Top 3 Lifestreaming Tools that are Ready for Prime Time
I'm often asked the question, "What do you think the next Twitter is going to be?" Until very recently my usual answer was to mention FriendFeed, due to it's powerful aggregation offerings.
But now that I've been using Social Media for marketing and personal use for many years, and due to a fast developing love affair with Posterous, I'm changing my stance. I still think FriendFeed will be a major player in the months and years to come, I just don't think the next Twitter will be a single platform.
The "next Twitter" so to speak, is going to be the platform that can be the best at providing Lifestreaming services. Lifestreaming, more so than microblogging, is a way of thinking - it's a strategy rather than a tactic. And given Steve Rubel's recent decision to kill his blog and switch to a Lifestreaming format, you're probably going to see this more often.
The fact is, for even a casual Social Media user, there are just too many different services to keep up with, so an aggregation & cross-posting platform becomes necessary. Whoever can do this the best, is likely to come out ahead.
Here are some of my favorites:
Facebook
Facebook is not a new service. In fact, it's headed into it's sixth year of existence, with some already saying the social networking platform is in it's adolescence. Traditionally a closed network, Facebook is taking major steps towards becoming an open network, much like Twitter. Currently, you can tie in a nice selection of other social media networks, from BrightKite to Twitter and more, but it's not always perfect. If Facebook can make the switch to a completely open network, and get better at integrating 3rd party APIs, they may be the ones to beat.