Can Twitter founders Biz Stone, Ev Williams and Jason Goldman battle Facebook and Google for a piece of the social network action? The trio have joined Lift, "a new application for unlocking human potential with positive reinforcement," according to their Obvious Corporation website.
While still in "alpha" and fairly mysterious, the new application is the second incarnation of GetMibbles, a kind of Twitter-ish social network where people posted goals and were given encouragement to succeed usually by people with similar goals, according to ReadWriteWeb. When they achieved specific or even daily goals, users were given awards to commemorate the accomplishment.
Murky details aside, the application is also a way off from being taken public. According to Lift founder Tony Stubblebine in a post dated Aug. 23, 2011:
We do have a prototype, but we’re a long way from opening the doors. If you’re up for that wait, you can give us your email address: http://lift.do. . . . Evan Williams, Biz Stone, and Jason Goldman are joining as investors and partners through their company, Obvious. The investment part is easy to explain–they’re helping to fund this.
It's an interesting idea for an app, and one with some demand, especially since so many health and wellness apps are offering digital encouragement for achieved goals or even notifying friends of accomplishments. Lift would allow users to create a goal and strive towards it.
That said, did you see the website? It's so "Outer Limits" meets "Lost" that it's almost disturbing. We also don't know if an elevator, a closed steel box, should be the symbol of a better life.