I originally met Jaica Kinsman at our first Maine Tweetup and got to
chatting with her about social media. I'm so glad I did. I know a lot
of wired people out there, but Jaica always offers the most rock solid
advice, sends me invites to the coolest social media sites, and
generally links to only the best resources.
Everyone in social media needs a friend like Jaica. (Pronounced JAY-sa, in case you run into her on the street.)
Jaica's always been all about FriendFeed, and although I have an
account, it's not something I check every day. Jaica continues to pester
me about that fact every time I see her, so I finally suggested I'd
interview her about FriendFeed and she could prosthelytize to her heart's content.
I've added some explanations in [brackets] that are there to help your friends who don't know as much as you do.
RB: Jaica, what is FriendFeed?
JK: FriendFeed is a
lifestreaming service that lets you share your favorite content from 59
different sites into one page. You can easily start discussions around
shared items and discover new content by subscribing to your friends'
feeds. Their favorite items show up on your Home page.
you just made it up to confuse me. But back to my line of questioning.
Why do I need FriendFeed? Can't I just follow someone at Twitter and
friend them on Facebook? What does FF offer that these and similar
services don't?
Here is an example: I sent a tweet [a 140 character post at Twitter] to
Robert Scoble [famous Internet guy] asking his thoughts on an article my boss sent me about
social sites and security. Scoble responded to me via @reply at Twitter, but through Scoble's FriendFeed my question reached a wider audience than just my Twitter followers. You can see the conversation here.
I did receive a few @replies in Twitter from my original tweet that
were helpful, but limited to 140 characters. The conversation started
in Twitter, but the dialogue appeared in FriendFeed. Through the
FriendFeed comments I was able to point my boss to an article, which he
found satisfactory and the issue was cleared up.
use FriendFeed's Facebook application to connect my Facebook profile.
FriendFeed appears as a Wall tab on my Facebook page and helps keep my
Facebook Profile page clean.
RB: How can I follow someone on FF? How do I interact with them?
JK: To follow someone, simply click the Subscribe button in the upper right corner of the user's profile page.
You can jump right into the conversation by commenting on a shared item or you can use the Like feature to let them know you found their post to be particularly valuable… that it was funny or a quality post.
RB: If someone leaves a comment on FF do I get it anywhere else?
JK: In your Account settings, you can set up FriendFeed to send you an email or IM [instant message] you when someone comments on your feed.
JK:
I am on FriendFeed because it makes me smarter. I follow smart people
who post interesting articles. Not only are they great filters who
deliver the best stuff to my Home page, I generally find the comments to be compelling.
RB: I see "Rooms" in FriendFeed; what's that all about?
JK:
Rooms are an excellent way to have focused discussions on a particular
subject. Rooms expose you to a larger audience and can help you make
connections to new people with similar interests.
RB: What else should we know about FF?
JK: You can embed your FriendFeed in your homepage or blog using the blog widget.
RB: Did you just plug yourself? Damn, woman! Have you no shame? BTW, people can subscribe to my feed at http://friendfeed.com/richbrooks.
Now, Jaica, you'll probably recommend that I change that to
/therichbrooks because of branding…and you might be right!
