Ubermedia, the world’s leading independent developers of social media products, last week launched their own attempt at a share of the social media space with their latest product Chime.in, but does the world really need another social network?

Chime. In has been described by ubermedia’s CEO, Bill Gross, as not "just another social network" but rather an interest network, but reviewers have been quick to note its apparent combination of Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, Digg and Reddit.

If the interest network theme is true then it may be the game changer we never knew we needed. The internet by self admission is a reservoir of endless information and the need is now to sift through the mass and extract that which is relevant to us as individuals, that is what has made RSS feeds and online readers (such as Google Reader) so popular. What Chime. In seeks to do is to combined two of the fastest growth information mediums, social network and online readers, on the net into one location. This will allow a user to not only interact and communicate with people they know or communicate with online but also filter this, and official, content into one neat stream of information they are interested in. Chime. In does this by borrowing a number of mediums made famous by other social network sites. From Twitter it borrowed an instant news format, from blogs it borrowed the desire to express yourself in more than 140 characters, from Facebook it borrowed the ability to include popularity polls (a tool not really original to Facebook) and from Reddit and Digg the ability to customise news.


So away from the utopian visions of press releases and launch presentations we discovered the site for ourselves. We found the registration process quick and easy, thanks to the ability to sign in with your Twitter or Facebook details, and the layout dark, mysterious and very alluring. We also noticed an interface that looks highly detailed and extremely user friendly. We found very quickly a number of new friends, popularity polls and charts but it really shined when we put in our interests. Not only did it upload our interest search results instantly but adding it to your feed was only a mouse click away. Overall the desktop version was quick and easy to understand and at least had us going for a few hours, but its mobile app, available for all smart phones, is the real diamond in the dust. It brings the best interface and stream the mobile has ever seen and, in layout and ease of use may be the best social media app ever created.

Overall Chime.in may be "just another social network" and only time will tell if it too late to dance with the popular Facebook and the "new kid but awesome parents" Google Plus but for allowing us to have an experience every social networker should be allowed on a daily basis we give it a resounding "Like,+1".