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Andrew Nimick › Comments
Will California become America's first failed state? | World news | The Observer - http://www.guardian.co.uk/world...
Interesting article, but even more interesting comments, I wonder how many Californians would agree with the sentiments in the comments. The one thing which strikes me most in this situation is how it mirrors The Grapes of Wrath.
- Andrew Nimick
from Bookmarklet
Jedi says Tesco discriminated against him - Boing Boing - http://www.boingboing.net/2009...
Funny and sad, there is probably a trademark infringement with Lucas arts in there somewhere as well.
- Andrew Nimick
from Bookmarklet
Is Online Education More Effective Than Traditional Learning? - http://www.readwriteweb.com/archive...
While I have seen the effect of IT learning on my kids, I would say it it still only part of the picture. Some subjects are great for this method (maths) others not so. But anything which encourages individual level learning resources has to be good.
- Andrew Nimick
from Bookmarklet
Why Groups Fail to Share Information Effectively | PsyBlog - http://www.spring.org.uk/2009...
This great little article is worth a reshout. Read and enjoy.
- Andrew Nimick
from Bookmarklet
Developers Eager to See Twitter Improve Platform Stability - Business Center - PC World - http://www.pcworld.com/busines...
Nice article, and Twollo gets a mention.
- Andrew Nimick
from Bookmarklet
Abandoned Subway Stations Around The World (Photo Gallery) » INFRASTRUCTURIST - http://www.infrastructurist.com/2009...
Reminds me of an old friend who used to play ghost in the old Lords station in London. Spooking passengers as the tube went through.
- Andrew Nimick
from Bookmarklet
Don't develop new apps, OK? Damnshit facebook acquired our baby: 'friendfeed'
I'm going to finish mine. Why not.
- DGentry
Facebook has a massive application eco system, hopefully Friendfeed can bring some of their API goodness to Facebook now.
- Paul Kinlan
We hate foolish people @ facebook. I hope they don't invade here!
- Alp B.
I would love my apps to a wider appeal, so it might be an idea to wait and see what happens
- Paul Kinlan
It's probably good for developers, not so good for users.
- Andrew Nimick
Does IT need more social scientists and fewer technologists? [video] | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com - http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL...
As a people centric practitioner I would have to say it needs a balance, I need systems which achieve what people need. I need engineers to build them right. So I would disagree, for every social scientist we need at least three to 4 technologists.
- Andrew Nimick
from Bookmarklet
Fwd: Welcome to the ffollo group. This is a group for support of the http://www.ffollo.com application. Follow is created by me (Paul Kinlan - kinlan, @PaulKinlan) - I created Twollo (Twitter Auto-follow), this my attempt to bring the market to Friendfeed. (via http://friendfeed.com/ffollo...)
So in theory, if you comment here I will auto-follow your account
- Paul Kinlan
Also if you like this comment I will auto-follow your account
- Paul Kinlan
All being well at least. :)
- Paul Kinlan
Jacque: hopefully it will work, I have it to scan every hour :)
- Paul Kinlan
Paul, Did you miss the memo? Auto-follow deemed harmful, see @scobleizer :)
- Rob Diana
it depends on how it is done, the ffollo app should only follow people who you share interests with (the power of friendfeed)
- Paul Kinlan
Also if you look at one of Robert Scobles post he said he follows everyone who comments on his posts - so in essence I am automating that :)
- Paul Kinlan
Jacque, Rob - cool I seem to be following you now :)
- Paul Kinlan
Of the four options the one I liked was to follow people who commented on my stream, I aslo decided to try the commented where I comment option. Bur like has little value for me at this time, I don't see it as real engagement. The problem I see is if people then start commenting crap like on some blogs. Just posting "nice post" but not engaging.
- Andrew Nimick
Hi Andrew, at least with friendfeed I can offer the option to only follow people who for instance post two comments etc on a post (i.e the start of a conversation).
- Paul Kinlan
I'll give it a try.
- arnaldostream
Now that would be a good feature.
- Andrew Nimick
Paul, hopefully you understand that I was joking. And you should have been following me already ;)
- Rob Diana
Yeah I know :) but I wasn't following you, I am not sure why :) at least it proved it worked.
- Paul Kinlan
How To Select Good CMS In SEO Context For Small Business Website - http://www.onlinemarketer.co.nz/how-to-...
nice article on what to look for when creating a small business web site.
- Andrew Nimick
from Bookmarklet
My new post on allbizanswers - http://allbizanswers.com/dont-fo...
Why it is important to not forget there are people using your CRM
- Andrew Nimick
from Bookmarklet
Advertising - Predicting a Shift in Communications Spending - NYTimes.com - http://www.nytimes.com/glogin...
Interesting report on the resizing of media spend.
- Andrew Nimick
from Bookmarklet
Shhh, don't tell the spammers, SEO experts, the bots, or the social media experts, but I will follow anyone who comments here (on FF):
Antal de Waij, Charles Lau, Durukan Duru and 133 other people liked this
No comment. (disabling comments on this thread - that would be funny :D)
- Micah
Micah: I'm already following you! :-)
- Robert Scoble
is a like the equivalent of a comment? And by follow you mean on FF or on Twitter or on both?
- Sean Scott
Sean: not really because if you comment I can see if I'm already following you. And, yes, I mean on FF.
- Robert Scoble
Hello :)
- Brandon Roeder
That's really awesome of you, Robert!
- Harald Nesland
Beau: I'm already following you.
- Robert Scoble
Awesome. Hi Robert :)
- Andy Parkinson
It's an ugly world when Scoble stops autofollowing.
- Michelle MacPhearson
Did FriendFeed make you say this?
- Social Nerdia
No love for SEO experts? AWESOME.
- Than R
@robert i think we're already following each other on FF. :P
- Sean Scott
Didn't send that one from Twitter. ;-)
- Kathy Fitch
Are you openly admitting to being easy?
- Lydia Sugarman
I am not a bot, I am a human being!!!
- Daniel Buckley
@stevenmhall likes this -- thanks for your work. and the great green picture
- steven
Nothing more to say
- Mel Buckpitt
I already follow you, but interesting experiment
- Cam
I just gave you "High Five"! Check it out: http://bit.ly/5sHMZ You should send me a gift back ;)
- Louis Gray
✔ Thx for ☛ Follow :-) Good idea. I do not speak to those things anyway
- RetiredTeacherD
SocialNerdia: no.
- Robert Scoble
really? neat...
- Jorge Chapa
Follow Sunday? ;)
- Ideas At Random
LOL ... this is fun.
- Richard Laksana
At least I'm not the only one who thinks SEO isn't everything.
- Leon Bacud
Hmm… I may just be more active in FriendFeed.
- Evan Hindra
The above is an actual DM spam I got today. :)
- Louis Gray
Leon: if you abuse SEO types they send Google Hate your way, which, by the way, is the same thing as Google Juice.
- Robert Scoble
neat idea!
- Aloke Fernandes
So we get to be in the cool club? Yay! ;)
- Vicky Teinaki
watching this list expand is more fun than anything on TV right now.
- steven
But Robert what will all the Bots do without your input.
- Pentaxfan
This is fun! lol. Follow me! @thehenry
- TheHenry
Is Google juice akin to Google Kool-Aid?
- Stefan Holmes
evangelizing aint ya
- Luka
I think Robots get a bad rap ;)
- Robert J Taylor
from iPhone
What's this FriendFeed thing? Back to my safe, comfy home on Twitter.
- Dan Grossman
I expected more comments, oh thats the idea :-) shhh everyone
- Andrew Nimick
Is there something to be gained by following someone on both FF & Twitter?
- Rob Michael (Atmos Trio)
WT?? @pogmohoin needs to be loved again.. now how did you do this cleanout again?? Australia Out..
- Pogmohoin
I'm already in but i wanted to get in the fun!
- Fee501st
I just noticed that Scobleizer unfollowed but am glad it was for the above reason and he unfollowed a lot
- Allen MacCannell
I am all flesh and bones Robert :D
- Antonio Montero
Rob: FriendFeed is better.
- Robert Scoble
Louis, NOW I know where all those are coming from. Time to blacklist you ;-)
- Jesse Stay
Friendfeed FTW!
- TheHenry
Not a bad filter at all.
- Robert Anderson
Why would you want to follow me,i have nothing to offer but my ears to learn.
- Paul Downing
Hi Robert, I'm a real person and would love to be followed.
- Steve de Mena
What if the spammers, SEO experts, the bots, or the social media experts all comment here?
- Andrew Trinh
Word up
- Charlie Haims
Scoble smash Twitter spammer like Hulk!
- Peter Hodges
from iPhone
Dare I?
- Spidra Webster
and then I will comment on whoever follows me here...
- Alpay Erturkmen
Louis, I recently got the "high five" DM spam, too. So off-putting!
- Robert J Taylor
from iPhone
I just need to spend more time setting up FF so it is my friend that intercepts all my social media content but only from who I want to read!
- Pentaxfan
Friend feed seems like mainstream to most serious ones?
- jibzy
Friendfeed has it's strengths once you get it setup
- Chris
@robert whether or not FF is technically better than <insertsocialnetwork> its really a question of said network reach
- Sean Scott
Once a week I go through my followers and delete most/all of the spammers, but I only have like 50-60 so it's not hard to do.
- Allison Warnock
Let's hope the spammers and bots and etc don't attack us here on FriendFeed next. I won't tell them if you don't.
- Louis Trapani
from iPhone
Sean: well, FF has better search, grouping, real time, a better community, and more.
- Robert Scoble
Sean, you have to start somewhere!
- Pentaxfan
Really Robert? Will you follow me here or Twitter
- Kevin Krewell
Last time I checked I was human.
- Luke™
What, even if I've got these hot videos where I ... Haha, not really ;-)
- littlegingerkid
from iPod
Kevin: here.
- Robert Scoble
In two years on Twitter I have never used any bots nor even tried to sell anything. I always look at profiles personally before following anyone and have never been concerned with how many are following me.
- Gord Young
That's nice of you.
- Michael Owens
from iPhone
Why?
- Stefano Maggi
from iPhone
Yea, i dont want FF to get has "known" has twitter, I'm selfish
- Fee501st
Mainly on Twitter myself, but everything updates to here + I tie in a couple things through here to Twitter.
- Chris
Will you actually read my posts?
- Kimber Scott
oh really :D
- Sinem Co
See, cross posting that offer to Twitter is misleading
- Kevin Krewell
It is fun to watch my follower ## on Twitter go between 200 and 230 it is a constant battle to see what I post. Just not that interesting at times!
- Pentaxfan
Interesting project! Please follow us @streamfile :)
- Kimmo Gläborg
Checking in here...hope we continue to follow each other, Robert!
- Cathryn Hrudicka
Even if we write in Turkish?
- Emre Güneş
@robert again not arguing with you. I think better community in your POV but from marketing / UX pov not yet.
- Sean Scott
thank you -
- pat o'bryan
I'm pretty sure I've commented here before Robert, but you don't follow me here or on Twitter. Not that I want you to under just for the sake of it...
- Gurpreet
Today's secret password is "cheese".
- Andrew Smith
...only if you actually find my tweets interesting enough.
- Gurpreet
It's Unfollow Sunday. Just purged all the bots, spammers, SEO/social media types from my own Twitter account. I never autofollow. Still got the "high five" DM spam, though...
- Dennis Jernberg
Nice when you integrate Facebook and twitter and multiple accounts so you can read all at one place. I have to say I use Seesmic to read posts more than FF.
- Pentaxfan
bit bucket... here i come :) ps: scoble, what if we just "like" your post ;)
- simran
@pentaxfan of course. not wanting to start a FF vs Twitter debate. just saying the glasses through which we judge better or superior are diff based on our interests. Plus in the end FB will take it all :P
- Sean Scott
This is a sly way to get us to sign up for FF :)
- valb00
@valb00 said it!
- Dennis Jernberg
According to my following list, Scoble was the second person I followed after joining Twitter. A long time ago that was.
- Stephen Sclafani
UX tip for FF. Be nice to be able to click on the comment link at the end of a comment stream. Having to scroll back up on these long threads breaks flow.
- Sean Scott
Kimber: wait and watch http://friendfeed.com/scoblei... and see if I like any of your posts. I read a LOT and if you are posting interesting stuff I'll probably like it.
- Robert Scoble
Sean: click twice on the time stamp and you'll get a window of just this chat and you'll see a comment entry area at the bottom.
- Robert Scoble
Kurt: maybe!
- Robert Scoble
You will end up following me anyway. They all will. :)
- Matt G
But you're already following me here on Friendfeed, Robert. How is Twitter going to be different?
- Mahendra (SkepticGeek)
FriendFeed is better, deeper, yet Twitter works better on the go
- Majento
There's a lot to like about FF, except it needs a bigger community. Twitter is like the iPhone - for iPhone it's all the applications, with Twitter (and Facebook) it's all about the number of poeple.
- Kevin Krewell
following me is good stuff :-)
- N.G. Gordon - RadarSync
@Sean, that is why we are always looking for new and improved apps to operate at a better level with more consistency. Take it easy! I'm off to bed for my 5 hours of mediocre horizontal time out.
- Pentaxfan
Hi Robert, you are obviously going to be following a lot more people. Thanks.
- Rob Zachritz
And I return. (Just cleared my account so I can start afresh with friend lists) :)
- BeauGiles
Is this an experiment?
- Theresa Shin
so will you follow me too
- aybars badur
Theresa: no, I do this from time to time and always find interesting people to follow.
- Robert Scoble
FF hmmm about that...
- Philip Small
Robert, you have lost a lot of followers. I have been watching all night.
- TheHenry
I don't get the appeal of auto-following. I for one would not want thousands of updates showing up in my timeline.
- Alex Knight
Twitter -ly ♪ and FriendFeed -ly ♪ livin' in perfect har-mony ♪♪♪ LOL Why can't we be friends ♪♪♪
- RetiredTeacherD
Just created a corporate FF account so you can follow our corporate Twitter at http:/www.twitter.com/senderok - Plug-in with anti-phishing icons for the inbox and photo business cards in the header pane
- SenderOK
I'm here I'm here! :D just curious, what do you have against SEO and Social Media experts?
- Celia
Really? BTW I'm just a regular geeky gal.
- Teresa O
TheHenry: and I will lose even more this week. No biggie. I don't define myself by who follows me, especially if they are there just to get a follow back.
- Robert Scoble
@Scobleizer is a man of his word
- Charlie Haims
Okay Scoble I'll bite...
- SalvadorM
Joining the experiment
- Jan Schultink
robert, you are a "pearl" under all the blogger,.........and i'm sure, you know that!!! sunshine and light to you from france, martin
- martin
I'm awake and listening!
- Graham Lawrence
To all those new to FriendFeed, remember to add your Twitter, blog, Flickr, YouTube, and other accounts so we can see all your stuff!
- Robert Scoble
...and I was wondering where is my one-lost-follower...here on FF.
- Danica Radovanovic
I have nothing to say
- Paul Denlinger
@Paul, I was going to say that.
- Justin Yost
You should follow a game designer, Robert :)
- Federico [Kurai]
Federico: I'm already following you. Roldano: I'm already following you too, but don't let it get out.
- Robert Scoble
Shea: yes. This is where I spend most of my time!
- Robert Scoble
That's encouraging
- Keith - @tsudo
I cannot recommend following me, I rarely have anything interesting to say.
- Shaun William
What's the catch?
- Rory Conway
We're already facebook friends. And I think friendfeed friends too. But FF just hasn't hit critical mass yet. It'll be cool when it does. Nice job throwing another rock at the hornet's nest! :-)
- Dan Becker
Rory: the catch is I might like one of your posts and then you'll have to deal with my other friends. :-)
- Robert Scoble
I'm glad to know that you are still interested in hearing from us :), I'm @tsudo
- Keith - @tsudo
scoble i like you man, but you're crazy
- patrick
I applaud your mass unfollowing, but following back via FriendFeed comments seems inefficient (says me, the efficiency consultant).
- Marina Martin
Dan: well, that's what Twitter gets for treating me like a lame early adopter that isn't needed anymore.
- Robert Scoble
Cool - I'm in. Thanks Robert - from the land down under.
- Monte Huebsch
Marina: you haven't discovered that FriendFeed has groups yet, have you?
- Robert Scoble
patrick: crazy like a bat!
- Robert Scoble
I need to better utilize FF groups.
- Justin Yost
Ouch Robert! Telling it like it is to Twitter
- Keith - @tsudo
Do you never get SPAM in FF?
- RobinDotNet
You might regret that :-) But thank you
- Stephen Baugh
Hi, i had created a new website name http://bit.ly/Od5Xx now please guide me in increasing traffic
- mohammadhassam
Robin: I have only seen a handful of spams here. They are easily blocked and there are other defenses against them that I won't talk about here.
- Robert Scoble
Are we not allowed to comment if you are already following us?
- RobinDotNet
Are all those SEO types you're unfollowing now following me?!
- Dennis Jernberg
@Justin, try this for a starting point for using groups http://www.knowthenetwork.com/blog...
- Keith - @tsudo
Okay ))
- Лёша
Yet another comment, from an ordinary twitterer not a spambot. :-)
- Joshua Lee
is this a bait to get more people to use friendfeed? ;-)
- Ritu
Robin: I like all comments. I can see who isn't following me because their icons are white. Yours is blue.
- Robert Scoble
speaking of spam, twitter seems like it's about 90% spam lately
- Derek Chilcoat
Robert -- that's good to know. Those people are insidious. Will you ever tell us how to block them?
- RobinDotNet
It'll be interesting to see who follows the leader to @schoolpr.
- SchoolPR
The SEO experts, bots and social media experts don't have good content, and FF makes their crappy content easy to hide, and ignore, too.
- Andy Bakun
Thanks @Keith
- Justin Yost
Andy: bing!
- Robert Scoble
Robert, was that an endorsement of bing? ;-)
- RobinDotNet
SEO experts endorse bing. ;-)
- Joshua Lee
@Justin (1 more) my friend Ken did a great post on groups as well http://www.changeforge.com/2008...
- Keith - @tsudo
Why, oh why is my first thought to respond with "FIRST?"
- Jonathan Hardesty
I'm not a bot :-)
- Nir Ben Yona
Jon: I want to respond with "penultimate." :-)
- Robert Scoble
Even me???
- Kevin Arth
Can't imagine this won't end in a big mess...
- Justin Howard
Nir: I know you aren't a bot. That's why I follow you.
- Robert Scoble
wwooww :)
- Emre BAHADIR
So far not a spammer has shown up.
- Robert Scoble
commented!
- Jeremy Lane
I think scoble is on Twitter just to get people to read friendfeed. :-)
- Joshua Lee
Joshua: no. I'm here to talk about the 2010 web. :-)
- Robert Scoble
This is some elaborate mind game, I'm sure:)
- Aaman (Clone of FF)
Can we put some restriction on bots . means use some software who block them
- mohammadhassam
Joshua, i liked your Bing comment :-)
- Majento
and the 2010 web is.... friendfeed!
- Joshua Lee
Thank you, Sir. I'm impressed. :)
- Kevin Arth
Joshua: the real time web is only one part of the 2010 web.
- Robert Scoble
Ah, I think you may already be following me, but just in case...
- Ranger Craig
Nice
- Fred Morales
Thing I don't like is that FF doesn't have a very good topic when the primary line is directed at twitter. There may or may not be a link to something after FF part. Which means FF becomes a bit of a treasure hunt. I like FF for commentary but I hate the initial post.
- Justin Howard
SPAM. :)
- Jason
Mona :-)
- Majento
Mmmmm. Bacon.
- RobinDotNet
Erik: I would even follow Mike Arrington, yes. :-)
- Robert Scoble
Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer?
- RobinDotNet
what are some other examples of 2010 web, Robert Scoble?
- Joshua Lee
Count me in :) http://www.twitter.com/stanley...
- Stanley Tang
Robert: Thanks mate, interesting and probably efficient idea. I'll do the same for quality content, tired of those "I just used whateveryoucallit.com to gain 300 new followers right now!".
- Nir Ben Yona
Hi Robert, I had to do the exact same thing to nail all the twit spam I was getting. Hope you get it all sorted!
- James Brown
Even as we sit here, my iPhone dings with new follow e-mails from spam/marketing people. Sigh.
- RobinDotNet
Stephane: LOL, probably. I took this line from Chris Brogan's "Twitter Etiquette Guide".
- Nir Ben Yona
Robin: on Twitter, though, right?
- Robert Scoble
wow been fascinating watching this exercise :-)
- Peter du Toit (S.Africa)
So this is like a captcha?
- Dylan Verheul
also on twitter?
- Sinem Co
The joys of not being internet famous means I can check out followers personally, block where required and I've only ever got about 2 DM spam. But with the volumes that Robert gets, it's obviously not possible.
- Rachel Clarke
I think Twitter needs something like captcha to keep the bots to a minimum, IMHO.
- Dennis Jernberg
Nope, I'm just following here.
- Robert Scoble
But feed your Tweets in here and what's the difference?
- Robert Scoble
OK, thanks :)
- Sinem Co
Hi Robert, I've been following you quite some time, and what you do here is very open and brave too, congrats!
- Kaan Bingol
This must be a plot to move everyone to FriendFeed ;-)
- Masatake E. Hori
Masatake: plot #458.
- Robert Scoble
Great thanks for the offer and follow
- Stephen Brown
Masatake: I think you're right. :-)
- Joshua Lee
Robert -- yes, on twitter. It seems the more you tweet, and the more people you communicate with, the more spammers follow you. Hoping for auto-follows I guess (I disappoint them in that regard.)
- RobinDotNet
Good way to filter, you know the spammers don't actually read anything or participate
- Justin Luey
Derek: why don't you see http://friendfeed.com/scoblei... and see just how many people I touch.
- Robert Scoble
What is the utility of being "followed" by someone who doesn't tweet and who follows thousands? What do they do, sit at their terminal and watch the tweets go by all day long?
- RobinDotNet
hi Robert u r already following me how r u?
- Ali
I dont get it.
- Andru Edwards
yeah? I think most spam bots have the AI to search for such threads!
- Rohit
Derek: or how many people I interact with. Check here: http://friendfeed.com/scoblei... 28,000+ comments.
- Robert Scoble
oh, hi there!
- Jeremy
Gaith: doing fine, gotta work on my videos, but thought I'd do this instead.
- Robert Scoble
Robin: I'm guessing the mass followers rarely take a look at the flow - it's about being able to talk about the numbers
- Rachel Clarke
No
- Michael Fidler
Yes
- Michael Fidler
follow me on twitter please...
- Özgür D. Cyric
First day on Friend Feed and Robert Scoble is available. What a welcome.... Carey@holisticdds
- Carey O'Rielly
What will you do when the spammers/SEOs infest Friendfeed, as they will, or do you believe this is better crowdsourced and will be able to hold against the hordes?
- Aaman (Clone of FF)
Rachel -- But numbers alone don't mean anything. Are they that shallow? That must be a stupid question.
- RobinDotNet
Is this going to be the 'most-commented-ever' post on Friendfeed? 240+ already!
- Mahendra (SkepticGeek)
Aaman: FriendFeed is FAR more defendable against spam than Twitter is.
- Robert Scoble
and how would this benefit people who follow Robert Scoble?
- Seyfi Erol
Mahendra: probably not.
- Robert Scoble
That seems like a good idea, but I think you're already following a lot of these people
- Carlton Prest
Seyfi: why don't you follow me and see how it goes?
- Robert Scoble
I've gotten 4 follow e-mails since my first post here from people I don't want to follow. Do the bots start running right around midnight?
- RobinDotNet
Mahendra, you're not following the threads in Russian (that's my only hint) :D
- Micah
Robin: oh yes. But I'm never sure what's worse. the people who just want to talk about the numbers or the people they may be able to impress.
- Rachel Clarke
Aaman - Friendfeed doesn't make link-tracking easy, so it's less interesting for spammers to infest.
- Mahendra (SkepticGeek)
Is this a test of interaction or more likely a sort of audience verification?
- Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh: it is what you want it to be. For me I followed you.
- Robert Scoble
If twitter is noise, and FriendFeed is conversation, Robert Scoble followers are their own discussion. It's like using an entirely different website.
- Carlton Prest
Rachel, that's a good point. Is Facebook the same way? I joined that and suddenly got all these people I've nothing in common with who want to be my friend. Creepy.
- RobinDotNet
@Micah: Oh, good I don't read Russian! :)
- Mahendra (SkepticGeek)
Derek: heh, yeah, I am watching this, among other things running across my screen.
- Robert Scoble
Robin: Facebook is the same but I think to a lesser extent - it's harder to find people I think. But still got a load of friend requests that I ignore as I don't know them
- Rachel Clarke
I already do. what i mean is if we don't keep FF, Twitter limited to our interests, wouldn't it be garbage we already try hard to get rid of. Or how far can we extend our interests in life or amount of information we consume?
- Seyfi Erol
Derek -- I mean people I really have NO connection with at all. I've only friended a couple of people I work with, and 2 other real friends. I'm getting friend requests from people I don't know at all.
- RobinDotNet
Seyfi: you haven't discovered FriendFeed's groups and lists yet, have you?
- Robert Scoble
I got a Russian-speaking follower on Twitter. I didn't follow him because I don't understand a word he tweets.
- Dennis Jernberg
Mahendra, And I've been told http://translatorize.com has successfully translated all 6000+ (oops - update: 7000+) comments http://friendfeed.com/ideali... from Russian to English :)
- Micah
Thanks Robert!
- Jan Ignatius
from iPhone
Seyfi: you can separate your friends into lists. That way you can keep your quilting buddies separate from your football ones etc.
- Robert Scoble
I'm the spammer u follow alrdy HA!
- Rich Weaver
Did you know that Facebook has started selling parts of itself to the Russians? At end of May, they sold 1.96% stake of Facebook to Russia's Digital Sky Technologies for $200M.
- RobinDotNet
Robert: I shouldn't have underestimated you. You probably have started much longer comment threads on Friendfeed before.
- Mahendra (SkepticGeek)
Mahendra, Robert, I agree, FF has been very good at keeping out junk
- Aaman (Clone of FF)
Micah: Uh, wow!
- Mahendra (SkepticGeek)
Mahendra: I have. I gave away $5,000 once and got more than 1,000 comments on that. But that cost me a lot of cash. Can't afford to do that again.
- Robert Scoble
DST is run by Alisher Usmanov who is closely tied with Putin. You feel ok to that, but re-read the company's user agreement where it says it can share all of your info with third parties. Of course, it's irrelevant to this thread, but I thought it was interesting.
- RobinDotNet
Robert: I think your Twitter follow is worth more than that?
- Mahendra (SkepticGeek)
Even if it's a lame comment and I don't actually say anything? Woohoo! FF looks interesting anyway,,,
- Matt Harward
Yes, Matt! :-)
- Robert Scoble
FF is interesting assuming the topic is FF... and/or Scoble's next devilishly clever stunt to generate FF comments
- John Hardy
John: there are lots of interesting topics here on FriendFeed. Did you know you could search by them based on number of likes? Click "Advanced Search" and try.
- Robert Scoble
John: Nope. Twitter's 'bout Trends, FF's 'bout Friends.
- Mahendra (SkepticGeek)
Very bold, I like it, are you going to keep the people you follow under 2000?
- Joe Dawson
from iPhone
Tell me the newest best way to use FriendFeed!
- Shoichi
I'll not tell anyone ;)
- PaperDoll
I hope I am interesting enough to be followed! lol
- Carlton Hackett
Some of the reactions to what you're doing are pretty interesting, Robert.
- Ha3rvey (F please!)
Social media experts? What are those?
- Alasdair Munn
But what if someone doesn't want you to follow them :) ... It's not me....
- Amit Nangare
lmao
- Andy Ghozali
woww! that is a lot of comments.
- Sumanth Kolar
Joining bandwagon.
- mwydro
Yo Robert: a man has to do what a man has to do, so one surfer to another: go for it!
- Geer
Here here! A good cleansing is good, now and then... Starting fresh is the way to go, get all of that nonsense out and maintain a core group of people for solid conversation!
- Brian Partridge
Great taking the tour w/ you, Levar Burton & @VegasBill during CES 09 at the Atomic Testing Museum. I would appreciate the follow back. Thanks Robert!
- Chris R
There is change in the air...
- Zack Brandit
Chris: I'm already following you, no need to beg! :-) That was fun times, wasn't it?
- Robert Scoble
You've got to admit anyone who's on friendfeed instantly gets more exposure since it nicely imports people's public @ reply's anyway?
- Matt Randles
Thanks for following back on Twitter Robert. Cheers from Las Vegas!
- Vegas Bill
I'm pretty sure we're friends here, only just wish there was a easy way to check... and if there is, that some one will let me know....
- Grant Bierman
this is such a classic move! well played.
- laura
So why can't SEO people be tech as well? Actually requires a good tech aptitude.
- Paul M Evans
from iPhone
Make sense, Scoble :)
- Grant Laird Jr
Just out of curiousity, why are there fewer spammers and bots on FF compared with Twiitter? Is it because they haven't discovered FF yet?
- Sally Church
from iPhone
there are occasionally spammers on FF but I think they mostly get handled quickly vs Twitter where more than occasionally clusters of spammers just follow each other...
- Shannon Clark
Choose wisely :)
- Özkan Altuner
Go FF its the Best
- Robert Wheeler
followww meee
- Thomas Christory
Scoble-plicity .-)
- Del_
I use TweetLater to vet new followers. Helps get rid of spammers fast.
- Bob Morris (polizeros)
Wow! I've never seen so many people comment on Friendfeed as much as this!
- Armand
Yo! peteryared on twiter :)
- Peter Yared
Your biggest fan and follower in Cambridge, UK. Thanks for the DuoFertility video. Great as ever.
- Philip Baddeley
Fantastic, I want to be followed :-)
- Antonio Correnti
Sally: I don't explain spam defenses in public. I don't want spammers to figure them out. But there are quite a few defenses against spam here.
- Robert Scoble
Refollow me on Twitter! @carloscomputers
- carloscomputers
nice one
- Ken Post Jr
I was surprised about the spammer comments, until I started getting female nude model followers and I'm a women. Maybe a nude male model but not Sparkle or Hootie McBoob
- Corrine Pearce
Corrine: hope you don't see that here on FriendFeed.
- Robert Scoble
Why are you doing this? You have one of the best listening audiences on twitter! Is there a point to prove that we will post here or go to wefollow?
- David Cole
Now those not on FF will miss this one;)
- JP Holecka - Jaypiddy
David: actually that's not true. Most of the Twitter audience I had has moved over here.
- Robert Scoble
I'm intrigued and will watch with interest -- and hey, you're always interesting. Well worth the follow!
- Don Tamihere
real-time on FF is awesome
- nchenga
David: and I can prove that. Twitter's audience has become less and less engaged lately.
- Robert Scoble
Wow, powerful shift by Robert Scoble, I'm really interested in seeing how this works for you Scoble. I slept through all the big news here tonight.
- Jimminy, CoG of FF
Always up for your social explorations Robert.
- JP Holecka - Jaypiddy
And you're not even halfway through the unfollowing process. :)
- Ken Brady
wao, let's good.
- naokits
Interesting experiment. This is probably one the most commented feedfriend threads in history!
- Menno te Koppele
Plus, David, if you all are listening, you are listening because of my ability to find cool stuff. Mostly that's been because of FriendFeed over the past 18 months. Now I've seen how ascerbic Twitter's spammers have gotten on my accounts.
- Robert Scoble
agree, it's an interesting experiment.
- nchenga
Menno: actually it's not. There are many 1,000+ comment threads here.
- Robert Scoble
Here's a search with all 1,000 comment threads displayed: http://friendfeed.com/search...
- Robert Scoble
Interesting. This is going to boost 1000 egos for sure :-)
- Freddie Benjamin
So will it be a matter of just trying to say ahead of the spammers by jumping from one early adopted social network to another?
- JP Holecka - Jaypiddy
JP: no. I am not leaving Twitter. I AM, however, deleting all their accounts so I will no longer be passing them juice.
- Robert Scoble
I wonder how will your FF homepage look like after this.
- ahmet bulent
Does this make you anti-social media?
- Cory Brown
To follow commenters from here on Twitter will be a lot of work for you Robert. Or do you have some magic tool that helps?
- Tibor Holoda
Robert, how many of the 100k do you think you'll still be following when you are done?
- RobinDotNet
~~~> Robert!! Follow me back again. [a] I'm a real fan of the @Scobleizer... and [b] I'm much nicer than some of these sassy bloofers. ;)
- Kim Sherrell
1,100
- Robert Scoble
That's good to know.
- George Hall (Australia)
So what if you have all 58k + comment on here? And you have to keep everyone! And your plan is foiled, sir. Okay give or take 10k for the neglected abandoned twitters and the spammers. Btw, you're already following me on both twitter and here. But come on, you're not really. : /
- Lise
That's cool. I am finding the spammers too much to manage these days myself.
- JP Holecka - Jaypiddy
I promise I want tell them
- Noel Kelly
Because I can't keep myself from doing math, that's 1.1%.
- RobinDotNet
Lise: I see you a few times a day, but you're right. Heheh.
- Robert Scoble
Are you trying to make a point about FF v Twitter? I have spammy things to say about my amateur photography, potential homelessness, and run-ins with public-run health system in the US. Isn't all Twitter spam--just spam you want? :)
- Dean Hall
the auto-refresh on this thread is mind-blowing, fun to watch
- nchenga
Do you ever worry about SM burnout Robert? How do you pace your self?
- JP Holecka - Jaypiddy
Interesting to note many of most commented threads are in languages other than English. Can we suggest FF has a better international appeal than Twitter?
- Kaan Bingol
Good idea, as you say, stop juicing up the spammers - it'll be interesting to see the stats once you've finished.
- Andrew Piggott
Dean: your Tweets aren't spam. I might keep you. Heheh.
- Robert Scoble
I only followed people who were interesting to me, otherwise it is like trying to find a needle in a haystack of brain dumps.
- Daniel Durrans
Exactly. So I expect to be cut. And considering I'm in a crowd of close to 60k, it'll be the same thing.
- Lise
There should be a counter in front of the comments...
- Willem Karssenberg
okay seriously ?
- Asankhaya Sharma
What sort of comments do you want Robert?
- travispuk
Lise: actually no. On FriendFeed I can absorb quite a few more people than on Twitter thanks to Groups.
- Robert Scoble
a good cleansing is wise once in a while :) Power to the (real) people.
- Benjamin
Travis: I'm already following you.
- Robert Scoble
Lise: and because FriendFeed's search engine is better here too.
- Robert Scoble
Robert, yeah I know. Thought you might have meant for your secretscoble twitter account ;)
- travispuk
It's kind of like a giant SM break up Robert. *Oh the hearts you are breaking...*
- JP Holecka - Jaypiddy
I'm fairly selective about who I follow and I follow so maybe you will follow me back!
- Richard Cunningham
from iPod
Robert, care to explain how you use groups in this kind of context? Because I don't get the point of following people who are then placed into a "I don't read this much" kind of group. How do you use groups so that you're (1) not overwhealmed, and (2) actually read what people are saying?
- Ian Betteridge
How many people do you expect to end up with, Robert? What is a reasonable number?
- Lise
(Not that I'll probably see your response, btw - something at the bottom of 350+ responses is effectively buried until FF has better threading tools. Which I'm sure it will, some day.)
- Ian Betteridge
@Ian I believe that it may come in Google Wave.
- JP Holecka - Jaypiddy
@Daniel - ditto, and for me it is generally development related also. Robert - I know you have to try and keep up with everything going on in the social media space, but I'm always surprised when people follow so many others as it must be extremely difficult to find the wheat in amongst all the chaff.
- Donald Matheson
Robert: I did not know about that search trick. Thanks!
- Menno te Koppele
Why?
- Scott Hanselman
looks like a lot of comments
- Rory Partalis
Ian: a "I don't read this much" kind of group is awesome for serrendipity. Also, anyone who I find there who is high value gets quickly moved to a smaller group.
- Robert Scoble
What? Are you saying you're not following me already...? ;-)
- Jarno Peschier
Lise: on Twitter? Less than 2,000. I can't follow more.
- Robert Scoble
Done. :)
- Smeerch
Jamo: I am already following you. Scott: why not? I am already following you too.
- Robert Scoble
Robert, it might be a problem for me re-gaining your following as my tweets are not 100% English only (whether that means trying to speak English or no English at all ;). How do you deal with occasional non-English tweeters? As that's clearly a noise for you.
- Tibor Holoda
if only twitter were as engaging as FriendFeed has become, and as instantaneous as things like this comment thread, then maybe I would use it more. Hence why I'm all for unfollowing who you conceive as uninteresting; and if that includes me, then so be it!
- Nick Soden
Tibor: I just skip over most of them. Sometimes I translate them to see if I was right.
- Robert Scoble
It is my hope that I provide you with something as interesting as what you provide me with. Either way, I will continue to peruse your posts with interest.
- Absentee
hmmm
- imran
Hi, I'm still newish to this social media thang - but good on you for taking a stand.
- Jus
Do you prefer night owls? Because what about all the poor people in SV who went to bed at a decent hour and missed your post? Bummer for them, huh?
- RobinDotNet
I'm back from picking my wife up at the airport and ran across this on my way back to sleep.
- nuBound CEO - Mark
shhhhh
- Luigi Filograna
Robin: heh, all the real geeks in SV are still up.
- Robert Scoble
Interesting idea. I firmly believe SEOs are working day and night to figure out FF.
- Ian Ceicys
Ian: I bet they are too since FF is starting to pull better on Google than Twitter is.
- Robert Scoble
I am such a sheep. @markmeyerphoto
- Mark Meyer
from iPhone
I have nothing interesting to say, don't follow me.
- burc sahinoglu
from BuddyFeed
what about me? ... sniff
- Andy Ghozali
Me me me ;)
- Alemsah Ozturk
from iPhone
looking for owls?
- Dave Senior
Well I am out for the night. Good luck on your mass un-follow Robert. I look forward to your report on the results.
- JP Holecka - Jaypiddy
Robert, this is looking like a long thread already. :)
- Robert Miller
Andy, Alemsah, and Dave, I'm already following you.
- Robert Scoble
Do you consider FF to be less spammy if you are trying to find your new Twitter "friends" here?
- Dušan Šimonovič
Dusan: are you a spammer?
- Robert Scoble
lmao on here you are, not on the big T tho nevermind I will follow you there too, been a fan....
- Andy Ghozali
why?
- takmaz
bold and yet gutsy move...love the trending topic already!
- Feersum Engine
:)
- Ruchit Garg
Follow on FriendFeed or Twitter? :P Or Google Rader? :P
- @LarsenTweet
Türkçe ne diyor arkadaş ?
- Sinan İŞLER
The wild and woolly blogosphere is replete with all sorts of good stuff. Hard to follow 500 people, let alone 1000. I applaud you for trying to take the reins.
- Jack B
hey there
- deadmanwriting
And will you unfollow me if I send a DM ;)?
- Sudar
I don't get it
- Sheldon Levine
Qbat: I'll follow here on FriendFeed. Sheldon what don't you get?
- Robert Scoble
Sudar: no, if you send me DMs here, that's good.
- Robert Scoble
How long is the unfollow process going to take? And do you think FF will have as much noise as Twitter?
- Duc Nguyen
So it's Twitter DM that you don't like?
- Sudar
Sudar: right.
- Robert Scoble
And will you follow me? don't know if you ever have, but I am following you on twitter.
- Jus
Hey, Thanks for following me
- Michael_techie
Would love your company, Robert.
- Daniel Zarick
from iPhone
Even worse is Twitter DM spam, of course.
- Dennis Jernberg
It funny you put spammers, SEO experts, bots, social media experts all in one bucket. What are you implying? Btw, I'm none of these...
- Peter Chee
.. and it works!! Just got a mail saying Robert is following me now... :)
- Sudar
Peter: I did that to piss off the SEO experts. :-)
- Robert Scoble
This makes me realise that posting from Twitter as opposed to "to twitter from FF" allows the Twitter stream to grow on the back of FF comments ! otherwise not : as in my case - what do you think Robert ? FF to Twitter ? Or FF aggregating all your tweets ?
- Nicholas Paul Gordon
from iPhone
Nicholas: shhhh, you are discovering my secrets! I'm doing more and more from FriendFeed lately.
- Robert Scoble
I comment and you follow me. Its totally worth it
- Arvind
Do I have to follow you too? :)
- Mobilepax
Arvind: even better I was following you before. Mobilepax: no. I really don't care about followers. Inbound is more important than who is listening to you.
- Robert Scoble
and does that mean I have to write in English from now on :)
- Mobilepax
Awesome. I'm the 439th commenter. :D
- Jhay Rocas
Mobilepax: no. I translate interesting posts to English.
- Robert Scoble
More than 400 comments in about 2 hrs. Not bad. I wonder if there'd be nearly as many twitter responses/mentions.
- Franz Binder
Franz: no way. Not even close.
- Robert Scoble
Nice one - it's cool that you give friendfeed (and all the commenters of course ;-) much kudos.
- Alex Vermeule (@alexve)
If you just follow everyone in this thread, won't you just wind up with noise from 'engaged' people. I mean, does this solve the problem?
- Christopher Harper
Good thing its 4am and my car alarm went off, otherwise you wouldnt follow me! I had to look up a video online how to break the key fob apart becuase aparently its battery leaked and was self activating the panic switch. Damn VWs! a replacement key is only like 150 bucks!!
- Charlieray
Missionary: no. You have not discovered that FriendFeed has groups and MUCH BETTER search.
- Robert Scoble
Its funny that if you say "SEO" on twitter its an instant 10 followers
- Charlieray
A friendfeed promotion experiment?
- John Mandia
from iPhone
What is a comment?
- Meriç Dağlı
I'd rather follow you on Friendfeed, Robert. Your tweets get cross posted here anyway, and there's a much greater sense of engagement in that conversation than there is over at Twitter.
- Andrew Terry
John: no. Meric: you just made one.
- Robert Scoble
John: I've been promoting FriendFeed for 18 months. Where have you been?
- Robert Scoble
FF rocks :o)
- Cowan Group
Everyone that "follows" you really does know you love FF. So did you build a tool to follow everyone back that comments on here or are you seriously going to manually follow people back?
- Peter Chee
Theres 451+ comment here, do you really follow *everyone*?
- Fajar Nurdiansyah
woohoo! I'm in :P
- Tim Bergman
Because I am up at 1:20 a.m. PT, why not... I must be your target audience then.
- Georgiana Comsa
It must show you how many people enjoy engaging with you Robert, with the number of people posting here.
- Steve Farnworth
Amazing to see the comment thread to this entry expand constantly in real time.
- Christian Bolstad
Peter: I've manually followed everyone on this thread so far.
- Robert Scoble
Peter: although to be fair I've already followed quite a few people who have commented here.
- Robert Scoble
Hi, you are already following me. My solution to get rid of spammers on Twitter is to block them, that is what I do. If everyone started blocking them, I think things would improve
- Asgeir
Are you going to sleep tonight, or watch the fun?:)
- Aaman (Clone of FF)
is that enough to get followed?
- Ouriel Ohayon
do I accumulate credit, maybe towards an afterlife? You are already following me :-)
- Anindya Chatterjee
really anyone? :D
- Francesco M.
What about the SEO experts who accidentally find this feed?
- phil baumann
Robert, but you're following commenters here, not on Twitter, right? Not that i care about Twitter that much, as for me it's just a pipeline. FF and FB are conversational platforms for me, or the places i hang out these days.
- Tibor Holoda
Aaman: Sleep? some of us are just starting the day. We're waiting for the US to go to sleep so we can talk about you ;-)
- Rachel Clarke
Spammers being blocked doesnt do anything as they are hoping for that 1 in 100 hit of someone clicking that link, eventually they get banned and create a new account.
- Charlieray
the term SEO expert is a crock of shit
- Charlieray
like that's gonna work...
- thinkingpot
I hope you like hype machine loved tracks.
- Neil Godfrey
FriendFeed is better only if U want feedback and have the time to check it out.
- Marko Dvornik
Hello from the UK...
- robkeynes
Marko: not true. It's better because it has very little spam. It's better because it has a better search engine. It's better because it has comments and likes. It's better because it's an aggregator. And more.
- Robert Scoble
you don't have to follow back. but i'll take the chance to say great work with building 43.
- Alexandre Gamela
from twhirl
where's the 'hide button'??? :-D
- Max Kava
Massimo: right up top. Heheh. Alexandre: thank you!
- Robert Scoble
After 6 months out of the social media loop I came back to a whole bunch of follows that I either couldn't remember who they were or why I had followed them - how can that be relevent? So, I culled my follows back to less than 200. I'm now just looking to find the signal amongst the noise.
- Colin Walker
What about FriendFeed? Is there any @notsecretscoble too?
- Ludwik C. Siadlak
Friendfeeding for Scoble to follow me while on vacation in Montauk. There is something wrong with me.
- Mitchell Schneider
:)
- امیرعباس
Mitchell -- you just don't want to miss the fun.
- RobinDotNet
robkeynes -- nice to see you up and about
- RobinDotNet
Ludwik: no, because here I can just start a new list of users.
- Robert Scoble
Well, this has been fun to watch, but it's almost 2 a.m. and I have to be very smart tomorrow morning, which is easier when I'm not too tired, so everyone have a great [whatever comes next in your time zone].
- RobinDotNet
Robert, I'm trying to understand this follow/unfollow strategy you are applying as Napoleon Bonaparte on a battle field ;) Interested to know the result
- Thierry R. Andriamirado
I really do think the way Twitter has changed in the last few months, with all the media attention, certainly begs for it to be used differently now.
- Nicola Quinn
SEO what?! :)
- Kobayashi
Wow that's a whole lot of people commenting in the last 2 hours, Rob - How many of the new people you are following from this list are NEW to friendfeed? (estimate?)
- Roy Herrod
i'm new!
- Luigi Filograna
Roy: 40%
- Robert Scoble
Does this constitute a comment or are you looking for some insightful commentary on the state of new media? ;)
- Iwan
40%? This must have turned out to be one of the biggest promotions in FF history, even if it wasn't intended that way. BTW, I'm new to FF too.
- Dennis Jernberg
guess it's good to clean up the list once in a while.
- Yan PHUN
Ha ha, nice.... So any major ramifications from the mass unfollow?
- Alistair (alpinefolk)
Alistair: other than losing about 1,000 followers so far? No major ramifications.
- Robert Scoble
Robert, I'm coming out with a project in the Continuing Medical Education field in the next weeks so if you are interested, I wouldn't mind if you will follow me :-)
- Marco Fabbri
Won't tell anybody, specially Seo people, ssshhhh.....
- Giorgio Burlini
from iPhone
No comment ... :)
- Charlie Anzman
Too late.
- Alex Gonzalez
You had me at don't tell the spammers...
- Sean Kelly
I think it's a hoot. Now I'm wondering whether to reverse my recent move towards following more, not less. I do believe that from my experience so far FF is more attuned to building/maintaining community than is Twitter.
- Des Walsh
Great move Robert - I like it a lot
- Robert Davies
Des: on FriendFeed you can do both strategies at the same time. You can follow a lot more in one list while following even fewer in another.
- Robert Scoble
Des - Once more people re-engage in the conversation here, they'll realize the continuing outright potential of Friendfeed. I still some here before I read my e-mail
- Charlie Anzman
wow...just wow :) Robert, you have many fans !!
- Hayk
Good luck on hiding from the bots, they have ways of finding people.... :)
- Chris Holm
well, who am I to refuse such a nice offer? here I am!!!
- niccolò vecchia
Good to hear! I have only ~2000 followers, but I can't follow more at the moment due to Twitter's follow limit rule.
- Martin Lindeskog
I can't resist. skeptical, however.
- thinkQuick
Robert maybe the effort to get to 1 million is too great?? LOL Look forward to being in special company
- Wayne Mansfield
lol! ;-)
- auro
Following for the sake of it
- Rudi
follow, unfollow. it's all work...
- punkwithgun
Great way to test the chemistry between FF and Twitter. I like it.
- E-Advocate Network
Robert - I'am definitely not a spammer when it comes to broadcasting anything to people, who doesn't want to hear it :) but I do sometimes respond (mostly on twitter so @reply) to some tweets not aimed on me, but that's what everybody actually asks for when publicly broadcasting anything.
- Dušan Šimonovič
Lovely.
- Kevin Montgomery
Scoble is a superstar :)
- Peter
Woohoo. :)
- mjc
Enjoy your tweets
- Keith Humphreys
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto. Himitsu o shiri tai. (Secret secret. I've got a secret.)
- Rich Puskarich
Welcome!
- Bob Stewart
Shhh...don't tell anyone but I'm neither of those (the spammers, SEO experts, the bots, or the social media experts,) though, I like the heck out of the concept of this thread...
- Vincent Wright
@euaneggs :)
- Euan Rowlands
Good idea about the unfollow. It was an interesting experiment whilst it lasted but given your lifestyle I'm sure most Twitter messages just passed you by. I never DM'd you however, it was nice to think that I had the option if I wanted to. Anyway I've been on FF for ages now, and what I need is a good FF app (for pc), any ideas anyone?
- Nick Bristow
Nick: I just use a browser with FriendFeed.
- Robert Scoble
Only 530 comments so far? Come on people you are not even trying.
- John Cooper
oh,i'm 538?
- M∂hmood
hello hello!
- May Wong
I am really curious to check the result of this experiment...
- Alessandro Galetto
from twhirl
why are you doing this again ?
- startup ticker
To confuse you.
- Robert Scoble
LOL - nice one Robert.
- Darren Rowse
Lol! that dude definitely sounds confused :-)
- Freddie Benjamin
:-) well done
- Johni Fisher
Knock three times on the ceiling if you want me.
- Gilbert Harding
Nice! Subscribe me!!! ;)
- stakhov
cool~
- kang
promise?
- David Semeria
well i'm only bemused, is that close enuff ?
- startup ticker
so quick~
- kang
I'm interested to see how this turns out for you.
- Brandon Eaker
talk about noise!
- Miles Media
550 commants!!!! wtf?
- Rob Sellen :o)
Good to know. Scoble is a superstar.
- jaspio
@Rob Sellen, did you see the comments on the most recent ffundercats podcast entry. http://friendfeed.com/ffunder... Over 1000 in a very short period of time. Although I expect that this post will also get up to those levels.
- travispuk
Ah Scoble allways busy.
- erwin blom
NOTICE: I am closing comments here because I gotta get some sleep. I'll consider doing this again sometime. Sorry if you didn't get in, but see you tomorrow night.
- Robert Scoble
Lessons from the 'Small Business Web' - BusinessWeek - http://www.businessweek.com/smallbi...
Write up on a great opportunity. This really puts the customer first.
- Andrew Nimick
from Bookmarklet
What sound does a search engine make when it dies?
hooooo
- Andrew Nimick
bingaaaa!!!
- Nayan
lol, one of you is what I was thinking :) the other is funny too :)
- Paul Kinlan
Technology for Country Folk - http://www.haukenfrers.net/Giggles...
Friend sent this via email, I had to share.
- Andrew Nimick
from Bookmarklet
David Cameron's missing a Twitter trick | John Prescott | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk - http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment...
I never liked him as a politician. But kudos to him for this thoughtful look at social media and twitter.
- Andrew Nimick
from Bookmarklet
This Message will Self-Destruct: New Tool Makes Online Postings Disappear - http://www.readwriteweb.com/archive...
Can Koklu liked this
For those of us who sometimes wish we had not said something online.
- Andrew Nimick
from Bookmarklet
Everyone like @shelisrael is looking at Zappos sales. Wrong number to pay attention to. Here's why:
Bonnie Foster, Chris Zlatis, Shane and 16 other people liked this
Retail usually has profits of about 5%. Which means out of a billion in sales, Zappos only kept $50,000,000, out of which they had to pay rent, employees, benefits, etc. So, when you see that the purchase price was about $900 million in stock, that makes sense considering the smaller $50 million in real revenue number.
- Robert Scoble
rofl
- Joel Bennett
lol
- Justin
I'm playing duck hunt while scoble types out why.... :)
- Adam Jackson
Adam: you're funny and a bad shot!
- Robert Scoble
I know the duck move very fast.
- Adam Jackson
They got people to buy shoes online. Amazon wouldn't have figured that out alone.
- Tom
Nice observation
- Michele Neylon
Duck hunt :P There's something I haven't thought of in a hundred years.
- Jason Hargrove
Anyway, the way to look at it is really this is a company with $50 million to $100 million in real revenues. That's why $900 million in stock makes sense.
- Robert Scoble
is the retail margin you posted, robert, for brick and mortar retail? or online retail?
- Tristan Walker
Tom: right, and Amazon gets a bunch of really great executives and a culture that NO ONE can match.
- Robert Scoble
Tristan: both.
- Robert Scoble
Uh Robert, aren't profits usually calculated AFTER deducting rent, salaries, benefits, etc.? Perhaps you mean operating profit, in which case 5% is low for retail industry.
- Ritesh Lal
ya its not about revenue, its about annual net profit usually
- sean percival
Yeah, this deal was calculated as a multiple of EBITDA or PBT, not top line revs.
- Alan Chamberlain
Tristan: retail sucks unless you are Apple.
- Robert Scoble
Sean and Ritesh are right. My number is NOT net profit. That's even lower.
- Robert Scoble
Zappos has 1,500 employees and a huge warehouse, etc.
- Robert Scoble
Robert: have you heard of bonobos? those guys are pulling impressive margins because theyre direct to consumer, and how about companies like threadless?
- Tristan Walker
Tristan: I'd be shocked if they make that much profit percentage wise. They probably have a nice business, though. So does Zappos.
- Robert Scoble
The ones who are scared by this are the IT vendors who supply Zappos.
- Capn' One Eye - adrift
Does _web_ retail really have only 5% profits?
- Joel Bennett
What about http://www.endless.com, Amazon's shoe site?
- Andrew
i think threadless runs at 30% profit margins, will send the link to where i found that stat
- Tristan Walker
metageoff: Zappos doesn't have that much IT. Joel: yes. Think about it. Anyone can open a web business.
- Robert Scoble
Tristan: Threadless has a very unique business model though.
- Ryan
Tristan: that's very high margins for retail, if true.
- Robert Scoble
Robert: Can you point me somewhere (edit: grammar) detailing web and brick retail comparisons?
- Jason Hargrove
"doesn't have that much IT" - therefore the IT vendors they do have are easy targets for "new efficiencies"
- Capn' One Eye - adrift
depends on the business
- dpurrington
http://www.inc.com/ss... "The business grosses $30 million a year and enjoys profit margins of 30 percent."
- Tristan Walker
I'd think Amazon can squeeze savings out of the distribution side too.
- Ryan
@Ryan I agree but there are fantastic opportunities in online retail that generate impressive margins. that being said, i understand why zappos would be MUCH lower...amazon will certainly help bump up those numbers through various synergies
- Tristan Walker
Amazons next buy will be Rackspace, Great culture and good company. ( I am just guessing based on common sense )
- Luis Borjas
Luis: don't scare me like that! :-) Jason: I can't, but helped manage retail stores for the first 10 years of my career.
- Robert Scoble
Quick look at Yahoo Finance says Robert's numbers are in the ballpark. Amazon, Walmart, both have operating profit 4-5%, and net about 1 point lower. Best is Target with 6.7% operating profit. Costco is terrible at 2.53%.
- Ritesh Lal
My take was that Amazon is buying a culture. http://www.onebyonemedia.com/amazon-...
- Jim Turner
Robert, would love to chat with you about your experience there at some point. Interesting space
- Tristan Walker
Robert: Retail doesn't suck for Apple because they are vertically integrated. It's just another 5% to add to their bottom line.
- Ryan
Robert: fair enough. Hmm. A breakdown on web retailers would be awesome. I see a few links here already. Research task for the summer perhaps.
- Jason Hargrove
I assume by "retail" you mean that they don't also manufacture what they sell.
- dpurrington
So will Amazon make all their employees go on Twitter? Imagine the horror although they could probably squeeze a bit more productivity out of them.
- Mark Littlewood
Jim: That works. ~sometimes. Hmm. Maybe 'rarely' is a better word. It's tough to acquire a brand culture unless you're prepared for full adoption. One (decade+ old) example is Canada's Telus (http://telus.com) that acquired a small mobile carrier called Clearnet, paving the way for Telus to become a mobile powerhouse. It was all about the Clearnet brand. I remember the CEO quoted as...
more...
- Jason Hargrove
I wondering if Zappos excellent customer service will be adopted by Amazon, or will it lose some of its well known service. (Hopefully not)
- Kim Landwehr
Mixing both companies will be a mistake, because they go with different strategies to achieve differentiation. Amazons focuses on efficiency and lowest cost, Zappos focuses on costumer happiness. I think they can both learn from one another and then keep serving their respective costumers with the strategies that have made them successful this far.
- Jorge
Robert, congrats on being a VC, but your 5% estimate for an online retailer seem lower than anything I have heard before. EVER.
- shelisrael1
shelisrael1: OK, so let's say it's 30%. Still is 300 million, not a billion like the number you used. I don't think Zappos is that high. If it were, they wouldn't have laid people off last fall.
- Robert Scoble
agree with robert...impossibkle their margins are in the 30% range
- Tristan Walker
I think we are seeing perhaps a mixing here that could work. With Zappos customer centric culture and Amazon's backend infrastructure. I think that was part of the reason for the layoff since it was mostly that par tof Zappos' company that felt the crunch.
- Jim Turner
Good reminder, people often look at the big figure and forget where it all goes.
- Andrew Nimick
Everyone seems to be high on Amazon - and if your order comes as expected they are good. But, if it doesn't, the customer service sucks.Example: Order with next day delivery (extra charge) but fulfillment slips from Thurs to Friday. No Sat. delivery, won't come till Monday. Call Amazon and they will redirect you to take it up with the carrier. Fail
- PXLated
Talked to some manufacturers reps that handle Amazon. Example-1: Amazon orders by the container load and reorders when down to xx units. Rep gets a new container order and was amazed they'd sold the last that fast. They hadn't, they still had a half container in the warehouse and didn't even know it.
- PXLated
Example-2: Customer orders a $2K product. Receives it with a broken part ($150 part). Instead of shipping part, Amazon ships a completely new unit. This happens three more times. And, the customer had to threaten to have the other (broken units) declared abandoned property to get Amazon to pick up the other four units.
- PXLated
So, I fear for Zappos
- PXLated
BBC NEWS | Technology | Oldest UK television discovered - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2...
I wonder when we we have stories like this about oldest iphone still working! The comments are a hoot too.
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At least he was one of the bad guys!
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looks at a Forester report on money spent developing your community.
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Major list worth a good look. A good number I will be looking closely at.
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this could be so tempting
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Thought I would share this.
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Anyone ever read this book?
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Great list of good books.
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This has been a UX bug of mine for years.
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