The Blogosphere’s Changing Opinions on FriendFeed
The opinions on something can change pretty quickly. At first, all the bloggers were saying how FriendFeed is the new Twitter. People started flocking to FriendFeed because of it’s simple brilliance. At the start, there were some complaints, such as the lack of an API, but the FriendFolks said it was in the works. When the API was launched, bloggers started comparing it to Facebook and said that FriendFeed was the new cool platform to be writing code for. FriendFeed apps started coming out, along with Alert Thingy, a FriendFeed client written with Adobe AIR.
Once people got used to their shiny new Web 2.0 toy, they started to notice two things.
First, FriendFeed scatters conversations. If a blogger’s latest post gets put on his or her FriendFeed page, people can comment directly through FriendFeed. People that don’t use FriendFeed, but use some other RSS reader to keep track of posts would comment directly on the blog. Those that don’t use FriendFeed don’t know about the conversation going on there. You have the conversations scattered all over, which is something you don’t want with a service that tries to aggregate a bunch of web services into one source.
Some simple workarounds came for this. An example of this is the FriendFeed comments plugin for Wordpress. These aren’t really enough to put the conversations back into one piece.
The second problem with Friendfeed is the noise. FriendFeed users started complaining about how much content there was on FriendFeed that they didn’t find interesting. FriendFeed supports a “hide” function, that supports hiding on various conditions, like hiding all of a specific friend’s Twitter posts unless they have comments or “likes” on them. Louis Gray wrote a post that outlines five ways to use “hide” in FriendFeed.
Simply hiding more stuff didn’t cut the complaints. That can be illustrated by looking at the results of this Lifehacker poll asking their readers their opinions on FriendFeed. At the time, 26.1% of people that participated in that poll said that there is too much content to subscribe to with FriendFeed without being completely overwhelmed.
But then the opinions change again. Maybe the noise is good. At least Hutch Carpenter and Robert Scoble seem to think so.
I would have to politely disagree with those two and say that if noise is useful, then it isn’t really noise. Now the most exciting part is to wait and see how FriendFeed, and the opinions of bloggers, changes.
BTW: 50th post!
No related posts, but you might find these interesting
Posted in Blogging, FriendFeed, WordPress |
Subscribe:
Go to:
On FriendFeed, this post was liked by 0 people and commented on 0 times 
You're hitting on something with the observation about "noise". For a lot of folks, the stream of content and comments allows you to build out your own world view. You get a sense of the pulse of your community. Perhaps inspecting a specific item might make one say, "that's noise". But in aggregate, there's plenty to learn.
And one other thought. What's the difference between discovery and noise?
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Working with noise requires effort. A vast majority of those complaining are simply lazy. Scoble said it best today on FriendFeed, users want the important stuff chosen for them.
I consider it akin to listening to the radio or having CNN on in the background while you work. There is a significant amount of "noise" in both of those. Songs or items that may not interest you, but you listen to catch the things you ARE interested in.
Now, granted, the examples I gave are more passive in nature than being active on FriendFeed, but you must come with it with the same attitude in hopes you'll catch those interesting items.
"Noise" is obviously a subjective term. A conversation can begin from just about anything, including what some consider to be noise.
I think one of the keys to really enjoying FriendFeed is to make peace with the fact that you don't "have to" read everything. If you feel like you do, then FriendFeed can be intimidating.
I think if you treat it like a constant, never-ending stream that you participate in, there's lots of value and opportunities buried in the so-called "noise."
Just thinking about this argument gives me a headache. But I think you're right.
we mistake the tech and the content for something separate from reality... but just like a walk in nature, where there is soooooo much happening that you can become drunk and unable to walk just for the sheer sensation overload, so too with the so-called noise .... in fact all those words are nothing compared to nature .... see, it is the job of the senses to slow that stuff down, limit it, turn it into awe...
the mistake is to take it all seriously, as if it has meaning... it does not, it is just part of being, same as the meadow