Since Midgard is now able to import my Jaiku presence information, I’ve finally switched to it completely from Twitter. Since the discussion about the merits of these two different services are being discussed actively, I though I should give some of my reasons:

• Jaiku cleanly separates comments from presence, keeping it clear what is your current status, and what a discussion is about

• Jaiku is able to import external presence-related data like my blog entries, Flickr photos, Youtube videos and Plazes tracks as they come online, but also these are separated from the actual presence updates (or tweets, if you prefer the term)

• Jaiku is based here in Helsinki, Finland. This means it is so much easier for me to meet them if I for example want to discuss some integration ideas in the future

• Jaiku makes it much easier to invite my contacts to the network. Instead of requiring me to hunt email addresses, I can just log into Google Talk via Jaiku’s site and automatically invite all my buddies

• Jaiku gets more than just the web. I love the idea of adding presence information to my mobile phone’s phonebook. This way I can check that I won’t be disturbing people before calling them, and opt for sending an unobtrusive SMS instead

• The mobile phone app gets contextual information as well, apparently marking me as busy based on my calendar reservations. I wish it updated my location from Plazes as well, though

• And finally, Jaiku is slightly prettier

The areas Twitter wins in, on the other hand, are:

• Simpler user interface. There is only the status entry box

• Better desktop integration via various apps and widgets

For me, the advantages Jaiku gives are clearly bigger than the ones Twitter has. This means that the status data on my site now comes from there, and people wanting to keep in touch are more than welcome to add me as their Jaiku contact.