SocialThing! Initial Review

I have recently received a SocialThing! invited and was excited to check it out. I hadn't been a fan of FriendFeed but was more excited for ST! b/c it can send back to sites. After using it for about a week now, here is a quick review with lots of Feedback on ideas I'd like to see. I also tryed not to include things already being reported.

SocialThing ideas:

• Dropdown option to see only Twitter Updates, or only Facebook updates maybe...or a third option to sort Friendstream by website/network


• Or possibly a second homepage of sorts that is in 3 columns that has the (5?) most recent updates from each of your associated networks. (I really like this idea)


• When I 'heart' or 'favorite' something...where does that go? or where can I view those?


• Where is the link to my 'public' feed or profile? Shouldn't it be: www.socialthing.com/username ? I assume there is one because when you add a Service it asks if you want it in your public profile. If there is no such thing as a public feed, I think there definitely should be one.


• It would be nice when I click a certain user and there own tab comes up, that it finds what other services this user has that I don't already know about. Say my friend Nicole has twitter and facebook, and that comes up in my friendstream...but she also has a youtube, that option shows up so that I can actually add her as a friend via youtube. I don't know how that would work. Maybe if Nicole used SocialThing and added that service, when you click a user it finds their SocialThing account and shows all their services? Maybe not possible but would be really nice

Other:

• I don't think Last.fm works this way, but it would be nice to see what my friends scrobbled recently, instead of just what I listened to (which I already know).


• For those users of Stylish (FF add-on), I've fixed up the design a tiny bit, more to my liking, with hover states and removing 3d. I think it's easier to read on the eyes. That can be found here if you'd like: http://userstyles.org/styles/10263 quick image:


• I am having a problem with my Flickr account so I couldn't test that, and I don't have a Vimeo or Youtube account so couldn't test those (even tho I use those services)


• Am waiting on Wordpress and Virb service.

External Apps suggestions:

• Twitterific-like external programs for Mac/PC would eventually be nice


• Maybe a Netvibes/iGoogle widget


• AIM sn like Twitter has, that will post to SocialThing and all your sites at once


• FireFox sidebar add-on?


• possible mobile phone use?

Basically I think SocialThing! seems great so far. I love that I post to Twitter/Pownce/Facebook all at the same time. (Tho Facebook keeps asking me to reauntheticate...I see other people have already reported that problem.) I see room for improvement and know that it's a young app...but with added Services and Features I can see this becoming a needed social life-line for anybody thats involved with 3+ networks. Right now I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars!

The update boxes are a little bulky when you start seeing many users with 1 update at a time (like Fbook status updates), and the boxes could eventually get more compact to show these better. I think my idea of a second homepage (another tab?) that splits the page into 3 columns with a box for each of your services with the most recent updates, can really work. I don't want it to replace the Friendstream tho, but for those that want a quick Dashboard, it would be nice.

Oh and sorry if this was a bit long =), thats why I posted it in discussions. I would like to mark all these down as 'feedback' and 'ideas' but I didn't want to overload anything, or seem too cocky.

ML
www.matthewlettini.com

ps - Congrats on being bought by AOL. I've worked for a Startup and thats usually the one thing you're striving to do. I really hope, however, that AOL doesn't eff with the ideas and plans of SocialThing. It's always upsetting when a major company buys a site, then ruins it by changing names of features, and how it looks, and throwing their logo all over the site, and adding Ads, adding unwanted features, etc. I'm already not a huge fan of AOL, and I've seen them and others (like Yahoo) do this with many good sites. Stay strong!