Facebook Lifestage only works for those 21 and younger
Facebook Lifestage only works for those 21 and younger. The new iOS app, called Lifestage, is a kind of video diary where you answer biographical questions about yourself. Instead of filling in answers with text, you record a small video snippet that others can view on your profile. Every time someone updates their page, it shows up in a feed prompting others to check it out.
The app was designed by 19-year-old wunderkind Michael Sayman, a Facebook product manager who tells TechCrunch that he wanted to replicate the readymade virality of Facebook’s earliest days, when it was restricted to college students. In that sense, Lifestage’s age restriction is the updated version of needing an appropriate .edu email address, a new virtual barrier to entry. If you’re 22 or older, you’ll only be able to see your own profile and you won’t be able to communicate with any other users.
Sayman hopes Lifestage can grow by attaching itself to local high schools, not unlike Facebook’s college-by-college approach back in 2004. The app lets you select your school, but you won’t be able to see other users unless at least 20 people from the same school start using it.
It’s unclear exactly how the app will try and prevent older users from sneaking onboard. During the sign-up process, Lifestage says it cannot confirm that users who claim to be enrolled in your high school actually are. But it restricts you to only one school and doesn't allow you to change. It also appears to have liberal blocking and reporting features, to keep parents, creeps, and other unwanted outsiders from detracting from the experience.
The app was designed by 19-year-old wunderkind Michael Sayman, a Facebook product manager who tells TechCrunch that he wanted to replicate the readymade virality of Facebook’s earliest days, when it was restricted to college students. In that sense, Lifestage’s age restriction is the updated version of needing an appropriate .edu email address, a new virtual barrier to entry. If you’re 22 or older, you’ll only be able to see your own profile and you won’t be able to communicate with any other users.
Sayman hopes Lifestage can grow by attaching itself to local high schools, not unlike Facebook’s college-by-college approach back in 2004. The app lets you select your school, but you won’t be able to see other users unless at least 20 people from the same school start using it.
It’s unclear exactly how the app will try and prevent older users from sneaking onboard. During the sign-up process, Lifestage says it cannot confirm that users who claim to be enrolled in your high school actually are. But it restricts you to only one school and doesn't allow you to change. It also appears to have liberal blocking and reporting features, to keep parents, creeps, and other unwanted outsiders from detracting from the experience.
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