One of the problems I've grappled with for years is how to bring chat room functionality to Amaz0ns. I've tried various solutions but have never been particularly happy with any of them. In the last few days, however, I've become aware of a relatively new service called "Rejaw" and I think it may be just what we need.

I assume a lot of Amaz0ns members are using Twitter by now; if you've used Twitter, Rejaw will seem familiar in a lot of ways. There is one very important difference, though - while Twitter updates are sporadic and Twitter clients check the service every few minutes, Rejaw operates in real time. A post entered on Rejaw should theoretically appear on any Rejaw client or web browser almost instantaneously, like in a chat room. Even better, Rejaw permits longer posts and even some embedded media, as Lingr's chat room does. The result is that users have a lot of flexibility in how they use Rejaw. It can be employed like Twitter or like a chat room, however the user wants, when the user wants.

Another nice thing about Rejaw is that it can function as an anonymous alternative to Twitter. While some people maintain multiple Twitter accounts, that's always seemed risky to me - there's too great a likelihood of posting a Tweet to the wrong account. A totally separate system such as Rejaw greatly reduces this risk.

So please, give it a shot. You can sign up for Rejaw here, start following my posts here, and also join the Female Muscle room. (I used the tremendous photo of Jen Cowan as the icon.)

Update: There's a Windows version of the RejawRadar application available now - here. Also look for a Firefox plugin and an instant messenger tool.