In the last few weeks the people behind certain social network called Twitter have been busy. Obvious Corp, the people behind Twitter, have launched three new social networks. Very few people are using them so far, as they seem all to be invite-only or in beta mode. But this much innovation rarely comes so fast from one organisation, so I thought I'd do a little review of what's going on.
What's it like? Like Foursquare for habits.
This is an app for your smart phone. You browse things you want to do, like run, clear your inbox, take vitamins or eat fruit. You then add it to your list, and check off that item each time you do it. Sounds simple, but it's fiendishly addictive. It gives you a similar kind of motivation as having a training buddy or peer pressure. Each 'habit' is social, so you can see what other people are doing. And checking it off is really simple - just a big TICK and a graph showing you how you've done.
I'm really liking Lift already. It's quantified self meets Foursquare to-do list.
What's it like? Like Google Plus Circles meets permission-based forum threads meets Quora.
I'm not yet fully into this one. But structurally, the way Branch works, is that threads or circles as we know them are called branches. You can freely subscribe to or share a branch, but you have to ask to be invited. It adds a different dimension to online discussion, with its use of public content but protected list of participants.
What's it like? Like a blogging platform, like Tumblr meets Wordpress.
The newest of the bunch, Medium was only revealed last night. The Next Web says that Obvious Cor decided to take on the construction of Medium because “we believe publishing—and media, more broadly—is important. So, we’re re-imagining publishing in an attempt to make an evolutionary leap, based on everything we’ve learned in the last 13 years and the needs of today’s world.” Sounds very nice! Waiting for my beta version to come through for this one :)
Hopefully you get a chance to try these things out soon too.
How did you manage to get your hands on an invite to Lift? I'm interested to hear your thoughts as you use it more over the next few weeks.
Posted by: Paul Stallard | August 15, 2012 at 11:36 PM
Hey Paul. I have been doing a fair amount of blogging & tweeting about quantified self / seftracking and wrote about Lift... they saw it and got in touch. Simples!
Posted by: Drew | August 16, 2012 at 09:16 AM