises should start to appear in 2011. We can’t wait to see what the Twitter community will have to say about them!
Entry Filed under: Ideas, New media, Technology
13 Comments
Add your own1. anon | March 4th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
p
2. Jason | March 4th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
x
3. Tom | March 4th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
!
4. ideasbrothers | March 4th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Thanks for your input. As far as we can work out,
‘p’ = ‘parked in a disabled spot at Tesco Extra this afternoon, just for a treat. Jac you later!’
‘x’ = ‘now fashioning a cross for dad’s crucifixion. Jac you later!’
‘!’ = ‘Fuck-attack! Jac you later!’
If you anymore let us know.
5. Gordon Comstock | March 4th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
*
6. Kirk | March 4th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
‘o’ = “Oh”
7. James Mitchell | March 4th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
_
8. Сергей | March 22nd, 2009 at 9:12 am
Респект! я очень вам благодарен за вашу статью.
9. golublog | April 7th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
I can see this catching on. Less to read for the kiddies.
10. ideasbrothers | April 9th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
‘*’ = ‘I’ve just learnt to spot cassiopeia - but will it be enough to get back the girl of my dreams? Jac u later!’
‘-’ = ‘can’t leave desk for lunch right now, have erection + wearing summer trousers. Jac u later!’
11. benjamin dives | May 28th, 2009 at 1:48 am
‘B’ = Just eaten a delicious bowl of ramen with Dick Cheney in Basingstoke, and hes asked me back to his studio flat for a coffee! Jaculicious!
‘C’ = Not sure whether to go to Hampstead Heath for a spot of cottaging, Arsenal for a spot of terracing, or Soho for a spot of semi-detaching. Jacunfused S-(
12. MS | August 18th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
‘\’= I think I just discovered where ‘the edge’ is, but fear drew me back just in the nick of time
13. Reductio ad absurdum&hellip | November 10th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
[…] fun a it. So thank goodness for The Ideas Brothers, (one of whom is a Plain Text alumnus), who have imagined where Twitter might go next. And for Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau, also poking gentle fun. This entry was posted in […]
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