Lift: A new social network, born with the help of Twitter co-founders

Twitter founders Biz Stone, Ev Williams and Jason Goldman announced Tuesday the first official start-up partnership to emerge from their recently re-launched technology incubator, Obvious Corp. The blossoming company is called Lift, which offers a new take on social networking that aims to help people get things done.

Still in its infancy, Lift remains an enigma, as concrete details about the service aren’t simply unavailable to the press or public — they don’t even yet exist. But thanks to Mashall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb, who’s compiled a solid account of the history of Lift and all there is to know about the service thus far, and a few more tidbits from the Lift co-founders, a vague picture of Lift has begun to come into focus.

Lift actually began as a company call Mibbles, which was created by Tony Stubbleine, founder of CrowdVine. The basic concept behind Mibbles was that people would post goals they hoped to accomplish, and then give themselves awards for completing the task. Other members would upvote the accomplishment. It was simple, unique and straightforward, kind of like Twitter itself.

As of this week, Mibbles has officially transformed into Lift. The new company is co-founded by Stubbline, along with Jon Crosby (previously of Path, Engine Yard Cloud and Songbird), and developer Connor Montgomery. The Twitter/Obvious crew has added their support and expertise to help Lift grow into a full-fledged product.

Users can now sign up at the Lift.do domain, and get in line for updates about Lift, and access once that becomes available.

You’re probably asking, “OK, I can sign up, but what the heck is Lift, anyway?” And the answer is: We have no idea. And neither does the Lift crew, unfortunately.

According to the “Welcome” email we received after signing up through Lift.do, the team is “Interested in ways new technology can help unlock human potential, especially through the use of positive reinforcement. That’s all we can tell you right now.”

Fair enough. But considering the personnel firepower behind the project, you can be sure we’ll be keeping a close watch on this one. Stay tuned.