shawn farner|*feeding* the social web obsession

Well, the new Facebook layout is here - that is, if you want it to be.  It is accessible by visiting www.new.facebook.com and logging in.  I personally have been looking forward to the upgrade to see what features Facebook would implement to take on Twitter and FriendFeed.  They had a real opportunity to turn the News feed on the Home Page into a FriendFeed of sorts by adding likes and commenting, and to take on Twitter by making status updates more of a conversation and less of an away message.

They did none of the above.

The News Feed is pretty much the same - and by pretty much, I mean EXACTLY the same.  Ball dropped.  I’m confused as to why Facebook felt it needed to add commenting to the Profile’s Mini-Feed (which I rarely look at) but not to the Home page (which some people scan religiously for the latest gossip).  They had a real chance to put FriendFeed away - Facebook’s user base easily dwarfs FriendFeeds.  A definite blown opportunity.

Status updates are primped up a little bit, but not much.  The Profile page now has a box at the top that asks, “What are you doing now?”  Very Twitter like, don’t you think?  However, that’s where the similarity ends.  First off, I don’t quite understand the rationale for treating status updates like Twitter on the Profile page but treating them like the status updates of old on the Home page.  It’s confusing - I honestly believe that those new to Facebook (and even some veterans) might not understand that these two status messages are, in fact, the same thing.  On top of that, there’s no way to communicate with others through updates (no @replies like Twitter).  To see the status updates of all your friends, you have to visit the “Friends” link at the top of the page.  However, these status updates are only that friend’s most recent - you won’t find multiple updates and it is nearly impossible to look at old updates.  Lame.

There are a bunch of other things I don’t like about the new Facebook interface, like the Wall Post/Activity mashup where a clean, uncomplicated Wall should be.  However, the News Feed and Status Update features are the ones I’m the most disappointed with.  I really felt like Facebook had a chance to capitalize on its user base and establish itself further as a hot spot on the web by implementing FriendFeed and Twitter-like features.  They didn’t, and that is an epic fail.

I’m getting really fed up with all the FriendFeed evangelists who insist Twitter is on its way out. I can’t go one day without reading a blog post, a FriendFeed comment or a tweet (the irony) suggesting that the takeover of FriendFeed is imminent.

Let me tell you what is going on in my FriendFeed right now - lots of tweets, a few posted FF messages and blog posts. Most don’t have comments. I’m following a lot of not-so-well-known techies who are getting no love. It seems that most of this “world-wide talk show” revolves around items shared by Paul Buchheit (a FriendFeed founder) and well-known FriendFeed trumpeters (Robert Scoble, Louis Gray, etc.).

Moving over to Twitter - someone is clearing out their spam folder. A local journalist is @replying back and forth with residents in the area. Robert Scoble is on his way to HP labs. These people are telling the world what they’re doing and what they think is interesting - quickly and concisely. In Twitter, it seems to matter less how popular you are. It doesn’t matter that @problogger has thousands more followers than @floor9. Their tweets are weighed the same - unlike FF, where the popular users gain more comments, which in turn bump their items to the top and bury the rest.

Does Twitter have downtime problems? Absolutely, and I complain a lot, believe me. The truth is, though, that Twitter’s network dwarfs FriendFeed’s. The users are hooked. Think about how many times Twitter has gone down or deactivated key features. The fact that they still have such a strong user base speaks volumes. If anyone thought there was a viable alternative to Twitter, they’d be there. There isn’t. Those who insist that the Twitter exodus has begun or that FriendFeed has somehow “taken over” are being sensationalists. FriendFeed will never kill Twitter. I’ve stated this a few times, but one more won’t hurt - if Twitter is killed by anyone, it’ll be Facebook. And FriendFeed will share the same fate.

I will continue to play in both, because I do believe that each one has value. FriendFeed does a lot of cool things and aggregates social networks better than any other app I’ve seen. But FriendFeed replacing Twitter is nonsense, and I invite anyone who truly believes it to totally delete their Twitter account and put their money where their mouth is.

Of course, a lot of me wants to say yes.  Scobleizer interviews some pretty high-profile people in the world of technology.  He also gets to fly all over creation.  He has a multitude of eyes and ears hanging on his every word.

Unfortunately, I feel that being fully immersed in the startup world and the ever-changing landscape of the web has put him out of touch with those who will make or break many of these ventures; the every-day guys and gals.

That isn’t a knock on Robert at all.  I’m totally envious of what he gets to do, and if things go my way, maybe one day I’ll have as many eyes and ears on me.  You can call my BS if you want, but if I had to choose between being a voice among tens of thousands of voices in the Valley or being one of just a few here, I’d choose here.

I’m located within spitting distance of a state capital that is severely lacking in web presence.  There are not many people on Twitter in Harrisburg - how else would a college student be able to chit chat with local news reporters at will?  We have very few serious bloggers, but these bloggers consistently scoop our newspaper writers on a regular basis.  There aren’t many people here who get it yet, and to me, that’s exciting.

Those few of us bloggers/early adopters that do exist here have the opportunity to do something great, something not a lot of people can say they’ve done.  We have, in our hands, the opportunity to transform an entire city.  We have the chance to completely change the way this city communicates, consumes media and sees the world as a whole.

I would guess that 97% of Harrisburg’s citizens have never heard of Twitter.  They’ve never heard of FriendFeed.  Some might think that Google is the only search engine in existence.  These people use email, AIM, Myspace and Facebook.  They read their favorite sites using bookmarks, not RSS feeds.  They find new music through the radio and word of mouth, not sites like Last.FM or Pandora.  The early adopter pace is just too fast for them to keep up.

I do not look down on these people at all.  Many early adopters seem to think highly of themselves for having been on something “first”, before it was cool.  I do not think that way.  For me, these people are not a heavy anchor holding us back.  Instead, they are the sails.  When they flock to a service, then you know you have something special.

I look foward to helping introduce them to this new world.  And Robert, next time you go to Tel Aviv, save me a seat?

To start off, the food court on campus here (Folger) has the most terrible sushi on earth.  After having decent sushi over the weekend, Folger’s just doesn’t cut it.  One thing I noticed is that their rice is really, really wet, and they use a lot of it.  A lot of rice and very little of anything else does not make for good sushi.  Seeing as I’m probably the only person who buys it from them, they should improve it for my sake.

How many of you use Twitter?  You should start.  It’s terribly addicting, though I haven’t discovered any real solid use for it yet.  I basically just update it via the web or text message it with some random thoughts every once in awhile.  If you came to this post via Twitter, I’m obviously not talking about you. :-P  And by the way, follow.

Speaking of web apps, I’ve been playing around lately on Ustream.tv and blogTV.  If you have some time to kill and want to see people make fools out of themselves, those are pretty good places to start.  I’m still a big fan of YouTube, but I feel it’s a bit flawed in that it doesn’t offer any sort of way to go live.  Until they do, these other services will fill the gap.  Here are some pretty funny shows you should watch if they’re on:

• Verbal Diarrhea
• The Moses Chronicles
• Knoxville Cam

I really need to get my Last.FM account rolling again.  The last time I even logged in was in 2006, and it seems as though people still use it.  I swore it would be something that was cool for a little bit but would then die a quick death.  Me, wrong?  Who knew such a thing was possible?  Is anyone else still using Last.FM?

I might have to start an end-of-the-week roundup of the most hilarious Facebook status messages I’ve seen throughout the week.  That’s an idea I’ll kick around.  This one is just way too good to save until Friday, though.  Ladies and gentlemen, my friend Davis Ly:  “All that studying counts for nothing….. Does Temple not want me to Gratulate!!!”

You may now all go about your business.