Pick Your Presence Tool

SETUP REQUIRED
Like Jyngle, Loopnote feels like it's for adults, and it requires similar premeditation: Everybody in a message loop must have an account, and as the owner of a group, you have to manually add members before they can get messages.

A loop combines a topic and a group of people. You might set one up for your book club or poker buddies. When members sign up, they choose how they want to receive messages--SMS, e-mail, IM, or RSS.

Loopnote has control built in: The owner of a loop makes it public or private and can delegate control of who posts messages. Messages are limited to 100 characters and can carry a link to an extended note that can include document text, images, and even links to YouTube videos. But Loopnote doesn't keep a history And while you can compose and send messages on the Loopnote site or by sending an e-mail to Loopnote.com, you can't use IM or SMS to create messages.

VOICE OPTION
Pinger, in many ways, is a voice-activated version of Jyngle. You use your cell phone to create and deliver voice messages to individuals and groups. It works by mixing in a little text messaging.

To create a message, you call Pinger and say the names of contacts and groups you've previously set up in your account or the phone number of someone you want to message ad hoc. Pinger prompts you through the process of addressing and recording your voice message, then texts the recipients with a phone number they can dial to hear it. Voice prompts let listeners reply or forward your message.

Pinger also offers an online option, so you can create a message from a computer equipped with a microphone and annotate it with brief text. You can manage your account online, adding contacts and creating groups, and you get an inbox that shows all your messages.

If you have a BlackBerry 7000 or 8000, or Treo 600, 650, 680, or 700p, you can download a Pinger application that provides single-click message retrieval and lists your last 10 messages.

COLLABORATION CENTRAL
Swarm-it, from Swarmteams, can send short text messages to SMS, e-mail, or IM addresses, and it lets you add extended text for e-mail and IM. Everybody in the group, or "swarm," you create must sign up for an account and set their messaging preferences.

Swarm-it isn't as flexible as Loopnote in the control it gives you over who can initiate a message, but it's far more flexible in the amount of communication it permits. Members can reply to and forward messages and upload files for sharing from the Swarm server. Send out a meeting invitation and get back RSVPs as replies. Upload a file and send out a message to the swarm saying it's ready for them to download.

Swarm-it offers the most robust collaboration environment of any of the services reviewed here. Swarmteams also offers a Swarm-pro version with additional features aimed at enterprise customers.

For individual users, Swarm-it charges a dime apiece for SMS messages; e-mail and IM are free. You get 50 free SMS messages if you sign up with a cell phone number, and you can buy more, 100 at a time, through PayPal.

The user interface is business-like (translation: very plain), but it provides a complete history of the messages sent and shows replies in context. Swarm-it also lets users send one-to-one messages--but this isn't always a good thing. You can send a message via IM, for example, without having an IM account configured in Swarm-it. The user receiving the message can send a reply, and the reply sails off into the ether without any notification of nondelivery to either party.

This story originally appeared as a longer version in:
"Review: Tangling With Twitter -- 8 Alternative Services"