Startup Idea Every Day #13: iPhone Social Media Consolidator

This is the thirteenth post in my series a startup idea every day.

One thing is almost certain, people are sick of social networks, because they all essentially do the exact same thing. You or someone you know uploads a piece of information to a website and it goes into a "feed". The biggest problem is that on my iPhone, switching from Twitter to Instagram to Facebook can be kind of a pain. Plus, people don't want any more social apps or updates, pushes or texts. People want something that offers them true simplicity.

Why not create an app where you can connect your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Foursquare account, and it will intelligently compile all of the feed items into one feed, for the ultra-efficient, lightweight social experience? The core idea is simple, allow users to spend less time checking each social network, and more time getting the updates on everything they want all at once.

How could you monetize this you might be asking? Well I've thought of three ways.

Obviously you could have advertisements, not gonna waste any more time talking about that.

Beyond ads, you could sell it as a pay service. While it may sound far fetched, I believe that if the service worked well enough, there would be a lot of people willing to pay $5/month for the added convenience. Hell, Toggl charge $5/month for their glorified stopwatch, and it's well worth it.

Above all is the data. I know it may sound evil, it always does, but storing users' data for analytic purposes is one way you could make $traight bank. It's the hardest path of monetization, but also probably the most lucrative. Think about it, you now know where someone has checked in, what they've eaten (thanks to instagram), where they're going, and who they're going with. If you can't sell that person something you shouldn't be trying to sell anything to anyone.

The beauty of this idea is that it reduces time that a user spends with technology, which is always a big plus these days, as many people are so overwhelmed by the prospect of downloading a new app or joining a new site.