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At Startup School last year, Paul Buchheit said that Friendfeed was an aggregator of social media traffic in much the same way that an e-mail client was an aggr

At Startup School last year, Paul Buchheit said that Friendfeed was an aggregator of social media traffic in much the same way that an e-mail client was an aggregator of SMTP traffic. Paul is a really really smart guy. It makes perfect sense. The problem is that Facebook does a pretty good job of being an aggregator of social media traffic too. You can post articles and status updates, photos, etc. I have my Twitter posted to Facebook as well. And with the addition of threaded comments and "Like", etc., in many ways Facebook has made Friendfeed obsolete. It's almost like Facebook and Friendfeed both came up with the same idea of sharing information and being an aggregator of social media traffic. Except Friendfeed started with the aggregation features, and Facebook started by building a critical mass of users. When it comes to sharing information with people you know, the critical mass of users wins.

MrGunn 18y ago
The other major difference is that Facebook only takes information in, it doesn't readily share it back out. So Facebook's really not about sharing information, it's about collecting information about you. There's been no winner. Facebook doesn't work well for the older crowd who mostly don't use it, and they weren't even started around the same idea. Facebook was successful because it was the first of it's kind. It's a networking application, specifically for keeping up with what your college friends are up to. It was the first to try the "social network for X" and got the first mover advantage. Friendfeed is totally different. It collects activity from the whole universe of networks and it does a better job, especially for the older crowd who has no use for the extraneous Facebook crap. There will be no obsolescence, because Friendfeed is open and Facebook isn't.
nostrademons 18y ago
Also, FriendFeed has a FaceBook app. Which means that people can install that and then just use FaceBook as an aggregator for all their FriendFeed traffic. When I was applying to FriendFeed last summer, a bunch of my friends were like "Oh, that's that FaceBook app that spews all your Reddit posts onto your FaceBook wall." And I kinda mentally facepalmed.

MrGunn 18y ago

The other major difference is that Facebook only takes information in, it doesn't readily share it back out. So Facebook's really not about sharing information, it's about collecting information about you. There's been no winner. Facebook doesn't work well for the older crowd who mostly don't use it, and they weren't even started around the same idea. Facebook was successful because it was the first of it's kind. It's a networking application, specifically for keeping up with what your college friends are up to. It was the first to try the "social network for X" and got the first mover advantage. Friendfeed is totally different. It collects activity from the whole universe of networks and it does a better job, especially for the older crowd who has no use for the extraneous Facebook crap. There will be no obsolescence, because Friendfeed is open and Facebook isn't.

nostrademons 18y ago

Also, FriendFeed has a FaceBook app. Which means that people can install that and then just use FaceBook as an aggregator for all their FriendFeed traffic. When I was applying to FriendFeed last summer, a bunch of my friends were like "Oh, that's that FaceBook app that spews all your Reddit posts onto your FaceBook wall." And I kinda mentally facepalmed.