What it is:  Microblogging tool with 140 character limit. 

How it works:  Plurk is similar to twitter. It allows nested and threaded conversations, which could be a big advantage for the classroom. In this article, the author compares twitter and plurk by commenting, "Plurk is best at its features for community-building, whereas Twitter succeeds more with its interface that bolsters information-sharing."

How it might be used in education:  Can create "cliques" and share information among this group. Would be easy to do with a class.

Pros:  Free to use, can share images and videos, can use keyword searches to locate comments

Cons:   Does not move to mobile devices. Not as widely used as twitter so students may not be familiar. Also has a concept called "karma" where the more you use the more features you gain access to -- meaning students may not have access to everything you would like.

Find it at:  http://www.plurk.com/t/English#hot