So Plurk is all about creating karma.  I’m not sure I get it.

I’m familiar with the term but I’m not sure how it applies to this particular form of social media.
Let’s look at what increases your Plurk karma: microposting, replying, getting more ‘friends’ and ‘fans’, using icons in your posts, and inviting people to join.

I mean, to me, karma’s about doing good and being rewarded. Plurk’s about talking about yourself in, possibly, a very inane way. It’s about being popular and joining a clique. It’s about being able to click on smiley faces. It’s about having the time to obsess about your little karma number going up and down.
Essentially, Plurk is engaging you in a game rather than a distinct form of social connectivity. Unlike Twitter, where the content of your tweets determines your value in the community, Plurk values frequency and absurdity (what’s the difference between a ‘friend’ and a ‘fan’? No one I’ve asked on Plurk even seems to care).

How does this increase one’s ability to connect and share through media? I’m not sure yet if it does. In fact, I think that it bypasses the ‘social’ part of social media in a way that encourages anti-social behaviours, to a certain extent. People trying to drive up their karma numbers will pollute the timeline with valueless fluff and winking yellow faces, bringing in additional players to the game.

Twitter may be falling apart half the time, but I’ll take dharma over karma any day of the week.

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