A reporter and I just discussed the PR industry’s use of Friend Feed. It’s for what I assume is a short, but well-intended story that shows the publication is tuned into PR nerds, er, early adopters. It just seems a bit early to be writing it.
I’ve only been actively using FriendFeed for about a week. But the interview forced me to formulate some first thoughts about the flavor of the month, week, day. I’d like YOUR opinion on the following as you’ll see Jeremiah’s job is still safe.
First let’s define terms. FriendFeed allows you to aggregate all of your social content, scattered across several web sites, into one data stream. Sounds like an RSS reader, right? Kinda. But FriendFeed collects content from more than 30 sites – everything from a blog post, Twitter reply and Flickr picture to a SlideShare presentation, Delicious bookmark and Youtube video.
So if I’ve subscribed to 10 friends, I see my data stream mixed in with all 10 friends. There is a thin layer of communication on top of this so you can comment on each individual piece of content with your friends and, due to the social nature of the site, their friends too. Sounds like Twitter, right? Kinda.
Early Chatter Pits FriendFeed vs. Twitter
The quest for one magic site that eliminates the need to visit others seems to be social media’s holy grail. To that end, some wonder if FriendFeed can replace Twitter. IMHO, even with its recent issues, FriendFeed can’t replace Twitter (as of this post). As FriendFeed is still brand new, a lot of its capabilities are still pretty basic. This overview explains some other pros and cons compared to RSS and Twitter.
Bring the Noise?!
With apologies to Public Enemy, one obvious concern with FriendFeed is the noise factor. However you can hide individual pieces of content. And if you find yourself hiding most of someone’s content, unsubscribe from their feed.
New Tools, New Rules
FriendFeed gives us new ways to consume content. But if you use it just to broadcast what you’re doing, or to monitor what someone else is doing, you’re wasting its potential. The whole reason to get involved in social media is to engage in conversations. I’ve already connected with folks like PitchEngine’s Jason Kintzler and have enjoyed sharing content and conversation with everyone.
So are you fried by the crash course on Friend Feed? Wondering why you should even bother? This early on let’s assume your target audiences are not using FriendFeed. You can take advantage of this head start and experiment with it. Create an informed opinion on it. Learn the rules of the road…perhaps even by making a mistake. Or not.
Either way, it will be interesting to see what happens next. Like Facebook was to LinkedIn, FriendFeed could be the competition Twitter needs to right their ship once and for all. In the meantime FriendFeed power users are making suggestions on how to improve the site. Hopefully FriendFeed is listening.
UPDATE: PR Week did the interview referenced above and you can read it here.tags | public relations | PR | Friend Feed | social media | Twitter | marketing | RSS
FriendFeed is an interesting monster. These discussions about "FriendFeed will kill Twitter" and "FF replaces GReader" are sort of silly, as it's really a matter of personal preference and workflow habits. But let me address your cons from above:
FriendFeed vs. RSS reader: You mentioned that you wish you could arrange or manage the content more like that which flies through your RSS reader. Well, let's say you're interested in my FF content. You can grab an RSS feed of my stuff (http://friendfeed.com/mjkeliher?format=atom) and dump it in your reader -- either a separate account for reading FF-to-RSS feeds or a separate GReader folder or whatever blows your dress up. Con solved.
FriendFeed vs. Twitter: You mention that FF needs "profile context" and direct messaging capability, among other things. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "profile context," but perhaps you're suggesting that when you visit http://friendfeed.com/mjkliher you'd like to see a Twitter-ish bio of me. I'd argue that my FF stream of content provides some pretty good context, but I see your point (if, indeed, my presumption is right).
As for direct messaging, one could argue that this simply isn't -- and shouldn't be -- in FriendFeed's purview. If you want to message me, and if you're following me on FriendFeed, one of those 30 other platforms should provide a way for you to message me. Perhaps that's a weak argument. Just a thought.
Posted by: Mike Keliher | 05/30/2008 at 10:26 AM
Waay too early to start evaluating friendfeed. It hasn't reach critical mass, yet.
A couple of weeks ago I made a wisecrack about Twitter being a useful toy, like my night vision goggles (eat your heart out). This week that's even more true.
New tech in social media is like chicken feed: Throw a few kernels in the yard and all the (ahem) early adopters will go scurring after it.
They'll do that when you throw sand in the yard, too.
What all this is building up to is that the long-awaited convergence may not happen at all. Maybe it will be a great divergence. The variety and options available may actully allow people to pick and choose the tech, apps, sites, wha'ev ... that works best for them.
There's a certain promise in that.
But we still will hear, "You just have to get on BrainFeedSter.com RIGHT NOW or you'll be left behind!"
Whew, too much thinking for Friday night.
Posted by: Lally | 05/30/2008 at 08:23 PM
Mike - You're right about the context and I think you're points are proving out that at least right now no one platform can do it. And one doesn't necessarily need to.
Lally - I know it's early. The initial glee over FF is what made me try and get a handle on it. Normally the glee just pisses me off...see my Twiter Hater post for an example. I tried to skew a bit more pragmatic this time. It might have something to do with the city I live in? But it's early enough that I could be confused for a lemming. So when do I get to borrow the night vision goggles?
Posted by: Kevin Dugan | 05/31/2008 at 03:17 PM