It's
a pretty good bet that if you're not making a Twitter or Facebook
application, you're probably making a lifestreaming application. Okay,
so not everyone is into lifestreaming, but it is one of the hottest
areas for development out there, and there are an overwhelming amount
of services offering a way to aggregate all the little bits of your
online life (which, for the purpose of this post, is the definition of
lifestreaming that we'll use). Richard MacManus wrote an excellent primer
on lifestreaming in January, but we touched on just 5 such services.
The purpose of this post, rather than to review, is to just list the
various options out there.
Lifestreaming apps generally fall into two categories: those that
help you keep track of and display your own lifestream and those that
help you keep track of your friend's lifestreams (or both). For the
sake of clarity, we've focused mainly on the former for this list.
- Tumblr - Tumblr is a microblogging application that also allows the inclusion of activity streams from other services.
- Onaswarm - Onaswarm, which is in private beta, is a dedicated lifestreaming app that supports a wide variety of other services.
- Jaiku - The chief function of
Jaiku, as a presence app similar to Twitter, is enhanced by letting
users aggregate activity from outside services. - Lifestrea.ms - Lifestrea.ms -- in closed beta -- is a dedicated activity stream aggregator that quotes our review in the company line by calling itself a "standards based nerve center."
- Soup.io - Similar to Tumblr,
Soup.io is a microblogging application. It also supports outside status
updates for 11 services and any RSS feed. - FriendFeed - Due to being
founded by a bunch of ex-Googlers, FriendFeed might hold the crown for
most talked about lifestreaming app. It supports nearly 30 web sites. - MyBlogLog - MyBlogLog, which specializes in creating ad-hoc social networks around blogs, just got into lifestreaming with an update last night.
- Profilactic - Profilactic supports 135 sites. Yes, 135 sites. As well as the ability to add your own. Have fun.
- iStalkr - iStalkr is a hub
for your social media activity and that of your friends and family,
with a unique approach to lifestreaming that puts your life on a
timeline. - Correlate.us - Correlate.us
creates a river of activity for a handful of supported sites, and
graphs which sites you use the most, all with the design sensibilities
of del.icio.us. - ProfileFly - Focused on social
networks, ProfileFly creates a replacement profile that mashes up
status updates from your existing social profiles. - Second Brain - Second Brain
takes takes a slightly less automatic approach to life streaming by
asking that you categorize and group your activity into collections.
See our review. - Explode.us - Explode.us is a social media search engine that also offers "a profile to consolidate your various online presences."
- liveZuu - A lifestreaming application that supports 28 networks and offer a Facebook app.
- OneSwirl - A newer dedicated lifestream aggregator that celebrated its first public release today.
- Socialthing! - Currently in
closed beta, Socialthing! is a promising lifestreaming service that
offers a nifty-looking iPhone optimized version. They're planning to
release the service at SXSW. - iminta - iminta keeps you up-to-date on what your friends are "in to" and lets you share your own activity stream.
- Plaxo Pulse - Most famous for helping to get Robert Scoble temporarily banned from Facebook, Plaxo's Pulse product lets you aggregate activity from a wide variety of third party services.
- Identoo - A fairly standard social streaming site.
- Escaloop - Escaloop is a
free-form lifestreaming app that lets you combine up to 20 RSS feeds
into a single stream (yeah, there are other RSS mixers out there, but
Escaloop is notable on this list for specifically targeting
lifestreaming). - Hictu - Hictu is a video microblogging app that supports importing activity streams from outside services.
- Life2Front - Life2Front's LiFE-Line activity stream feature is a functional activity stream aggregator, if not the most attractive.
- 30Boxes - The online calendar app also has lifestreaming capabilities.
- Readr - Readr mashes 21 different sites into a single profile feed.
- Suprglu - Suprglu pulls content from the web services you use and then republishes them in blog format.
- Where is me? - A lifestreaming app that pulls from 11 services or RSS feeds.
- Slifeshare - Lifestreaming via a Mac OS X application (Windows promised soon).
- MovableType ActionStreams - For do-it-yourselfers, MovableType offers a lifestreaming plugin for their blog platform.
- SimpleLife - More for the DIY set, SimpleLife is a lifestreaming plugin for Wordpress.
- WP Lifestream - Another lifestreaming plugin for Wordpress.
- RSS Stream - You guessed it, a third lifestream plugin for Wordpress.
- oneConnect - Yahoo!'s oneConnect mobile service includes activity stream aggregation features.
- Facebook (?) - Rumor has it that Facebook will be opening up the news feed to outside service updates.
- Socialstream
- Nothing has come out of it yet, but this Google funded academic
project at Carnegie Mellon University into lifestreaming has garnered a
ton of press attention. - Jeremy Keith's Lifestreaming Script - Jeremy Keith's lifestreaming script was one of the first and inspired some of the services on this list.
Are there any we missed? Which is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below.
While the tech world waits to see whether Yahoo will accept Microsoft’s $44.6 billion takeover bid, Microsoft and Yahoo employees sleep restlessly at the prospect of massive staff cuts if the takeover goes ahead. There’s a lot of duplication between Yahoo and Microsoft’s internet arms and services will shut and/ or be downsized as content and services from each cross-pollinate across the merged entity.
The likelihood of the Yahoo brand and front page being retired is zero and zilch, so that would put MSN in the spotlight. Microsoft launched MSN in 1995 so the brand has history, however Microsoft’s move towards Windows Live and Live.com branding has diluted the value of the MSN brand. Surprising though, the comScore figures (graph right) shows that traffic on both are nearly equal. Reports already suggest that Microsoft will have to divest its stake in MSNBC due to an exclusive supply agreement with NBC, so expect that MSN may be offered for sale as well. It may also go some way in overcoming any potential competition concerns at a Governmental level. There’s only so much room for key brands, and presuming (logically) that Microsoft will keep Live alive due to the Windows tie-in, MSN is the likely brand to go.
