DISQUS

I think Mike is dead on - my expanded thoughts are here http://aureliusmaximus.wordpress.com/

excellent, excellent, EXCELLENT post - minimization (or downright blindness to) proper, effective management systems is one of the biggest productivity killers imho.

My world is universes away from the industries discussed here in many ways but I see more and more every day how, across the board, failure to pay attention to your management processes destroys moral.

"Well we are paying you well so it shouldn't matter!" just doesn't cut it.

what an absolutely awesome idea - thanks for posting this!

what an absolutely awesome idea - thanks for posting this!

lol

Charlie -

Definitely see your point on the track record of limiting interaction but I see it taking towards the direction Rob is talking about.

There are good reasons why instant messaging services started allowing users to communicate with people using competing applications.

It was all well and good when AOL was the one dominating and innovating - they were hoarding a massive user base so the game was theirs to control. But as soon as the ways to connect to the internet proliferated and new interfaces and tools were developed that provided internet users with an incentive to jump AOL's walls they had little choice.

As we have moved through that process and the market has grown, providing users a myriad of choices for virtually each type of web activity, I believe we have all developed an expectation that the services we use play nice with others.

I don't think there is a user out there that wouldn't love to see the kind of federated approach rob is talking about - Twitter and its cousins don't have to move in that direction but that is not going to change the market's demands.

At some point somebody will figure out how to do it and it will be AOL all over again for the pioneers...

I am obviously not qualified to speak to the technical aspects but I think this kind of approach is exactly the kind of solution microblogging (macromessaging?) needs to move one step closer to fully integrating itself into the mainstream.

I looked back over Jason's post from earlier this month of Babelnote and while some of the concerns he raises seem to make sense I don't have anywhere near the technological background to know whether or not they are truly valid.

Truth is, from my perspective, the how is irrelevant - its the why that matters.
There is a fundamental difference between the kind of communication that the Twitters and FriendFeeds offer and email, instant messaging, texting and chat rooms. If there wasn't no one would be so excited about them - they would take one look at them and say "oh, that's just like (insert item from previous list)" and walk away.

Point is - the demand for the function isn't going to go away, its going to increase.

The kind of solution you are suggesting would allow the Twitter's and Indenti.ca's out there to focus on providing UIs that will meet specific needs and attract more users instead of spending all their time trying to build a structure capable of supporting everyone's everything.

Thanks to you and Winer and Jason and all of the other people out there who are taking the time to put their tech skills to use to try and figure out a solution.

So long as you guys keep thinking forward and throwing out ideas for the solution someone, somewhere will figure it out.

Totally agree justin - narrowing it down to just one example would be tough because the reality is that I learn something valuable from the FriendFeed community almost every day.

Hao has also agreed to let me pick his brain on some things - I obviously don't know him well but I have been very impressed by his level of knowledge and contribution to the FF community - I'll make this prediction that you can hold me to: we haven't seen a fraction of what he can or will do - dude's an up-and-comer in my book.

marco

Tac,

THIS post is EXACTLY why I love social media so much.

I had never heard of Barabasi or his book before your post but your analysis and application of his Scale-free concept is DEAD ON (and a much more intellectual exposition of my corn cob pipe discussions!).

On a purely surface level I love: "No matter how hard Twitter tries they have been unable to unseat Scoble, Arrington, Calacanis, Owyang and others." and "t’s like the crazy girlfriend. You like being with her because she’s hot but you really love telling your friends the crazy stories."

Good stuff...

another great guest post - LG just might have a career ahead of him as a blogger talent scout!

I have noticed that there seems to be a core group that I tend to interact with regularly - I can't figure out if it is just that the things I post may go up at inopportune times and get buried or if 75% of the people subscribing to me aren't just hiding my entire feed ; )

very well put. i must admit it is tempting to get pulled into a numbers game or popularity contest but this is one of the things i love most about ff and twitter - you don't have to even know i am alive for me to learn from you.


i'll add that I recognized the quality that is mike fruchter far faster than louis gray! i kid (about the louis part ;p)

very well put. i must admit it is tempting to get pulled into a numbers game or popularity contest but this is one of the things i love most about ff and twitter - you don't have to even know i am alive for me to learn from you.

i'll add that I recognized the quality that is mike fruchter far faster than louis gray! i kid (about the louis part ;p)

Good stuff - I started out twisting the Friend Feed nozzle left as fast as possible but have also found myself being more discriminate. I view Facebook and LinkedIn as much more personal services so I give even more thought to who I invite to join those networks.

Remain utterly fascinated by all of these considerations and concerns.

Great post Jesse - thanks for this.

I have never (and probably will never) considered myself a "blogger" so taking the time to self-promote, maximize and tweak things to increase traffic has never been worth the time to me. Even so I have been too busy to add a couple of posts I had been thinking about or by the time I sat down to write them I realized I had pured out most of my original thoughts on the matter into FriendFeed.

Great reminder and tips - thanks man (and thanks Louis for giving Jesse the opportunity to guest post)

very cool - glad to know you. (you have LL Cool J stuck in my head now though)

nice - thanks for doing this!

nice - thanks for doing this!

What a great post! I am proud to say that Carnegie has had a major impact on my life and I find myself picking "How it Win Friends.." up ever couple of years and being shocked and dismayed how easy it is for me to forget so many of the great lessons it contains.

Thanks for taking the time to track all that info down!

Great stuff - so glad to see more people countering the growing number of posts telling me that I need to subscribe to their particular philosophy on information processing.


Thanks!

I don't think the role new social media applications are playing in removing barriers to communication can be stressed enough. i don't know that any one particular social networking app is going to have a dramatic impact but I am confident that the impact and ultimate goal they all share will.

Great stuff as usual. To your last point - in this case I don't think early adopters necessarily need to be able to remember or even understand "how it is for those who don’t obsess over every nuance of online interaction" - in fact I think its detrimental to the process if they do. I don't want a professional test-driving a new car model I may buy someday with my driving habits in mind. I want them to test that car by driving it every bit as hard as their abilities will allow them to.

I think everyone keeps getting hung up because they are viewing these applications as if they were just another variation of what average users are used to - as if we were discussing a new search engine or email application. The reality is, even though we have become more and more used to sharing bits and pieces of information quickly from just about anywhere, the "anything, anytime, anywhere with anyone" capability that these new tools offer if completely, absolutely, unquestionably different than anything the world at large is used to. Once these tools become a part of our everyday lives (years and years away mind you) they will completely alter the way we live.

I love this. I am so fascinated by what is taking place right now, particularly on FriendFeed and Twitter. Posts like these are great contrasts to FriendFeed's natural activity and other posts calling for increases in 'noise' - I very much see a Ying and Yang struggle taking place right now which is exactly how it should be.

I don't believe for a second that services like FriendFeed or Twitter will garner mass adoption in their current forms - the points that you, Alexander and others have been making do a great job of laying out the reasons why.

That said I think that the core concepts and capabilities of these new apps demand the kind of rigorous use and testing they are receiving. Everyone is right in my opinion - if you feel like using FriendFeed 24/7 - go for it! If you feel like its gotten to be too much, by all means, take a break. Together all of these actions will continue to develop our understanding of how these apps can be tweaked to benefit the rest of the world.

Great stuff - please keep thinking and writing!

I second Shey's comment

That'[s not even remotely my point.

Do you really think I would be interested in engaging you or anyone else who did not agree with my world view if that was what I believed? Of course not.

Your response is a wonderful defense of your desire to remain ideologically isolated. "I see things the way I see things and I have no need to try and understand your position" is a great way to stifle true debate and a horrible way to effectively change the way we approach issues in this country. As I said before - it wouldn't matter to me if you wouldn't insist on standing on your soapbox and donning sackcloth and ashes to mourn the death of honest debate.