Identi.ca offers microbloggers an alternative to Twitter

Sick of seeing the Fail Whale when Twitter crashes?

You might want to try Identi.ca, a Montreal-based alternative.

Like Twitter, Identi.ca allows users to post status updates via the Web, text messaging, and third-party applications.

The site also supports posting by e-mail and Jabber instant messaging, lets you automatically forward your notices to Twitter, and uses hash tagging, OpenID, and other good stuff. You can’t, however, restrict access to your posts to friends, at least not yet.

According to founder Evan Prodromou, Identi.ca, which launched in July, has about 30,000 users.