Many of your are familiar with my desire to discover where new tech overlaps with existing tech. I’ve thought for some time that µblogging was similar to existing stuff, but couldn’t quite place my finger on what the model would be to have the same experience in an existing system.
I think I now have it for IRC.
A µblogging site is an IRC channel where everyone is /ignore’d by default and where messages that would have been highlighted get through even if the user is /ignore’d.
That way, mentions/replies (and track!) get through from everyone, and people you un-/ignore you get all messages from.