Sunday, March 15, 2009

Social Network Aggregator/Social Stream

Over the past several weeks I have been researching various means of pulling all of my social network accounts into a single interface. In doing so I have trialed desktop applications, add-ons for firefox, and web-base solutions. Provided below are the ones that I have reviewed and my 2 cents about the solution.

Desktop Options
Sobees - a desktop solution that pulls in the most common social networks and has the most promising future but is for Windows only right now.
Feedalizr - a desktop solution similar to Sobees but works on a Mac. However, the user interface isn't as easy to work with as Sobees and does not pull in as many common networks.

Digsby - an instant messaging client that connects to all major instant messaging accounts, provides email updates, plus sends you updates as to what you friends are doing on MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. Digsby is a really nice solution but is only available for Windows currently.


Firefox Add-on
Yoono - a sidebar add-on for Firefox that provides access to all the major social networks (MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, Flikr) as well as all the instant messenger solutions. This is a really nice solution for someone who likes having all their accounts in one solution. The only downside is that local to the PC upon which it is installed.

Web-based
Bebo - a web-based offering from AOL that labels their solution as a "Life Stream" allows you to acccess your Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter accounts and pull them into 1 stream. AOL has done a good job in providing access to your other accounts but has a really cluttered interface that you can't personalize
Meebo - a web-based instant messaging solution that allows you to access all major instant messaging accounts as well as MySpace and Facebook. The only downside is that it doesn't send you updates that you friends post to their MySpace and Facebook accounts.
iGoogle - a customized home page from google that you can add gadgets from all the common social networks and to have them all on one page. I personally like this one because it provides me a segrated view of all my social network accounts on a single page.

Another promising solution is from the instant messaging client Adium (Mac only) that announced they would have a client similar to Digsby over the next coupld of months.