WOOHOO!! I just saw a dragonfly in my yard, which is awesome b/c we have an army of mosquitoes for it to eat. Don't tell Dave it's here though; he's convinced they bite as much as the mosquitoes.
Dragonflies are my nemeses when it comes to photography; I have yet to get a good picture of one. One day, though, one day...
- Mark H
Shooting dragonflies is very hard, Mark. Here are my two best photos of dragonflies: http://www.flickr.com/photos... <---This one I got on the first shot & http://www.flickr.com/photos... <---This one I like the best because I was about 20' away. Also, proud of myself (my camera) since I didn't use a tripod.
- Anika
I love dragonflies - I saw some young ones on a walk last weekend. Eat the mosquitoes!
- Jennifer Dittrich
I got bitten to death at an outdoor wine tasting event yesterday. We could have used several dragonflies. Also, geckos eat mosquitos too :)
- LANjackal
I haven't been able to spend as much time online as I would like recently, however, when I do, this is the first place that I come. Here!
- Michael Fidler
Huh, that's odd. I thought that would be big news. There seems to be an absence of a certain ornithological piece. A headline regarding mass awareness of a certain avian variety.Have you not heard?? It was my understanding that everyone had heard.
Unclarified?! Now, say it isn't so, Micah! lol :) *Arm wrestles for at least one claw to get out of making sloppy Joes since turkey isn't done yet*
- Melanie Reed
As long as it's not margarine I'm happy.
- Micah
from iPhone
"Friendfeed is the perfect example of what happens to all our data we pump into a service – it gets sold off to the highest bidder and in this case it’s Facebook but it could just as easily bee Google, Microsoft or any number of companies wanting to own a piece of the social web. The moment we hit the publish, tweet, share button we no longer own our data and that is wrong." Hmm, I apparently just sold this quote to Facebook.
- Eric
At 1 p.m. PST, I am going to show FriendFeed to a group of businesspeople learning about the best sites and practices of social media. So tell me... what do you like about FriendFeed? What should they know?
Jesse, I didn't say "dead", I said "dying" :)
- directeur
Myspace is dying, FF is no where near that level of demise.
- Kamala Whitaker
directeur, and that is still your perception, not fact
- Jesse Stay
Clean UI. Customizable. Ability to hide, block, make account private. And the community of people is good. More than 140 characters. Inline media.
- Spidra Webster
Jesse, the facts are known by the owners, not you or me. Our comments *are* our perceptions :)
- directeur
Business decisions are made from relevant information. Context from crowd brings more meaning. FF brings more context.
- Yann Ropars
Search/Lists - the ability to filter a veritable waterfall of information into many managable streams
- Andrew Terry
Oh, and think I don't love this site? I do, you know I do :)
- directeur
It is much easier to engage meaningfully within the confines of FriendFeed than it is in twitter or facebook. The conversations are also easier to read (larger font) as a default. Good for people who need glasses.
- Dan owns Comicsforge.com
directeur, I know for a fact that it is not dying :-) Again, about the butterflies.
- Jesse Stay
Louis, have them ("group of businesspeople") buy it back from Facebook...do they have deep pockets?
- Yann Ropars
Yann, that would be a bad idea - you haven't seen what Facebook will do with it yet. Trust me - butterflies.
- Jesse Stay
Louis has asked for us to talk about what we like about FF and you guys are arguing instead.
- Spidra Webster
Jesse, you know how long a butterfly lives, right? Most of them not more than a month ;-) - Nah seriously, I know for a "fact" that Friendfeed's "use" is'nt what it used to be.
- directeur
Spidra, welcome to FriendFeed, and the Social Web in general :-)
- Jesse Stay
directeur, really? Based on what numbers?
- Jesse Stay
Oh, I know, but a little self-moderation in starting a new thread on that tangent wouldn't go amiss.
- Spidra Webster
Jesse, since buzz it's been very slow, and it's not the system, but people aren't posting. It's not dead, but it's not what it was even 1 month ago.
- Jimminy, CoG of FF
Jesse, well "my own perception" first and then take a look at you bestof the day and tell me how much comments are there for the best entry.
- directeur
Jimminy, that is your perception - fact for you, but not the site
- Jesse Stay
directeur, 28. I also know that for me total comments on my posts are higher than they were a year ago.
- Jesse Stay
So, to answer Louis's question, I like that FriendFeed is still an active service and can generate some amazing conversations if you use it right.
- Jesse Stay
Jesse, I used to see *hundreds* of comments on the best entry. And the total comments on your own doesn't mean a grow or anything, it means IMHO that comments are norrowed on the few meaningful entries that we have now
- directeur
directeur, it means your circle is dying, not the site. Again, perception.
- Jesse Stay
Jesse, it shows a departure from use, which is much more dramatic than I ever noticed after the purchase. And I've seen an upswing in comments recently though, which is contradictory.
- Jimminy, CoG of FF
Jimminy, I see nothing proving a departure from the site - maybe in your circle, but not the site as a whole. Also, loss of users does not mean FriendFeed is dying - the usefulness is still there with or without the users.
- Jesse Stay
Louis, they should know that FriendFeed is the place to see the future of Facebook and the future of Google's social strategy. There may be pariculars of ff they should learn too. Will a team be handling their social media strategy?
- Bruce Lewis
from fftogo
Jesse, probably... who knows. Both of us can't be sure, but my analysis (and yours) weren't wrong. Anyway, it actually saddens me. I love FriendFeed for many reasons (answer to Louis, btw): the ease of use, the quality of conversation, and above everything, the definition of "friendship" itself. On facebook, for eg. "friendship" has a different meaning...
- directeur
Compared to Buzz, Friendfeed is easy to set up, navigate, organise and use. It can aggregate different cuts of data into different rooms for easy analysis. The users are engaged and a company who takes the time to interact with the users on Friendfeed will be repaid with conversation, opinion and memes. People who use Friendfeed tend to be users of other platforms too, and there is...
more...
- WoH: Minding her Steves
Jesse, I didn't say departure from site I said use, the people are still here they just interact less, with less interaction between users it destroys the ability to find interesting new content with FoaF. So ultimately, the service becomes less useful. You might not see it when you're following 11x as many people as me, but I see noticeable lulls, now.
- Jimminy, CoG of FF
Clean and easy to use with lots of control to use it the way I want to. :) But I'm biased.
- Rachel Lea Fox
So this is a Buzz off (or FriendFeed off depending on your pov) that you are doing?
- Brian Sullivan
Rachel, no you are NOT. Kevin did a GREAT job, really! :)
- directeur
Brian: it would appear to be something like that, but no less valid.
- WoH: Minding her Steves
Jimminy, true that! I for one used to be more present here, I saw many beautiful things, projects, ideas, learnt so many things! Now, it doesn't taste the same. You can blame me, no problem :-) But I don't think that I'm the only one who thinks like this.
- directeur
Social sites are all fire hoses of information (with varying degrees of pressure.) Friendfeed gives you the best flow control.
- Marty
FriendFeed is what you make of it. My best of day means nothing, as it's just how other people are choosing to use the site. My experience is all about the discussions *I* create, and the content I'm able to read from it. I still digest the same amount of content I used to (in fact, more) - comments have nothing to do with that. My conversations here are much greater than they used to be. It's all about the experience *you* create. If you're not seeing that it's your fault.
- Jesse Stay
ability to customize my experience. i can hide a single post, block a person, or hide certain update types from everyone (e.g. Last.fm posts)
- Jeff (Team マクダジ )
and even though Scoble doesn't like this feature, i love having the items with the most engagement constantly bumping up to the top (if i am sick of it, i hide it)
- Jeff (Team マクダジ )
I didn't like that feature before Scoble left. :)
- JCunwired
Jesse, weren't we talking about the general behavior/trend? I KNOW how to use friendfeed, seriously, please don't tell "me" how to use it. I so know how that I often criticized it, given my opinion, wrote apps for it... (No, I'm not angry or anything :) ) It's just that the phrase "friendfeed is what you make of it" (we should TM that to Tina which I didn't see in a while btw) is kind of obvious for some people.
- directeur
Directeur, so if it's dying, it's your own fault
- Jesse Stay
Jesse, YES. My and so many people's fault. And you know since when and what generated this? Yes, you know.
- directeur
directeur, that's the problem - you all think it's FriendFeed's problem. FriendFeed is what you make of it - you said so yourself. My experience has only improved on FriendFeed - it is not dying for me, nor is it dying site-wide. Look at the Alexa numbers over 2 years.
- Jesse Stay
If anything kills FriendFeed (which it won't) it will be its own most devoted users stabbing it in the back when it has opportunity to grow still.
- Jesse Stay
Jesse, True, but you still didn't answer my question: "Why do these devoted users step back from it"? What happened and made them change their mind? There must be something. Yes there is.
- directeur
Oops, 1:21. Too late. And what I had to say was absolutely brilliant, too.
- Dawn
Directeur, which users? They each have their reasons. Scoble saw opportunity with the other services to increase his audience. New service==new audience. Dis old service==bigger audience on the older service. For the bigger guys it's all about the numbers, and if you can gain better numbers on 2 services instead of one by dissing one or the other, I say go for it. It has nothing to do...
more...
- Jesse Stay
WofH: Thanks much. That's nice of you to point out. But I was actually just kidding. Louis never thinks I'm brilliant. ;)
- Dawn
Well that's clearly not true, Dawn. I can remember plenty of times when Louis said you were brilliant. It's just my search ability doesn't seem to be working too well atm...
- WoH: Minding her Steves
Jesse, 1) I wasn't talking about Scoble. I was talking about the dozens of wonderful and simple people I met here 2) I'm not here for the numbers, I have nothing to sell. 3) If expressing my real feelings toward this service is "stabbing" it then I'm stabbing with love. French people have a saying : "Qui aime bien châtie bien" which means "The one who loves, punishes best (the person he...
more...
- directeur
Late to the party, but here are my two cents: it is an elegant solution to the problem of aggregating your content and keeping track of the loads of other content your social connections are producing on the web. Easily manageable with list and group filtering, VERY effective search. Plus the people who participate really do participate. Conversation quality is better than most other venues.
- Martha
I also should add that I wasn't able to "get" it overnight. But once I did, I still find it the most comfortable place for content management. It really is what Twitter / Facebook / Buzz should be or at least aspire to be. All right. Four cents then.
- Martha
WofH: LOL Hey, it's FF's fault; it isn't you. Put that on your list, Louis. Social media needs better search.
- Dawn
Ummm, sorry about the LOLcats, Louis. I just found about this.
- Steven Perez
We did mention LOLcats in the presentation. Seriously. See #socialmediaretreat on Twitter for folks mentioning it. I haven't demoed this piece yet, but I will. Thanks guys. :)
- Louis Gray
I really like that I can port in music from sites like blip.fm, tag them with #jonmusic and have myself a rudimentary playlist of sorts that I can bump back up to the top of the feed at a whim.
- Jonathan Hardesty
I would say that social networks become spaces like meeting halls or people's lounge rooms. If you are going to sell your wares, be mindful that you are speaking to people in their social space. Passion runs deep
- Johnny
True, Johnny, but will businesses use FF to sell or engage? They are not necessarily the same thing.
- WoH: Minding her Steves
Anything you do is selling your brand. Everything from answering customer service questions to product announcements to what you reshare and retweet all goes to a potential customer's memory.
- Johnny
from iPhone
That Micah's scripts are a "must have" and if you think friendfeed is great without them, you are missing a large chunk of the friendfeed experience.
- April
Aw, now I'm blushing - another good use for Friendfeed.
- Micah
That was the perfect opportunity for a Johnny Worthington *drops pants* moment
- Jesse Stay
Like a forum, but with a different way of organizing and treating things.
- TrafficBug
I have no idea how I never appear in these screenshots. I'm going to go kill myself. BRB.
- Akiva
I'm surprised that rooms (which may be public or private), as well as Personal, Professional, and My Discussions feeds, weren't included in this list.
- Ruchira S. Datta
My Discussions is covered within point number 4. Rooms are good, but if I had to choose between rooms and lists, I'd choose lists.
- John E. Bredehoft
Someone needs to find fun or useful applications for end users for things like the Nvidia Tesla supercomputer, then get that level of hardware down to 500 bucks. That might shake off the doldrums.
- Sue - Friendfeed is best
That's what I got for paying $299 to buy their entire history _ever_ from Apple. Put iTunes on shuffle, and there's a good chance it will hit DM.
- Louis Gray
Louis Gray has good taste in music :)
- Adam Singer
WOW great music, Louis. It's like you went through some of my iTunes library and stole it. :P
- Mol, FF Music Lover
Louis, how do I get that entire history collection?
- Jesse Stay
I can dig some house, but when it comes to electronic I always slant towards the more experimental/IDM-type stuff... Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, etc - hence my: http://friendfeed.com/got-mem...
- Nathan Chase
Justice and Daft Punk are about as "house" as I get... but the name-givers seem to dub them as "electro"...
- Nathan Chase
You're the electronic kind of guy, I see... Let me suggest a little change: Prefab Sprout "Let's change the world with music". It also has that 80's feeling that you seem to like but it's a little bit more poppy.
- Jordi Soler
One reason I love FF more than any other service. The people actually seem genuinely concerned about each others well being. Thank everyone for there well wishing and hopefully the service or it's legacy project shine on in this regard. I love you guys.
you are right! that is what i like about this feed and it is GENUINE, but is so new that is not so fun yet, but the more we post things that wake us up to what we knew with intuition already that friend feed will be THE tool, but until then i will support it too
- Ian Hilley
Shawn, I just realized the I actually didn't share any info about my accident on FB. Odd as that sounds, but I really don't like FB.
- Jimminy, CoG of FF
Oh I was referring to FriendFeed selling out to Facebook, FB's now the owner, so by proxy...my comment was meant as...yes, we soldier on! Come what may!
- sofarsoShaw BAZINGA!
Shawn, I understood what you meant, it just was an epiphanie that I had from seeing facefeed.
- Jimminy, CoG of FF
Bumping this because, this is the real shit, I love you guys and all the support.
- Jimminy, CoG of FF
When will Facebook take down/get rid of FriendFeed? I really can't stomach Facebook.
- Jannifer @wordsforliving
Jannifer, hopefully never, hopefully they decided to do a pure talent grab and allow the service to remain independent, under the FB umbrella but funded by Paul and fellow FriendFeeders, since we don't know the terms this seems unlikely.
- Jimminy, CoG of FF