May 26 2008

What’s So Great About FriendFeed, Twitter, etc.?

Published by Ken Stewart at 3:00 am under Change, Culture, Social Media, Technology

FriendFeed, Twitter, Social MediaSo what’s so great about all of these social media platforms like FriendFeed, Twitter, etc.? Back at the beginning of April, I signed up for a FriendFeed account (ChangeForge). I decided to join the experiment first hand to see what’s it’s all about.

Well, to be truthful, it seems like I’ve been subscribed much longer than just 2 months.

Scoble wrote a post about news v. noise (link). The premise was a simple question of whether you enjoy information from 1 of 2 sources: 

1) news, an organized stream of information from “reputable sources”, or

2) noise, the chatter in the blogosphere.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I enjoy the former more than the latter, BUT I have come to learn that social media sites and meta-aggregators are wonderful ways to find new content that I would never have found otherwise.

Think of it… you are 1 person trying to find things interesting through traditional media outlets, various e-mails, or you might even be using some sights like MySpace or FaceBook already.

So what would something like FriendFeed or Twitter bring to the table?

Think of this… you now have dozens or hundreds of individuals combing the Internet for things you enjoy and posting links back to their source. This is the beautiful thing I have come to love about FriendFeed or Twitter.

These sites do not give you that 1-on-1 feel like an Instant Messaging client might, but you can gain some wonderful links to new information, and that branch can take you to many other sources of information. It’s almost as if you are becoming part of the root system of a large tree seeking more and more sources of minerals and water.

Social Media is not without its issues; it does tend to be a little “high school” in that users tend to become incensed at the drop of the hat, it seems. It is also my opinion you need a program like AlertThingy, TWhirl, or Feedalizer to keep a little more interactive feel.

Nonetheless, it is a bold new frontier I have not regretted becoming part of. I am still refining who I follow, but this practice is, and should be, part of any evolution. Give it a try, and dive in.

Ken Stewart’s blog, ChangeForge.com, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology. Ken is also the Director of Technology at Kearns Business Solutions.

  • How do you keep up with FriendFeed and Twitter… AlertThingy anyone?
  • Is FriendFeed the feed for me?
  • Now You See Me, Now You Don’t: Discover FriendFeed’s Hide Option

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    Viewing 2 Comments

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      I love the your analogy, "It’s almost as if you are becoming part of the root system of a large tree seeking more and more sources of minerals and water." I entirely agree. I'm trying to get more active with Twitter and FriendFeed for these exact reasons.

      I've been thinking about my Signal to Noise ratio as it concerns my consumption and production of digital content and I find that the best filters are human ones. I need people like you and others that find items that I would not have seen or might have not paid attention to. It is the power of recommendation. Social media and especially social media aggregators like FriendFeed have become essential in correlating information from a number of sources.

      BTW, have you considered posting a link to your Google Shared Items? I love this method of recommending good stuff that I might not blog about.

      Thanks
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      Tsu, I like the term "Signal to Noise ratio"... that sums up a lot of what I have been gnashing on over the past few weeks.

      I have thought about Google Shared Items but many of those I am following are recommending FriendFeed over this method of sharing. I might have to check that out though to get a taste for myself.

      Nice to hear from you again.
     

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