I resisted getting a MySpace page a few years back when it exploded in popularity, because I failed to see how ugly public pages full of crap most people couldn’t care less about would enhance my social life online. Facebook was a much easier sell for me because I could get the best of social networking features wrapped in a package that actually looks good, protects my privacy, and gives me easy tools to keep track of my close aquaintances.

Twitter also exploded in popularity in recent times, and I resisted getting an account there because I failed to see why anyone would be interested in the fact that I ate a coffee yogurt and cranberry juice for breakfast this morning. Plus relying on a single server to manage nothing more than a stream of tiny messages seemed completely stupid. (Yes, I know I use Pownce for the same purpose, but it’s mainly just a way to stick a little thought-of-the-day feed onto my own blog). It’s like if everyone’s e-mail was all just off of a single server, like Gmail…oh, wait…

I hate to say “I told you so”, but when I read this erudite post on TechCrunch, it was like a breath of fresh air. If microblogging is truly a new part of basic Internet infrastructure like e-mail or IM, which I suppose it is at this point, then we need to introduce some standards and some reliable way to use the same technology with multiple service providers. Twitter may remain the top microblogging platform by virtue of its current reach and its brand, but the walled garden mentality can’t last much longer. The medium is too important to allow it to remain in the hands of only one provider, any more than there’s only one blog provider or one IM provider or one e-mail provider or one music download provider.

Just say yes to open microblogging!