July 28, 2008
I recently got a private beta access to a new Twitter clone called YouAre. YouAre is a newly launched Web application that launched in the beginning of this year, with the target market of Hispanic community, and then expanded to the English speaking users. As stated in one of their blog posts: YouAre is about to share what you are doing, your interests and your professional profile with your friends and colleagues — and anyone you want to connect with. Despite this definition, I found YouAre somewhat of a Twitter clone, albeit that YouAre is circumvent this users’ impression, by gradually adding a lot features and this has given rise to a new form of micro blogging tool with an idea that sound like this: Twitter + Tumblr + Linkedin + Del.icio.us + our secret ingredient = YouAre.
If you’re not familiar with Twitter + Tumblr + Linkedin, etc. It’s that simple, you only need to remember YouAre is a Web application that help you to summarize what is your profile, your favorites, as well as your Web life at large. Upon you sign-up to this site, you’re allowed to build your own profile, so that your friends you make on YouAre know you better through your online identity. Besides, you also can contribute to the body of knowledge on the Web through your favorites. It means you can import the content you made on your YouTube, Flickr or Del.icio.us accounts, thus the videos (YouTube), photos (Flickr), or bookmarks (Del.icio.us) can be shared in this way to your community.
Why I still insist YouAre is a Twitter clone. From the YouAre dashboard, I believed the core focus of this application is about micro blogging. It’s become a norm that there is a downside to the application if you can’t find a feature that let you update your latest status. YouAre has developed it, not only users are allowed to post text, they also can post video or image links. In comparison to Twitter, Twitter has became a role model to many new applications that emerged on the Web today. Many copycats copied Twitter’s features, and many of them lost their luster eventually, but I hope YouAre will not.
Good for people to know.