What can you use the application for?


Lifestream.fm is a social media and services aggregator that combines all of the user’s online activity into one continuous, real-time stream. The service is currently capable of aggregating content from 60 different social networking services. Viewers of a user’s lifestream will see all of the user’s activity from all of the services they use. The services include blogging platforms, presence applications like MySpace and Facebook, and social bookmarking sites such as Digg and Delicious. Other users can comment on any item in a user’s lifestream, and users can mark individual items as favorites. Users can have friends on the site – the registration process gives the user the opportunity to invite users imported from their address books in Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Outlook and others. The registration process also prompts the user to add all of their services to their lifestream.
Users have a My Lifestream page, where they can see their recent activity, their friend’s recent activity, recent comments about items in their lifestream, and their list of Favorites. Users can choose to view the lifestream of the entire site in real time, browse the site by tags, or search the site for keywords. Any activity found on Lifestream can easily be sent to the user’s mobile phone. In addition, the site offers an Adobe Air application which brings the Lifestream site to the user’s desktop. Users can also choose to be notified by email when someone comments on their Lifestream. Users also have an Account Settings page, where they can make changes to their profile, add or delete services from their Lifestream and change their email or password.

What is the history and popularity of the application?


New York, NY-based Lifestream.fm was founded in April 2008 by Juan Xavier Larrea. The site continues to add new services to its list of compatible services.

What are the differences to other applications?


Competition to Lifestream comes from sites such as Tumblr and Soup. Both of these sites have the ability to incorporate outside services into the user’s lifestream. They both also offer an update feature which allows the user to use them as a presence application as well. Lifestream does not offer the user the ability to add updates to the user’s lifestream.

How does the application look and feel to use?


The Lifestream.fm site has a clean and uncluttered look and feel. The site is very responsive, and page loads happen quickly. The user’s lifestream is updated in real-time, and this feature is quite responsive as well, with updates from other services appearing in the user’s lifestream in a matter of a few seconds in most cases. Navigation is intuitive, with a convenient top menu bar provided on all pages of the site. The send to mobile feature works well, as does the Adobe Air desktop application. There is no advertising displayed on the Lifestream.fm site.

How does the registration process work?


Registration to the Lifestream.fm site is free and is required to add a lifestream to the site. The registration process asks for username, email address and password. Validation of the email address is required, and clicking on the validation link prompts the user to enter their profile details, add their services and invite their friends to join Lifestream.

What does it cost to use the application?


There is no premium membership offered to the Lifestream site, and registered users have access to all features of the site.

Who would you recommend the application to?


The Lifestream.fm site is recommended to anyone who would like to incorporate all of their online activity into one continuous update stream. The site works well with the 60 services it is currently compatible with, and does a good job of providing a real-time lifestream of the user’s activity on the web.

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