[Android] Aggregate news and updates from social media with Meople.Streamer

Meople StreamerNowadays, you can easily keep yourself up-to-date with the latest news and updates by simply checking out your favorite brand or website’s official social media profiles. Now, what if you are following more than ten or twenty profiles? You will definitely need to check every single one of them and doing that sort of thing is quite a hassle especially if you only have a couple of minutes to browse through your social media newsfeed and timeline. If you want a hassle-free way to get the latest updates from your favorite social media profiles, you’d better check out this app called Meople.Streamer.

What Is It and What Does It Do

Main Functionality

If you are wondering what is Meople.Streamer all about, it is basically a social media news aggregator that lets you create all sorts of “streams” that consists of different channels. In other words, a “stream” is another form of categorizing the topics that you follow. Each channel is also linked to a social media page or profile. The types of channels that you can add also varies – there are channels for news, sports, technology, lifestyle, entertainment, gaming, food and a whole lot more. You can also choose to add a custom channel and it could be from Facebook, VK, Instagram or Google Plus. For example, if you want to create a stream about technology, you can add dotTech’s official Facebook page as one of your channels.

Pros

  • Slick, neat and easy to use user interface
  • Features a side menu that also serves as your user profile
  • You can create as many streams as you like – your streams could be based on any topic or category; it’s also up to you to choose your preferred stream title and description (ex. stream name – technology, description – latest tech tips and tricks)
  • You can as many social channels as you want to your streams – you can add custom social channels from Facebook, VK, Instagram and Google Plus; you can also choose from the available channels that are listed in the catalogue
  • You can add stories from your stream to your “favorites”. You can also view the full story on your mobile web browser.
  • Built-in sharing options – you can share any story from your stream via Bluetooth, e-mail, SMS, SNS and even via QR code
  • You can edit or delete your streams from the user menu

Cons

The following aspects might not directly affect the overall the functionality of this app but could definitely contribute to its usability and performance:

  • Improved viewing options – it would be great to see some options for changing the stream layout (ex. list view, tile view, etc.)
  • Backup and restore – just in case something happens to your account, you can easily restore your streams using your backup file

Discussion

Meople Streamer for AndroidThe concept of Meople.Streamer is quite similar to RSS feed aggregators but it’s also different because it does not use RSS feeds to collect news and updates from different online sources. Instead, it uses social media feeds from various social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Google Plus.

What I like about this app is that it features a slick and user-friendly interface which makes it easier for you to figure things out. New users can also refer to the app’s quick tutorial. Another thing that I like about this app is that the streams and channels are very straightforward. Once you get to select a certain stream, Meople.Streamer will immediately show a detailed list of the newest posts and updates from your selected channels.

If you are using the app for the first time, it will apparently prompt you to create an account. You can register using your e-mail and password and once you’re done, simply create your first stream and it could be about any topic that you like. You’re also free to give your first stream a custom name or title. The description section is optional.

After which, you’re all set to add some channels to your stream. If you have a particular social media channel in mind, you can chose to add it via custom channels. If you don’t know any good channels, you can use the ones listed in the app’s catalogue. Speaking of which, the Meople.Streamer catalogue offers a wide selection of social channels such as NBC News, TechCrunch, Lifehacker and Mashable. These channels are listed by category so you can easily browse for channels that are related to technology, gaming, news, lifestyle and sports.

All in all, I can say that Meople.Streamer certainly does what it is intended to do. It’s a very handy tool that you can use to keep yourself updated with the latest news. It also provides a hassle-free way of keeping in touch with your favorite websites and blogs. You can even use this app to follow the updates of your favorite personalities thru their Facebook and Instagram profiles.

Conclusion and Download Link

I am very pleased with this app. It is convenient to use and I like its contemporary UI design. It is also very slick and stable. It’s just that it could have better if its stream layout offers more viewing options such as tile mode or list mode. Nevertheless, I highly recommend Meople.Streamer to anyone who wishes to stay up-to-date with the latest news and current trends. It’s a good option especially if you’re looking for something that could replace the now defunct Google Reader.

Price: Free

Version reviewed: 1.0.10

Requires: Android 2.3.3 and up

Download size: 6.0MB

Meople.Streamer on Play Store

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