Lifestream.fm came onto the scene back in April of this year and was soon acquired by (once politically incorrect) social bookmarking company, Mister Wong. At the time of their launch, Lifestream.fm looked like just another attempt to compete with social media darling FriendFeed, and one that didn't really offer anything too special. But now that the service is under new ownership, they've been busy recoding, adding features, and fixing bugs. But have they done enough to warrant a second look?
Note: Check bottom of post for invites.
Since the acquisition, Lifestream.fm has added several new features, including the following:
More importantly, perhaps, is the fact that Lifestream.fm now supports 56 services - compare that to FriendFeed's 41. Of course, we all know that number of services alone isn't enough - if it was, then Profilactic and their 186 services would be wildly successful. However, some of Lifestream.fm's services are those that are missing from FriendFeed - most notably Facebook, but also Xbox Live, Muxtape, eBay, and many other smaller services like We Heart It, iliketotallyloveit, and Wakoopa. They also offer you the option to add your YouTube Favs (favorited videos) or your YouTube Uploads or both.
The built-in filters let you block services or users from your "With Others" view of the lifestream, but they're nowhere near as specialized or granular as FriendFeed's "Hide" feature.
What is interesting is that Lifestream.fm is offering an AIR app right off the bat - a nod to this increasingly popular format (and source of my new addiction). An AIR app would be great if it worked, but unfortunately...
Yes, I spelled "sarahintampa" correctly...
Also, I had some issues with the import tool in Firefox (IE worked OK), but that may be a case of my finicky Firefox 3 installation :
It's possible then that the site's new direction is to establish themselves as the German FriendFeed. Part of their revamp has been the coding a German-language version with support for various German services and that's where Lifestream.fm may have a shot. Increasingly in the world of web apps, localized versions that range from blatant rip-offs to clones that offer new features, have a shot at success when they target a narrow market like those users in a particular country or who speak a certain language - look at China's Facebook clones, for example.
Beyond attracting a new German audience, though, Lifestream.fm still doesn't seem to hold enough appeal to attract the "casual" lifestreamer to their service - if there even is such a thing, considering that lifestreaming is still very much an early adopter toy. Only lifestreaming fanatics will sign up for another lifestreaming service besides FriendFeed and actively use it if it doesn't offer some incredible new features - like say, figuring out how to unlock Facebook's mini-feed or offering some killer new noise-reduction technology. In many cases, when you're competing against an already popular web app, you often have to innovate big or go local - otherwise the chance for success may be small.
That being said, if you are a lifestreaming fanatic, I acquired some invite codes to the closed beta (the site closed once acquired) if you want to check it out.They are available below:
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Comments
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Sigh. Another one? This is getting old.
Posted by: David Risley
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July 7, 2008 2:05 PM
Mehhh, Lifestream has the network effect and I didn't see anything in the review that made it all that great
Posted by: Justin Yost
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July 7, 2008 2:07 PM
I don't think they can compete for various reasons. FriendFeed has quite a vocal following and that could make a huge difference. It's really nice that they support smaller services though. FriendFeed seems to be very selective with that for whatever reason. However, FriendFeed's established and I don't see any service knocking them out the game outside of Facebook.
Speaking of Facebook, a link to my facebook profile shows up on FriendFeed, though it doesn't seem to import anything from Facebook.
Posted by: Corvida
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July 7, 2008 2:10 PM
Thanks for profiling this service, Sarah. Of course, I immediately went out and searched for your profile on the service (http://lifestream.fm/sarahintampa) and it does look nice.
How would you compare it to a service like socialthing! ?
Posted by: J. Phil
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July 7, 2008 2:18 PM
Haha...yes I am a Lifestreaming fanatic. Thanks for the shout out.
Posted by: Mark Krynsky
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July 7, 2008 3:46 PM
@mark - np, I enjoy your site :)
Posted by: Sarah Perez
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July 7, 2008 4:19 PM
Hi Sarah,
Thank you so much for your honest review, as I knew you would give it. I really appreciate it.
Being that we are just two months in, I think we've made some progress and still have more on the way. I am proud of my team for putting in all of their effort so far. And yes, we are working away to fix those bugs. Each little bit of feedback helps along the way.
I certainly hope that anyone creating a site, doesn't give up just because one has become the most popular. I like variety, and I like to see people trying to go beyond what's considered good enough right now. If anything is a constant in this world, it's change.
So we're going to give it our best. We're listening to the users. So thank you once again for having a second look.
Posted by: tinythoughts | July 7, 2008 5:06 PM
Hey, I thought this post was about FriendFeed and Lifestream.fm. Why'd you have to take a shot at Profilactic. We were just over here minding our own business :)
Posted by: smorty71 | July 7, 2008 6:30 PM
If anyone wants a Lifestream.fm invite, please email me your email address to email88michael@gmail.com or DM me on Twitter - http://twitter.com/88michael
Posted by: Michael | July 7, 2008 9:04 PM
aww, smorty71, no worries, profilactic is awesome. you guys have some really great stuff going on. i also like friendfeed, swurl, and the rest.
i can also be reached for invites. a simple @tinythoughts on twitter is good enough http://twitter.com/tinythoughts
Posted by: tinythoughts | July 7, 2008 11:31 PM
Am very very bummed out with Lifestream.fm new update because it don`t differentiates from the rest yet and they are no even following what they want emulate correctly either:
1.-Replies are very uninspiring, they don`t look or work correctly and they don`t have anything new to them or reason to have them in the state they are right now.
2.-The AIR app is the worst AIR app i have ever seen and i have seen them all (well over 50). i also was able to test it in several xp machines and one vista machine and it just don`t works at all, not even once.
3.-The Widget (and i happen to know a little bit about those things ;) ) is of the most generic kind possible. where are the widgets? lifestream services NEED good widgets, period. more if they are a small service like Lifestream.fm
4.-No promotion material whatsoever (buttons, badges,etc)
5.-No mobile versions
6.-Blog seems to be broken most of the time and i have not been able to comment on any post of it in any browser.
7.-No API (that i know of)
i coudl go on but i made my point.
Then there is also the fact that Juan Xavier is not working on it right now and when he was the service development updating was fast and to the point. i miss him already.
And i am not being a killjoy, i was on the service early on, i was the one who suggested wakoopa to Juan and i even posted about the service supporting it:
http://www.widgetslab.com/2008/04/14/lifestreamfm-widget-badge/
So the answer to the question in your title Sarah is:
a big NO
Bummer because i truly liked it when i first tried it.
(p.s:jody: i know. i know, but check point #6)
Posted by: Avatar | July 8, 2008 4:40 AM
I got an extra Lifestream-Code: 1238b6a2 that I don't need anymore.
Enjoy it.
Posted by: oriste | July 8, 2008 8:10 AM