I’ve been really busy with work lately and I find that being busy really helps me focus on the best uses of my limited free time. Lately I’ve found myself spending a lot of time “hanging out” on Twitter and FriendFeed. The reason I like hanging out on both sites is very simple – they’re basically unstructured chat rooms populated by my friends and friends-of-friends. It’s as much about entertainment as it is about news – I almost always find something entertaining, amusing, or informative every time I take a few minutes to browse the latest postings on either site.
I think a lot of the reason I like hanging out on these two places (I think of them more as places than sites) is that I get a good range of content – everything from blog posts to idle commentary to thoughtful remarks or observations. And news. I increasingly find out more “breaking” news on these two services than I do anywhere else. Facebook is still fun, but I don’t get the same buzz from hanging out there – my NewsFeed is mostly full of application adds, friends who are planning to attend events, or other interesting updates. But it’s not really “breaking” news and most of it’s not entertaining. It’s of great personal interest to me, but it doesn’t really get my creative or mental juices flowing.
The beauty of FriendFeed (in particular) and Twitter (to a lesser extent) is the simplicity of communication combined with a good community. FriendFeed and Twitter have managed to continue to feel very “personal” to me despite the growth in my network on each site – the things I read continue to be entertaining and personally relevant in a way that my Facebook NewsFeed is ceasing to be. And there are a few blogs (Louis Gray, Andrew Chen, Jeremy Liew, and a few others) that always have great, thought-provoking content. But that’s been true for awhile.
This is kind of a rambling post, but what do you think? Where have you been hanging out online and why?
I agree, I’m finding FriendFeed to be interesting, even though I’m more of a lurker than a participant.
One question though–I noticed this post had attracted some commentary on FriendFeed. But that commentary is not re-injected back to the site from which the shared item (or posted item) originated. So while the discussion is “consolidated” on FriendFeed (good for their traffic/stickiness), in a way it is moved from being in the comments here, as far as I can tell. Is that good or bad for your blog, as an example?
I guess it doesn’t matter where the comments are recorded if you’re interested in what your friends have to say, but it would appear to make the “discussion” less visible to the world at large and search engines in particular.
David,
I wish there were a way to pull those comments back to my blog – Plaxo Pulse has the same issue. At the end of the day, I’m happy to get comments no matter where they’re logged. It certainly helps, though to have one place where I could see all the feedback. One simple solution would be a FriendFeed plugin that displays FF commentary alongside the WP comments.
Hi Charles,
I don’t remember when I stumbled on your blog but I enjoyed your posts enough that I am a RSS subscriber of yours. 🙂 Anyhow, I figured I add in my two cents on this topic.
I end up wasting my time on Tumblr, Twitter, and my Google Reader. Tumblr because it’s the easiest way to blog/upload a picture, video, link/reblog someone else’s post, and finally a stream feed of all the interesting things the folks I follow post. Twitter because I get latest updates (I leave Snitter, the desktop application for Twitter on) and it’s fun. Finally, Google Reader to stay up to date on the latest news in the web space. It’s also my way of getting free data whenever I’m lucky enough to have bloggers write about the industry that my team is building our startup idea around. (I read ESPN, too. But that’s another story).
In regards to #1, what you can do is install a comment system Disqus or Intense Debate on your WordPress to better manage your comments. It’s like a social network for your comments. It might be good to check out. 🙂
Best,
Steve
P.S. Disqus was started by two UCD lads — the college I graduated from — so I am bias to recommend their product. heh heh.
Steve,
Thanks for the great comment. I had Intense Debate on my blog for awhile but I found that it really slowed down the page load times on pages where I had a lot of comments – I went back to the vanilla WP comments because it keeps the site loading a bit more quickly. If I ever get a better hosting package, this might not be such an issue.
Friendfeed is by far the best place online to hang out.
I don't hanging out in online and wasting my time with social networks..But what u have mentioned above is true..
online education
Friendfeed is a great way to pass the time.
I needed this info thanks mate
Regards
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