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Anders › Likes
Obama Drastically Scales Back Goals For America After Visiting Denny's - http://www.theonion.com/content...
Fossil Huntress, Susan Beebe, Anders and steffi liked this
Twitter Users are Young, Male, Handsome (OK, We Made That Last Part Up) - http://mashable.com/2009...
would have said not so young, male, handsome (ahem)
- Jean-Charles VERDIE
Well that's me and Pete covered!
- Steve Nimmons
He Wanted Bacon - http://www.flickr.com/photos...
ronin, Jason Wehmhoener, Barbara K. Baker and 9 other people liked this
Omg - I think it's bed time for Lindsay. Quick - someone hand me the tranq gun.
- Tad
HAHA i love you guys
- Mona Nomura
maybe plurk would be a better network for the bacon joke http://friendfeed.com/e...
- Noah David Simon
i know just how he feels
- Anders
Vahid۹Online, Pete Delucchi, Jezmynne Dene and 51 other people liked this
A token of friendship, with a side of bacon.
- Lindsay is in 20-ten
from Bookmarklet
These things always seem to be malfunctioning. I never get bacon - just hot air! What a rip!
- Tad
Push button -- received blazing hot bacon in your bare hand. Mmmmm.
- Chris Baskind
I don't want to see the back end of this machine... All I can see is a 'Pig Insertion Point'
- Johnny Worthington
Oh, man... where is she!?
- l0ckergn0me
I think, according to the picture, you're supposed to clap to encourage the device to produce the bacon. Just make sure to catch it before it hits the floor!
- Tad
Okay, I'm sick of all the bacon stuff, but this really did make me LOL!
- Louie
I will have a 12-year old moment and cross-off the '-on' so it says PUSH BUTT RECEIVE BACON cuz that's how I rol--- er, nevermind that last part.
- Eric Rice
Tad: No, he or she is trying to wipe-off the first drops of the burning hot oil. It's futile.
- Chris Baskind
Eric, that might invite receiving the bacon in an undesired orifice.
- Tad
LMAO @ Tad
- Louie
I LOVE this one! :D
- Adam Turetzky
where is Mona? Has she abandoned us? :,(
- Lindsay is in 20-ten
LOVE!!!!
- Mona Nomura
Holy crap - I sure hope Lindsay's happy now. She's in the other room giggling like a little girl.
- Tad
Lindsay omg i love you. i can't stop staring at this
- Mona Nomura
hover over my name (damnit, it's a tad cut off)------->
- Mona Nomura
It's funny that so many of you haven't seen this. I've seen this in men's rooms tons of times. Maybe girls don't deface their restroom accessories. That said, it doesn't take away from this image's pure unadulterated awesomeness.
- Tad
ugh. no pun intended
- Mona Nomura
Mona - Sacrilage (or some other accusation). Bring back the older profile pic - it was, ugh, way better.
- Yuvi
Tad: I've seen the image plenty of times, but not with a bacon makeover. lol
- Louie
i don't care if it's old, i'm Lindsay's best friend for life. Hey -can I come over?
- Mona Nomura
It's a long drive, but sure. I seem to remember you offering to clean and cook too. :D We'll pay in bacon.
- Tad
I had bacon and shrimp for dinner (seriously... this new diet is kinda strange). But I won't be making any more bacon until Wednesday. I'll make you some if you come over, Mona.
- Lindsay is in 20-ten
as an aside, that's a pretty nice diet.
- idnan
And of course I'll be bringing some... bacon! :) -starts packing bags-
- Mona Nomura
@Mona - Please tell me that the "going over" thing is a joke and you two live on the opposite sides of the world.
- Yuvi
Mona is probably within a 2 or 3 day drive from here. Or a 3 hour flight. And Mona - we can get the GOOD bacon from Whole Foods. ;)
- Tad
@Tad - Thankfully - I was getting a bit envious ;)
- Yuvi
Whole Foods? EF that rip off excuse for a supermarket. I'll bring you some fresh bacon with my ninja skills. HIYYYYYY-YA ....o wait, that's Street Fighter. Nevermind
- Mona Nomura
Mona, please record a song about how you feel about Bacon and post the video here on FriendFeed.
- Tad
Hah! do it! That would be worth it's weight in bacon!
- Lindsay is in 20-ten
LOL when I get a FF shirt, I'll post one up on my Seesmic
- Mona Nomura
for Mona? how about push button abortions? oh no wait... I'm conservative. I'm against that,... I guess. darn
- Noah David Simon
I think Mona should start her own startup called BaconFeed.com :P
- imabonehead
darn, spewing my coffee out all over keyboard .. great wit !! white shirt ruined .. :(-
- Peter Dawson
omg, lol
- Sarah Perez
just don't order the piggy lagoon with it ok
- Susan Beebe
I've heard that bacon and ham come from the same magical animal.
- Bill Sodeman
The Hidden Architecture of U.S. Militarism - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories...
Chuck Baggett, Jonathon, Dave "Freedom 35" and 39 other people liked this
"In a 2006 review of this study and two other surveys of U.S. military interventions, journalist Gar Smith found that “in our country’s 230 years of existence, there have been only 31 years in which U.S. troops were not actively engaged in significant armed adventures on foreign shores.” He concluded: “The arithmetic is daunting. Over the long course of U.S. history, fewer than 14% of America’s days have been marked by peace. The defining characteristic of our nation’s foreign policy for 86% of our existence would appear to be a bellicose penchant for military intervention. As of 2006, there were 192 member states in the United Nations. Incredibly enough, over the past two centuries, the United State has attacked, invaded, policed, overthrown or occupied 62 of them.”"
- Jason Wehmhoener
from Bookmarklet
sad
- Chris Rossini
sad indeed - we could have fed, clothed, educated and sheltered the world's population with the money we've spent on the military since 1900.
- Tad
The slides are slightly more readable at http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/militar...
- David Worrell
this seems like the only way the powers that be believe the us has influence, whether at home or abroad -- through sheer force and intimidation. the same kind of politicians being lobbied by weapons and security corporations are found on their advisory boards years later. shameful.
- Cee Bee
It would be intresting to see a comparision with Rome at the height of it's conquest and overextension.
- Michael W. May
from twhirl
mwm, that would be interesting. hmm. surely there exists a similar chart...
- edythe
Some comparisons of the Roman and American empires: A table showing parallel timelines http://users.erols.com/mwhite2... ; A fairly intelligent analysis http://www.heritage.org/researc... ; a rather out there and exhaustive website http://www.roman-empire-america-now.com/ ; There are others out there.
- Jason Wehmhoener
“in our country’s 230 years of existence, there have been only 31 years in which U.S. troops were not actively engaged in significant armed adventures on foreign shores.”
- Alan Cheslow
that really puts things in some perspective - scary stats from Jason W as well
- ben rogers
from twhirl
we're fighting for peace.
- Anthony Citrano
Fight for freedom...it really do make a lot of sense, yep
- Ben Borges
Like George Carlin says, "fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity".
- Jason Wehmhoener
exactly Jason. I used that in a speech once, but I think the original quote is fucking, because I remember agonizing over whether to say screwing or fucking in the speech.
- Anthony Citrano
Tad, maybe that's right, but if we had spent our money on feeding, clothing, and educating the world's population instead of the military since 1900, the education program would include German lessons instead of English ;-)
- Karim
Heehee - by "we" I meant humanity. :P
- Tad
Jason W., that first link was hilarious. I for one welcome our future leader, "Keanu Kennedy Bush-Roosevelt," in 2233. Bonus points for "Li Kuan of Rigel 7."
- Karim
Simply supplying food, clothing and shelter to "the worlds population" would not unfortunately not preclude the need for a military. The ability to defend a nation is a critical and necessary reality.There will always be tyrants, there will always be those who dream of conquest. They do not do this because they are hungry or naked... they do this because it is who they are. While it is fashionable to think of the US as a tyrannical force in the world - the answer is obviously that we are not.
- Soulhuntre
Soulhuntre, I don't think it's necessary to dominate the world in order to provide defense for a nation. Our military is now many times the size of any other nation's worldwide.
- Jason Wehmhoener
@US Citizens... I don't get it. I mean I get it i.e. what is happening but I just don't get it from a societal view point. As a Canadian living in Europe I am not even remotely near a culture with such defining militarism so it is hard to imagine. I am not hostile about the situation in the US (just being clear). I pity it. How could I not?
- Roger Kondrat
Roger: President Eisenhower's farewell speech from 1961 turned out to be very prescient. Transcript: http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/ike... Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch...
- Jason Wehmhoener
I think you'd find much the same statistics for most nations extrapolated over a period of time. Great Britain has been in a near-constant state of war as far back as its history reaches, as has China, France, Russia, and Egypt. I'm not saying the current state of affairs isn't sad and horrible - just that this behavior is not exclusive to any particular society or time.
- Jennifer Dittrich
Jennifer, do you think it might be accurate to say that in recent years (since WWII) it has been more true for the United States than for other countries?
- Jason Wehmhoener
Jason: For *some* other countries, yes. Not for, say, the U.S.S.R./Russia, Israel, and Iraq. Also, the proliferation of nuclear weaponry has led to a lot of persistent cold wars where neither peace nor war truly exists.
- Roger Benningfield
Roger: True, with regard to the amount of time spent at war. But with regard to the scale of the military, the United States has been in a class by itself since the fall of USSR. http://www.globalissues.org/Geopoli...
- Jason Wehmhoener
@Jason - While the USSR fell behind in war machine production in the early '90's, Russia itself been at war with several of their neighbors/former states off and on during most of the last 200 years. The US and China have both been very aggressively pursuing weapons production. The US is currently "ascendant" as far as military might goes, but I really do believe it is a push and pull -- as the US diminishes, others will rise.
- Jennifer Dittrich
Jennifer, I'm trying to understand your point of view, so please correct me if I am wrong. Are you saying that it's inevitable that some small number of nations will pursue global military domination? It's true that I can't think of a period of time when it hasn't been the case, but is it really unavoidable? It's like saying peace is impossible, unless I misunderstand you.
- Jason Wehmhoener
Can't speak for Jennifer, but I'll definitely say that across-the-board peace is impossible.
- Roger Benningfield
Then what do we aspire to?
- Jason Wehmhoener
@Jason, we aspire and that is the human condition. We are all flawed and we know it but it is the desire to aspire that causes the wars and ends them. Ambition to be greater than you are by the definition you set for yourself right? :)
- Roger Kondrat
Roger, I was thinking more along the lines of social aspiration, what are our aspirations to advance as a society? Unfortunately I think it's a very unusual question for most Americans.
- Jason Wehmhoener
Jason: (You're getting Roger overload here.) IMO, we aspire to peace, but acknowledge reality. Most of us aspire to love, knowing all the time that there's an excellent chance we'll get rejected/dumped/betrayed at some point... it's practically an inevitability. Same thing here... your goal is perfection, even though you know you'll never reach it.
- Roger Benningfield
In that case I'll keep pointing out how ridiculous I think our military is, and I guess other people will keep reminding me that it couldn't be any other way, and we'll just keep going round and round ;-)
- Jason Wehmhoener
It is clearly not a pretty picture, how the US military canvases the globe like a modern day Roman empire. But I often wonder, would Americans want it any other way? To not be dominant, to not be the best, to not be powerful?? For some reason, I doubt Americans would satisfy themselves being mediocre, bullied around by other nations.
- Dave "Freedom 35"
I find it interesting that so many people assume that *someone* has to be "the bully". Militarism is not the only available form of dialogue between nations (though the bully in the room often wants to pretend it is).
- Jason Wehmhoener
There are other more productive forms of dialogue between nations. I agree. Diplomacy and open lanes of communications are key conflict resolvers. It is when two or more nations stop talking that the outcome may become hairy. By bully I meant I do not believe Americans would like to be bullied by other nations, not that the US should act as or is the bully in the room flexing its...
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- Dave "Freedom 35"
There’s dumb, then there’s Twitter Dumb™ - http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r...
Nancy M., Brian Daniel Eisenberg, Adewale Oshineye and 36 other people liked this
I like the ™ in the URL. Daring! :-)
- Louis Gray
That's bullshit. I really feel for the developers of a site that get shut down like that. This could be precedent setting regarding API access depending on the outcome. Just goes to show you the need for new middle tier API services like Gnip.
- Mark Krynsky
Speaking seriously, the changes are very negative to the developers. If you read the Google thread, you can see the change was very quick, and caught many of them off-guard entirely. It's got to have people thinking why they want to be part of the Twitter family.
- Louis Gray
I think developers need to think twice before committing to any startup sites' API moving forward.
- Mark Krynsky
Google Groups Thread: http://groups.google.com/group...
- Louis Gray
Another one: http://groups.google.com/group...
- Louis Gray
Also, I find it ironic that they just bought Summize. A site developed on the backbone of their API just like many of the ones they just screwed.
- Mark Krynsky
Mark, good point on Gnip
- Duncan Riley
if this let's them make things more stable, then I am all for it. There is no point having cool third party services if your own site is down.
- Scott Watermasysk
Dumb dumb dumb. Cutting off their nose to spite their face.
- Jason Carreira
The twitter api was why I loved twitter. It's also why I hate twitter.
- Alan Le
Yeti-Bama T-Shirt by GAMA-GO - http://feeds.laughingsquid.com/~r...
Кто здесь?, Cindy and Anders liked this
If I were a new FriendFeed user, and I were automatically signed up to the noisiest people, w/all their sites, I'd be dead. There should be a "FriendFeed Lite" for first-timers that shows only blogs, Flickr and the basics, and then you try "Medium" and "Firehose". Don't scare away the newbies.
Muge Cerman, Brandon Klevence, Mitchell Tsai and 63 other people liked this
Rawr!
- Bwana ☠
Trial by fire, I say!
- Bradley McSpinn
Yeah it can be pretty over whelming at first... but most tools like this are... I guess.
- Adrian Nadeau
Maybe someone should put together some themed rooms for newbs and newb graduates
- Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
i say jump on in the water's warm!
- Morgan
They should join the same way my dad says he was taught to swim. Just jump in, if you make it, YAY; if you don't... ;)
- ha3rvey (big appetite)
I've been here for a few weeks and would have freaked out if I signed up to the intense users. I feel like I'm slowly getting the hang of it, adding people a little at a time, and participating more and more...
- Corie
Don't scare the newbies! scare the devs! MORE API! repeat after me: MORE API ! :)
- directeur
from NoiseRiver
A newbie coming to FF will have their lists populated by their friends, first and foremost. That kind of goes to the point of the name, I think. There's no reason they WOULD sign up for the noisiest people.
- Alexander Williams
from NoiseRiver
I'm only here for the Twitter.
- Cyndy
That's not true at all. I came here because of one person who told me about it. Other than that, I knew no one and couldn't get any friends to join.
- Corie
I'll be franck: I'm building in my small and humble sorcerer's lab a smarter "recommended page" that when optimized will be the cure for noise! Hear me Scobleizer? :)
- directeur
from NoiseRiver
agree with Louis, I guess for many there must be too much noise, so that they can't even think of a thing to say themselves
- Peter Efland
I signed up for a lot of noisemakers because i didn't have any friends who would join. I still hide a lot, a LOT. But I do think that the recommended page should be geared towards a variety of interests other than 'how to write a blog' and 'twitter wahhh' and 'iphone blahblah.' Rooms need exposure and love.
- sergiooo
They also need an automatically scrolling version to make it look like something REALLY important is happening in real time.
- Mike Seidle
@Peter Efland (phefland): I dunno, there seems to be quite a lot of folks saying quite a lot all the time. They just have their own insular environments / friend nets which yours (and mine, likely) don't necessarily intersect. Beyond that, as I've said elsewhere, if you own a theatre why does everyone have to be an actor all the time? An audience is not just good, it's necessary.
- Alexander Williams
from NoiseRiver
@sergiooo: I like the " 'how to write a blog' and 'twitter wahhh' and 'iphone blahblah.' " :-) More of that coming soon.
- Louis Gray
Deep dive or nothing
- Dave Martin
Good suggestion. I am on firehose setting for now... but I am here INSTEAD of Twitter. :-)
- David Muir
@alexander williams: True - good comment
- Peter Efland
@Alexander Williams (squidlord): Totally agree! very wise!
- directeur
from NoiseRiver
Why not give newbies the opportunity to view a short intro-to-FF clip, perhaps narrated by LG, showing them the basics. Things like how to follow/stop following people, the hide feature, etc. Having a basic understanding of how to use the service and being signed up with one or two noisier, not the noisiest, people seems reasonable.
- Dan Boggs
Louis, shock therapy worked wonrders for me. If I hadstarted with the light version, I would not be so psyched about it.
- Rodrigo Leme
from twhirl
@Luis Gray :) I'm not saying those feeders shouldn't be recommended, just that there is a whole world outside of the few topics that are so well represented, and if the goal is some sort of mainstream acceptance a bit of diversity deserves the same opportunity.
- sergiooo
LOL...good one. I started using FF a few weeks ago and find myself spending alot more time reading, commenting and looking around than on Twitter. Much more interactive and engaging.
- Geoff Peterson
I had mentioned in another post that it would be great if you could individually select the portions of one's feeds to have piped in. That way you could open up the fire hose and skip what you have not interest in (i.e. last.fm posts, etc).
- JA Castillo
I thought FF was a cult =(
- Mona Nomura
I need FF Lite some days, too. LOL
- Sarah Perez
Got outa control myself and made a mess ... Finally back. This is Louis right ?? :)
- Charlie Anzman
Sink or swim
- Tad
FF lite: Putting friends on a diet. LOL
- LPH™ and his dog P™
I quickly put together that Scoble and Laporte = Noise, so I discovered the Hide feature. Then I closed off the Friend of a Friend bit. Bam! It was readable again. Now I just follow too many interesting people to keep track of everything. I get about 11 pages worth a day.
- xero
yes, it would be easy to say 'What are you interested in' on sign up. From there filter specific services and... oh yah, KEYWORDS!
- Tim Hoeck
from NoiseRiver
FF lite: subscribe to just the a-listers. :O
- Hao Chen
Interesting idea on FriendFeed Lite, they would have to subscribe to a lot of people to be overwhelmed though right?
- Joe Dawson
I'm a newbie and I'm already overwhelmed! All it takes is adding two crazy FF'ers and joining two active groups.
- Judy L. Lin
Along those lines I'd like to control which users I promote from my profile too. See this http://friendfeed.com/e...
- Mark Krynsky
Perhaps FF should have an equivalent of Twitter Packs (http://twitterpacks.pbwiki.com/) that could be offered to newbies.
- Andy Murdoch
An easy and non-obtrusive way to implement would be a simple checkbox on reg path that says "Start out with just blogs, flickr, etc... You can add more services to your FF anytime!" And new users must opt-in for that "light" service
- Eric Berlin
lmao - that's actually a great idea
- Marco(aureliusmaximus)
Nah...throw them in the deep end and see how well they swim
- Live4Emma (L4S)
But that's the whole point of FF isn't it? To swim and survive in the sea of "noise"..
- Winston Teo
took me about a week or so to fine tune my likes with others after adding to my feed without interaction. at first it can be a bit overwhelming, especially with the nonsense about "a-listers" and this and that, but you find your niche no matter what
- Cee Bee
Maybe make one of the best of the day/week/month thingies the default for newbies?
- Rudolf Olah
LEWL.
- Brandon Klevence
6 of the most illuminated buildings on earth | deputydog - http://deputy-dog.com/2008...
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Anders, Mahdi Ebrahimi, David Bittencourt and 2 other people liked this
The most beautiful suicide - http://www.kottke.org/08...
Anders, Glenn Slaven and MASTER OF THE OBVIOUS liked this
I'm really torn about 'like'ing this one
- Glenn Slaven
Re: On Loren Feldman's statement about Shel Israel and FastCompany - http://mrontemp.blogspot.com/2008...
Anders, Elliott Ng, Todd Jordan and 22 other people liked this
"Shel Israel is no longer part of http://www.fastcompany.tv. That is correct. The changes we made to http://www.fastcompany.tv/workfas... were made due to community feedback, in particular due to Dennis Howlett and Allen Stern's criticism of that show. We made several changes in reaction to their feedback. As to the guy who says "fastcompany.tv sucks" that's great, but why not be constructive? I'm very interested in constructive feedback and am working to make our shows the best available. Today we have several exclusives, including lots of interviews with members of congress. If that's "sucking" well, then, I want more "sucking." This is content no other tech video blogger is bringing to you."
- Robert Scoble
you're doing great Scoble. Always engaging content and your site/twitter/friendfeed posts are what I wake up to every morning in addition to my Yahoo! Mail.
- Randy Ksar
Thanks, Randy, I appreciate it and will try too bring you great content. Tomorrow I'm interviewing a couple of famous architects in Los Angeles, that should be fun!
- Robert Scoble
Can you give any names Robert (the architects)? Ed Niles perhaps?
- Steven Cains
The button on coat looks funny
- Mário Pires
Steve Jones and Dan Meis. Meis designed the Los Angeles NFL Stadium. Steve designs restaurants. Here's an article about him: http://www.findingdulcinea.com/feature...
- Robert Scoble
Bjorn: no matter how much editing we do it'll never be enough. My videos aren't going to be entertaining, the way, say, a puppet show is. My videos are about conversations with people who you can't usually have conversations with. Famous architects. CEOs. Congressmen. Famous photographers. Business innovators. Etc. My focus is always on the conversation and getting you into the room. Not on cool graphic effects or deep voices or well-done music/edits, etc.
- Robert Scoble
Awesome. Have they been in Dwell before? I'm sure they have. That magazine is great for architects and the publisher came to Yahoo! to speak last year when I was working there (laid-off in Feb.).
- Randy Ksar
Thanks, I'm a fan of Meis. Staples Center was a turning point for arenas and you can see it's influence on many newer buildings. But the new LA stadium looks unbelievable, it's design is unlike of any other venue. For people who haven't seen it, check http://www.losangelesfootballs...
- Steven Cains
I feel a sudden inspiration to remark: Robert Scoble is definitely one of the coolest guys I've encountered on the net (and I thank Friendfeed for that opportunity). Incredible energy and curiosity about the world, and indefatigable cheerfulness. I assume he must really be ten guys, because all of his many comments on Friendfeed are thoughtful and sharp as a tack. We need more Scobles on the planet.
- Sean McBride
Sean, I really appreciate comments like yours. In a world where it seems so appropriate to just rip everyone to shreds, I wish more people looked for the good in others, rather than just the bad.
- Robert Scoble
Robert - I've observed some interesting social dynamics here and concluded that some of the attacks on you are motivated by envy, pure and simple. You've won a large following by dint of sheer excellence and enthusiasm -- the free marketplace at its best -- and that success has come with a certain cost, apparently. In any case, keep Scobleizing on all cylinders and in best spirits, and ignore the petty sniping.
- Sean McBride
Honestly, i like the interviews on FastCompany, i think they are unique and i haven't seen anyone else giving us the kind of exposure that you guys bring behind the scene of the tech world.
- Nir Ben Yona
Robert, I have to be honest here. I have never watched a full video of yours. ( i should do that sometime). Anways, i think u are one of those interesting guys who respects others opinion and at the same provide ur feedback. You are doing one hell of job, keep up the great work. I like the conversations you initiate, very valuable and thoughful
- Omfut
i have a love-hate relationship with your videos. Just about everything you post is interesting and of interesting subjects. The problem i have is the lack of interview skills. Most interviews are choppy and hard to watch, borderline embarrassing because there is no chemistry. That being said, you have a knack for "getting the story" and that's something hard to compete with. If the other part of it can be addressed then you have an untouchable combination.
- Carlos Ayala
Carlos: anything actionable that you'd suggest?
- Robert Scoble
@Carlos i'm not a media pro but this is exactly what i like about FastCompany, the direct connection with the interviewee, the sincere and open attitude without the over editing attribute that characterizes the "old fashion" channels.
- Nir Ben Yona
from twhirl
Well, I am by no means an authority on the subject. But I know that watching those interviewers that you admire and imitating what they do, might be a start. Radio interviewers may be an other avenue to look to for ideas. Lately, some of the interviews, mostly political in nature, on NPR have captivated me. They have a knack for keeping the interview and the interviewee, if you will, on track. There is no choppiness to the flow and their voices are very confident and in control.
- Carlos Ayala
i apologize for not being able to articulate this any better.
- Carlos Ayala
one other thing i want to mention, which may be a key to your flow is this: your interviews/videos seem to come across like spur of the moment. As though you were sneaking up on your subjects. I realize that there is some planning on the back end for everything you do. Maybe a line of questioning that is prepared in some manner and not strayed away from may be something else to think about. This way you do not come off like you just thought of the question that is being asked.
- Carlos Ayala
Can we get "Robert Scoble wants more sucking" on a T-shirt, anybody? Wait, no, don't block me! I'm totally kidding! Seriously, Robert -- I think you guys deserve some credit for responding to community feedback. It sounds like you're really looking for constructive criticism and doing your best to ignore people who are being overly critical because it was you an Shel, not because of some of the content itself. Good luck with the new direction of the show.
- Omar Gallaga
Robert, do you watch your own shows? All of them? All the way through?
- Michael Markman
Not sure that I agree with Carlos. Different interviewers have different styles, and Robert's style is definitely a conversational style. If you listen to him for more than two seconds, you'll hear that his goal is to have an interesting conversation every day. Someone who preferred an analytical approach, or a confrontational approach, may approach things differently. But conversations...
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- Ontario Emperor
@Ontario Emperor I follow what you are saying and I agree with your point to an extent. What I think is happening is that Robert approaches his interviews nervously. His excitement gets the better of him and it is evident. I am not sure how to articulate this any better, but there is an uncomfortable chopiness to the interview that manifests a feeling of embarrassment on my end as the viewer. I still enjoy the video, but I also see that there is a potential there that is begging to be tapped.
- Carlos Ayala
I understand both your points but I actually like the conversation style, it just needs a bit of honing (an unfair comparison but Jon Stewart has perfected it). The style is hard to master as while you've got to give your guest room to go a little off-topic, you've also got to try and reign them in when it becomes everyday banter.
- Steven Cains
Michael: yes, I watch most of my shows all the way through. Comparing me to Jon Stewart is interesting. Do you know how many writers and producers he has? I was on CNBC and they have tons. Also Donny Deutsch's show often isn't live and they go back and redo parts that suck. I am doing conversations, not entertainment.
- Robert Scoble
Writers & Producers don't help when you're interviewing someone. Sure you've got researchers who can help bring up interesting facts about your guest, but when the light goes on, you're on your own. I wasn't comparing you to him exactly, I was comparing the style. Jon never seems above or below his guest, it feels more like a conversation with an audience.
- Steven Cains
Robert's conversations aren't always slick or polished, but for me, that's part of the charm -- most of us have hundreds of channels of slick programming, but a lot of that content isn't compelling. Robert's interest and enthusiasm for the guests are apparent, and the shows are kind of like the conversations you'd see in a tech conference hallway.
- Dave Pelland
FWIW, I trust Robert in what he is trying to do and will do. Do I always like the bugger nope. Do I agree to disagree with him at times, YES. But at the end of the day, methinks that at the end of his career he is going to be some sort of Larry KIng (CNN), that has interviewed near practically every hot shot in the universe. A tortoise does not move fwd, without sticking its neck out and remember the tortoise always wins the race with the Hare !! AT the end of the day, he's still green. What matters ..
- Peter Dawson
<cont> what matters it that he genuinely wants to do shit and move the conversation into the public zone. there is a balance that companies need seek (And also readers) , when they deal with this paradigm. Its a new paradigm, its stuff we don't know how it works, its his neck on the line. I salute him for that.
- Peter Dawson
Larry King? OK, Robert doesn't ask Mike Wallace-like confrontational questions, but I hope he doesn't develop King's voice or gambling or marital habits.
- Ontario Emperor
from fftogo
Cains: that is totally NOT true. A producer DRAMATICALLY affects the quality of the show. I saw this first hand on Donny Deutsch's show. If the producer were not there Donny would suck really badly.
- Robert Scoble
Let us all remember we are talking about the medium of the internet, which allows people to do things differently. If we take Mahalo & Calacanis interview as an example, does it comply with national TV standards? probably not, but it sure delivers the information behind the scenes of a company who wants to dominant the searching market, the kind of info i haven't seen in any of the common polished channels.
- Nir Ben Yona
<cont> Has anyone seen an interview with Scribd CEO somewhere else? Has anyone seen an interview with Evernote CEO demonstrating his latest iPhone feature in any other place? Has anyone seen a direct interview with Twitter founders the way it was presented on FastCompany? Boy, i don't even think those compelling TV anchors have ever heard about it.
- Nir Ben Yona
Robert; Thats a little different. Were you redoing parts of the interview? On some sets thats the norm, on others the interviewer just has an earpiece and the producer will prod/yell if the interview stalls or remind you of a talking point. I'm trying to think of any CNBC live journo that has a conversational style, no name pops up. It's news so it will be more structured
- Steven Cains
@ Ontario " hope he doesn't develop King's voice or gambling or marital habits", regardless of his personal shortcomings, the Larry King show is one of strong Revenue streams for CNN and with the highest view rating across time. Suffice to say, that core issue is that we DONT focus on the problem rather thrieve in an envorinment where we take pot shots at a person's shortcoming !!
- Peter Dawson
This Colgate Toothpaste Packaging Is Awfully Deceptive - http://consumerist.com/tag...
DAVE ID, Anders, Mark Kaplan and Ryan liked this
Can’t Find a Parking Spot? Check Smartphone - http://www.nytimes.com/2008...
Anders, Troy Szabo, imabonehead and 2 other people liked this
The “Participation Premium” - http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r...
Tapio Liller, oliver gassner, Sarah Perez and 93 other people liked this
Nice post, in total ageement
- Patphelan
Wow. Great post Robert. Hope you & family had a fun 4th. I sure did!
- Brian Daniel Eisenberg
Brian, thanks. we had a great time. Nice and relaxing.
- Robert Scoble
Good point. That's driving good-quality participation instead of spamming attitudes. That could really improve the conversations.
- Marcello Del Bono
Robert, I agree with this, but regarding your comment on Allen's thread, the fact of the matter is that there are still 9 default people that get recommended when someone signs up. It's true, there is a "participation premium", and for good reason, but the big names still get rewarded simply because they're big names. I just wish I could see active FF users get highlighted now and then....
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- Raoul Pop
It's not a conversation if there's no participation. Good points, Robert.
- Jack (a.k.a. Jeber)
Raoul: active FriendFeed members get featured all the time. You should learn how "Friend of a Friend" works. Anytime I like or comment on someone all 15,000 followers of me get to see that person's post and they can easily subscribe to them by hovering. The recommended list is totally useless for me, by the way. So I do wish they'd make it a lot better.
- Robert Scoble
What's amazing to me Robert is how much influence your *Likes* have. After you like something of mine, I usually see a rush of Friend adds. It's a very interesting dynamic to watch unfold.
- Brian Daniel Eisenberg
This is a great post!
- George Smith
@Raoul I definitely agree with you on the idea of changing who gets displayed in the first Recommended list. @Robert regardless of whether you pay attention to the Recommended list isn't really relevant IMO. The fact is that I would bet the majority of new arrivals to FriendFeed do indeed pay attention to it.
- Steven Hodson
Well, there probably has to be a combination of both - you can participate all you like, but if you don't do it in a meaningful and public way, it won't really matter. Still, a heartening thought that participation can be more important than name recognition alone. Gives some power to us little people (popularity wise, anyway).
- Erin
FF offers a remarkable way to participate. In fact, it's downright unique. Which is probably why FF will be HUGE. It has a pliancy of participation that's just unmatched, and it keeps getting better. Encouraging post.
- phil baumann
Yep. But, isn't "Participation" your full time job description? If it isn't, what is?
- Yuvi
Nice post. You're spot on with the analysis. The two of you use FF differently. Both of you are highly valuable to me as information sources, but in very different ways. Mike is a conversation starter. You carry and share conversations and link people that wouldn't otherwise connect. FF is smart to have both of you as recommended follows.
- Christian Anderson
Yuvi i spend everyday trying to figure out what my job is. :-)
- Robert Scoble
Robert: you're doing for free what no "community manager" could ever do. I'd like to know how much engagement on FF, Twitter is directly related to the Scoble effect.
- Christian Anderson
So Robert, is there a certain point where you loose interest in a site simply because of the onslaught of new users? Does the signal-to-noise ratio go down as more users discover and start to use a site from your perspective?
- Jim McCusker
@Robert: Figured it out yet? ;) You are the only *classical A-Lister* whom I know as being really "approachable", as in I can tweet at you and expect to get a response (or leave a comment here and there's a reasonable chance that you'll respond).
- Yuvi
It's so true, it all boils down to interaction.
- Fredrik Nordmoen
Participation is key.
- Thomas Hawk
Robert Scoble: I just want to let you know how much I appreciate seeing your feedback and constant participation on FF. Because of this sole factor, I would much rather meet up with you than Mr. Arrington (I follow and respect you both) over a cup of coffee or during a photowalk. To be honest, I don't know how you keep up with it all, but keep it up!
- Justin Korn
Link to related conversation: http://friendfeed.com/e...
- Sprague D
what makes Robert and his posts become more viral and engaging is that he does not post and run. He engages in conversations, and unlike Arrington, he is rarely confrontational and doesn’t have the same arrogance. I have followed him for a while, but became a real advocate after his trip to DC. I thought his coverage was engaging, informative and it was awesome that he included your son.
- Fred Neil
Jim: that is a question that needs its own blog post. I generally find that early adopters do tend to get bored but what gets us to leave are jerks and spammers. I think FF might be more resistant to all of these negative effects but we'll have to see.
- Robert Scoble
What Justin said.
- Yuvi
Great points Robert, thanks for not stealing ALL the points I wanted to make in my next post :)
- Shey, Jamaican of FF
fail bird http://www.seanpercival.com/blog...
- sean percival
Robert: trying to inspire new blog posts? not me! ;-)
- Jim McCusker
I liike that Mike Arrington just liked this. :-)
- Robert Scoble
@Robert and he left a comment on the blog post itself :)
- Steven Hodson
I agree about the participation factor. But I do think that this post and the "Off of the tech entertainment train" post should both be encapsulated in <ego></ego> tags.
- Tom Quinn
Robert, the thing is, you ARE a 'popular kid' in this niche, whether it's on your blog or on FriendFeed. 10x your blog readers puts you BOTH in the top fraction of blog rankings. You call it the "Participation Premium," I call it "people keep you on their friend lists if you're not dead weight."
- Andy DeSoto
Robert, great read the only thing I disagree with, is the comparison to Twitter after four months and FriendFeed after four months. As the logic goes, if hundreds (maybe thousands) of Twitter users are jumping the ship, (or, as I imagine, there is quite a bit of overlap), then the logic follows that many of them would land on FriendFeed (and hence follow you). Even though I consider...
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- David Adewumi
Scobleizer theorem of social media = participate indefinitely
- Kerem Ozkan
David: I don't think many Twitter users are jumping ship. I think a lot of them are finally seeing the utility of using both twitter and friendfeed together. But I do agree that it is easier for newer services to get quick adoption because of Twitter. The next big thing will happen even faster than FriendFeed did.
- Robert Scoble
I think the difference from Twitter to FriendFeed is that the casual Twitter followers never made it to FriendFeed. I don't know many casual Twitter users who continue to use Twitter with all it's issues.
- Sal DiStefano
Exactly right. Investment of yourself pays dividends in many ways.
- John Federico
I do see the utility of using Twitter and FF together. I'm sure both will help break the hot apps of the near-future. Just goes to show that discussion is not exclusive to how many people you know, but that the internet, in many ways, is leveling the playing field in discussion and influence.
- David Adewumi
Robert: BINGO BABY! you nailed it with this post... thank you for writing it! Not only is participation key for conversation, but also evangelism of the service; plus, community management. I would expect those as a bare minimum...not, "Oh gee, hey these guys are popular in the blogosphere; on some other service elsewhere so let's tell everyone to follow them here" (doesn't make sense, especially since *some* of them don't even really use FF yet except to aggregate a couple of feeds (cross-post / backup).
- Susan Beebe
This was a great post! As a natural worrier, I held my breath for a while after you said that this community is friendlier than any other. Surely the taint of the general way the Internet seems to operate will eventually ruin this place too? (I really hope not!)
- David Muir
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