Jisko Microblogging Platform is a Labor of Love

by Lisa Hoover - Dec. 16, 2009Comments (3)

If you're looking for a variation on standard microblogging services like Twitter and Identi.ca, then you might want to check out Jisko, an open source microblogging platform made in MySQL and PHP. It sports many of the features you'd expect to find in an app like this, including private messages, themes, avatars, Twitter integration and even support for mobile devices. Jisko, a labor of love that's being shepherded along by a small community dedicated to its growth, has an intuitive interface, slick design, and is well worth checking out if you're looking for a new open source project to support.

Jisko's registration process is quick and straightforward, simply pick a username and password, then wait a few seconds for an email confirmation. The registration page is in Spanish, however it's easy to figure out your way around, even if you know nothing of the language. Once your account is set up, the app functions pretty much like every other microblogging platform you've used in the past -- say what you want in a 140 characters or less, and press send. Jisko supports hashtags as a way to tag your updates, and also offers RSS feeds of the public timeline or just updates from your friends.

One neat feature of Jisko that's lacking in some other microblogging services is the ability to attach files to updates. Users can easily upload image or text files to Jisko's server to share with others, and files are available for download in a single click. That said, the potential for receiving nasty stuff this way is pretty high so clicking on files from people you don't know is not recommended.

Even though the Internet is already filled with microblogging services, it's nice to see a small open source project like this spring up and take hold. In fact, when it's developer considered shutting Jisko down recently due to financial concerns, it's community came together and rounded up enough donations to keep the project afloat for the foreseeable future. If you want to give it a whirl, check it out on the Web or download

the package for yourself.