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Fidg't: new profile aggregator on the block
Wouldn't it be nice to have all your social networks together in one place, instead of having to go to each portal like Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, individually? Wouldn't it be nice to have all your friends conveniently located together in one place too? (No, this is not an intro to a Beach Boys song).
And, wouldn't it be really nice if, instead of having multiple handles for the same person because they registered differently at all the various sites, you had one META handle that connected all their various identities together into one?
Fidg't attempts to do that - keep track of all your friends across different social networks. And in its initial release, it has limited supported networks - Flickr, Yahoo, MSN, AIM, and LastFM.com. However, Fidg't does explain that it is working to expand their service to Digg, Facebook, Upcoming.org, delicious, and hopefully Twitter.
Below is a screenshot of where you would enter your user id's and passwords into Fidg't for its supported networks.
Mobile
Fidg't put a lot of energy into enhancing the user interface for the mobile application and if you have a Nokia phone, either the N73 or 6682, you're in luck, as those are the only phones they officially support for this initial release. They are going to expand to more phones, including the Blackberry Pearl and the Razr.
With the mobile app, you can view, post and comment on photos to Flickr, and since it works with the phone's camera, all you have to do is press upload. Sweet. You can also chat across different platforms, all within Fidg't.
Visualizer
If you don't have a Nokia, there's always the Fidg't website. There's this groovy visualizer download feature that diagrams your social network based on their Flickr and Last.FM tags. You input a keyword, (which Fidg't calls a tag magnet), and then if anyone in your network has the same tag, they will gravitate towards it if they have photos or music with that same tag.
It kind of looks like stuff on a microscopic slide in science class, when the amoebas slithered around. Except here, there is no ewww factor.
Now this is an excellent Timewaster!
The Visualizer runs as a desktop app for Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can use the Visualizer even if you don't have a Fidg't account. Just download and load the program. Once it loads, you can enter a lastFM or Flickr account name and your network will get pulled into the system.
There are other services out there that do the same, Mugshot, Lijit, 30 Boxes, ProfileLinker, Spokeo, etc. So who will be the dominant profile aggregator? Are there any downsides to this type of service?
Some people don't like the idea of sharing their id's and secret passwords with yet another online service. That is understandable. Also, you don't get the sense of community and user experience of your favorite sites when it is bundled into one. But then, there is that convenience factor.
Comments
3
Subscribe to commentsxoxoANP!May 15th 2007 3:14PM
I'm curious about how people think that Fidg't compares / contrasts with ProfileFly, The Coop, ShareThis, Nextumi ... etc. Will be interesting to see how this all plays out, given that there is an inherent tension between the "openness" that SoNet's will want to exhibit vis a vis aggregators.
Also curious about how these tools plan on making money. Again, will be fun to see it all unfold!
Thanks for the great write-up.
Kin LaneMay 16th 2007 2:04AM
I think that for social networks to really continue growth users have to be able to interact cross-network.
Also aggregation of your profile via mobile is key to deciding which player leads.
Funny though now we just don't have many networks to manage profiles....we have many tools to use to aggregate our profiles.
Interesting to see where this goes this year!
janie nookJun 3rd 2007 3:33AM
i dig profilefly.com personaly