Helen Hoefele - Likes

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David Damore

At what point is an edited tweet no longer a RT but a via or a HT (Hat Tip)?

August 29 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Anika and Helen Hoefele liked this

If I have to remove more than 4 words, then I word it better and h/t the person. - Anika

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If I edit the tweet at all, I usually make it a via. I don't use h/t cuz I don't wear hats. - Rahsheen ™, Coach of FF

If I find the link from someone else I almost try to note the source whether I reuse their tweet or not - Jim Goldstein from iPhone

You each get a point for those comments ;) Thanks. - David Damore

The original tweet was: "The typical human foot is an anatomical marvel of evolution with 26 bones, 33 muscles..." http://is.gd/2GuO0 #shoes *Interesting - David Damore

The RT was just RT: @Admore [&] link, they then added in their own words. - David Damore

Probably over reacting on this. It is a relative newcomer to Twitter. - David Damore

Maybe this is the reason that there are social media "experts" selling training. - David Damore

Robert Scoble

Can you be a thought leader without a blog? I'll discuss that here:

June 26 - Comment - Like - Share

Daniel Chow, Volkan Özçelik, Mike Fruchter and 96 other people liked this

Jeremiah Owyang last night was giving me crap about not blogging. I notice that the people on the top of the http://www.ffholic.com most popular lists aren't participants, they are mostly thought leaders. - Robert Scoble

262 more comments

OK what is a "thought leader" - anna sauce

He misses the "thought leadership" that I provided on my blog. - Robert Scoble

And Forrester thinks they are "thought leaders" (instead of analysts) which I got from a recruiter there. - anna sauce

Yes - through twitter and FriendFeed - LPH™ and his dog P™

Are you a thought leader or a conversation leader Robert? I'd call you a conversation leader. - James Watters

We discussed that a bit over beers and it takes thought and time to put together a blog, especially one that is going to get discussion. - Robert Scoble

I think you give plenty of thought leadership here at FriendFeed. - Bill Kinney

I can be a thought leader w/o a blog only if a bear shits in the woods. - geoff hines

I wonder what he's really asking or saying to you. - Myrna

I'm willing to bet if you're a thought leader you have a blog. How often you update it is another issue - Tyler Gillies

Myrna: I think a lot of people want to read considered opinion, not little grunts or small items on friendfeed or Twitter. - Robert Scoble

It all comes down to audience doesn't it? - Mitch

is a thought leader who has a blog but doesn't' have startup experience or experience building a company akin to the old saying that "those who can't do teach"...would be interested on your thoughts Robert. - Mike Bracco

Well, I miss your personal blog too, but really you have transferred that energy over to Building43, so pretty much we are getting you're take over there - Stephen Pickering

tylergillies: I wonder if you can be a thought leader without a blog, though? Can you be seen as "serious" by just Twittering or FriendFeeding? The evidence says no. - Robert Scoble

Yes. You can be a thought leader without a blog. It depends on your subject and your audience - it all depends on who you are a thought leader to. - Rachel Clarke

Maybe he wants to know there's a place he can find you instead of searching for your FF postings. - Myrna

Re: grunts on friendfeed, the same thing can be said for books and magazine articles compared to the idiots on television. - Mitch

James: I used to do a lot of longer pieces over on my blog which many told me were thought leadership. - Robert Scoble

I wonder if Ghandi and MLK would be blogging... - Ken Sheppardson

Not all leadership is thought leadership, lets make that clear first. - James Watters

I think you're the guy that brings people together. You're the firestarter. You don't need a blog for that. - erwin blom

You need to gain a following, then say "eff it" and get rid of the blog. For instance, no one listens to a damn word I say - Mike Nayyar

Being a thought leader requires coherent original thought a medium to express that thought and an audience who are interested in either you or the subject matter. - Anton Mannering

the truly confident have nothing to prove. but sharing is caring. - Mike White

erwin: I agree, but why aren't the most active participants here on FriendFeed (or over on Twitter) the ones who get to the top of most popular lists? I think it comes from authority, influence, (and in Twitter's case, getting lucky and getting put on the Suggested User List) but those are things that are hard to earn 140 characters at a time. - Robert Scoble

For me to consider anyone a thought leader, they had better have made a career out of what they say and do. I don't consider someone a leader in something until it is their life. - Mitch

YES mike! - Myrna

But you know Robert on your personal blog, its like we are always talking about just getting it out there, I wouldn't worry about it being perfect. It's like this blogger that Jason interview on one of his first shows said, "The biggest thing I had to teach new bloggers in order to be successful was the ability to hit the "Publish" button. - Stephen Pickering

For instance, one of my tutors was thought leader in the origin of apples. he's never got near a blog. - Rachel Clarke

you bet Ghandi, et al would be blogging as they were keen to communicate to the masses - Geer

One could argue that thoughts are occasionally more than just quick 140-ish character blips from one's skull. Some thoughts require more in depth thought and consideration. So I think that long term, no you can't be a thought leader without blogging or writing some form of thought piece. Isn't that what a thought leader is? Someone who brings ideas to the forefront using logic to back up and show how they drew those thoughts? - Michael Koby

The greatest thought leaders are people like Zuckerberg and Brin/Page - who are CREATING the companies of the future - WRITING blog is sort of beside the point right? - Mike Bracco

I think this shows that Jowyang never participates in FF, which is a pity b/c I followed him here! - anna sauce

anna: Jeremiah has a day job: to write reports and white papers and meet with companies for Forrester. - Robert Scoble

Pre-internet, editors of widely read highbrow magazines were definitely considered thought leaders by their peers and readers. Filtering, featuring and commenting on relevant and cutting edge content via Friendfeed, Twitter and Posterous is arguably an analogous pursuit -- if done well. - Alex Gault

I think the assumptionthat the only method of communication to be a thought leader is using a blog is flawed. A blog is fine if the people you intend to be a thought leader for read blogs. If they don't I'd suggest you go where the audience is. Or the conversation. - Anton Mannering

Don't confuse popular with thought leaders. - Jim Turner

Robert: well I'm new to following you this year, so I would definitely say your current medium has affected my view/opinion of you. At the same time I also really valued your leadership on the Iran front and will admit I was moved by it. - James Watters

If you don't have a blog you know nothing about social media and wouldn't be considered a "thought leader" at least in this context - Tyler Gillies

The best/most interesting ideas tend to be the shortest and most concise - therefore no, all you need is Twitter and a following - Nick Smith

To me, blogs are for essays, and a certain less-early-adopter audience. But tey are going rapidly by the wayside, and that's totally OK with me. This was a hot topic at my happy hour #2 after 21st amendment, where some old publishing industry, SF journalists were, most of them were bloggers, new to Twitter. When I mentioned Friendfeed, the expressions were "we have no idea what you are talking about" but they have learned to embrace, instead of running from it. - anna sauce

Yes Anna and Anton - Myrna

"I accomplish in ten words what many authors fail in a lifetime of books." Nietzsche - James Watters

Nick: well, then, why are the people at the top of the Twitter lists almost always people who either blogged or worked in some other media, like TV or films? - Robert Scoble

I wrote on a Paul Bucheit post that blogs aren't dead, what's dead is text, Video is 10x more compelling and more likely to be consumed - Stephen Pickering

@robert agree. Maybe the best is the combination of indepth vision in blogposts with firestarting and engaging in Twiitter / Friendfeed amongst others. - erwin blom

Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Paul Krugman, Stephen Hawking, et al...those are the thought leaders...how many of them are blogging? - Alex Scoble

@TomVMorris is a thought leader and he's doing a good job of keeping it on Twitter. But for most topics, I would think you need a better tool, then just Tweets. - Robert Wilkins

Alex: +1 - Mike Bracco

Stephen: I am big into video and I disagree. Video is more likely to communicate emotion and visual cues, but is harder to consume. On the other hand, I think video is very important to being seen as a thought leader on friendfeed. - Robert Scoble

Bill Gates??? Rich monopolist who has credibility because of power. - James Watters

If you wrote a piece for the Atlantic Monthly I'd consider you a thought leader :) - James Watters

Yeah you're right, I can read a blog post quicker than 15 minutes - Stephen Pickering

Alex all those guys still have a vehicle with which tio relay their thoughts. which is what I think is the real idea behind blogs. - Jim Turner

I rarely consume video. it takes too long compared to the written word. - Rachel Clarke

The point is that he built something real. An empire. What has Michael Arrington built? - Alex Scoble

James: that's not why Bill has credibility with me. He knows more about technology business (and now charity) than any single human being I've met. - Robert Scoble

Thought leadership operates across a reasonable broad continuum of medium : at one end Twitter, the other end Books, with Blogs down towards the Twitter end - so they play a part but there is too much noise! - Geer

James: credibility b/c built a great business that changed the computing world maybe... - Mike Bracco

yes you can be a thought leader without a blog. - sɹǝɥʇɐǝɟʞɔɐןq

Yeah, but an empire built on shadiness, capturing people - Stephen Pickering

Alex: Arrington has built a news network that is very good. I can't compete with it. - Robert Scoble

to be a thought leader, all you need is a platform. a blog is just one of the many you can choose - Rachel Clarke

Jeremiah's a smart guy - he's good to catch one-on-one time with. I'm with Jeremiah on this one. - Jesse Stay

"The king will always have eloquence for a simple reason, the drum roll before he speaks" Nietzsche (my view of Gates) - James Watters

I don't like these discussions on "what's dead/dying" because it's always absurd hyperbole. - Mitch

Same for Buffet, his only business strategy is consolidation, becoming a monopoly in an area and then hammering you - Stephen Pickering

@ Robert See Jim Turner's comment - Don't confuse 'popular' with 'thought leaders'. - Nick Smith

That said, Jeremiah's also the one that convinced me to use Google Reader much less than I used to and rely more on FriendFeed and Twitter to find the news. - Jesse Stay

Mitch: I don't think blogging is dead and anyway anytime you say someone say something is dead just replace that word with 'becoming less interesting" and it almost always fits. - Robert Scoble

I'm sorry guys, when Gates thought the internet wrist watch was the next big thing? Please please explain how that is the best ever. - James Watters

Not all thoughts can be narrowed to 140 characters and that is what blogs are for, they are for longer thoughts and essays. I think you need a blog to be a thought leader it is just not necessary to post to it everyday about everything. - Kim Landwehr

@robert The good thing about blogging is it freezes time. It gives you time and breath to think. It's there tomorrow as well. FF is real time and evolving. This conversation develops every minute. And tomorrow i won't find it anymore or easy. So yes: start blogging again ;-) - erwin blom

Microsoft is one of the greatest American success stories in history and also one of the greatest declines, rapidly, in business history - Stephen Pickering

James: even the best athlete loses once in a while. Gates is no different. I've had my major disagreements with Bill but he still is one of the smartest people I've ever met. Just look at his annual letter for his foundation and try to argue with that. - Robert Scoble

Guys it's the message not the medium that's all. The Medium is only relevant as a method of reaching the audience. Being a thought leader is achieved by having a track record of obvious expertise and innovation and then choosing to share that. If you share it with your cat though you're not a thought leader. If you share it with an audience who trust your expertise then a thought leader you are. The medium is irrelevant. The person, the message and the audience. That is all there is. - Anton Mannering

Stephen: how many billion dollar businesses does Microsoft have TODAY? Go ahead and guess. I guessed wrong yesterday. - Robert Scoble

Tumblr, Posterous sucess show me impulse is in, thought composition is out; thinking hurts, and reading good thinking hurts. Most people don't do it, it can cause you to reconsider your world. Like right now if I have to reconsider thinking Bill Gates is overrated it will hurt my head, I live by that thought. - James Watters

Robert- I know Jeremiah, and I know he has a job. I have one too. I choose to participate in FF, he doesn't. That's totally OK. I'm just saying, that it's interesting that he thinks it's necessary to have a blog to be a "thought leader" (Forrester's key phrase lol) - anna sauce

Anton: Totally agree. I always thought it was funny how people equated journalism to the newspaper. The newspaper is just a medium. - Mike Bracco

Yes, but its one of the greatest squanders of wealth in history. Apple has more cash I think on hand, and for a company that nets 6 billion a quarter, their equity is abysmmal. Its one of the greatest squanders of wealth in history. The stock price is less than it was 10 years ago, I think. How Balmer can still be CEO is beyond me - Stephen Pickering

Following long conversations on iPhone interface is painful because you have to scroll down after every refresh :( - Tyler Gillies

@tlergilles stick in there I'm glad your here - James Watters

tylergillias, click on the "16 minutes ago" thing at the top left of this thread, should sort you out. - Mark

Stephen: I agree, but Microsoft has 14 billion dollar businesses. Many of which are increasing in growth, not decreasing. - Robert Scoble

Mike - Exactly and as soon as journalist realise that they're not married to the printing press they'll be better off. - Anton Mannering

Stephen: I don't know many other companies that have 14 billion dollar businesses cooking along. - Robert Scoble

I think a blog is a stepping stone to becoming a thought leader. - Tamar Weinberg

Dangerous math, by this reasoning John Chambers is the thought king. - James Watters

Robert - A blog is more like a column with comments, this is a conversation that never ends. I think we need both. - erwin blom

MSFT, 36 billion in Equity after how many years of netting 15-20 billion? That is just criminal. All this time they'd been better off giving that cash to shareholders. - Stephen Pickering

+1,000 Stephen. - James Watters

If you want to be a thought leader in molecular physics then having a blog or being on friendfeed would be irrelevant. The medium that the relevant community flock to is scientific journals. - Anton Mannering

All bloggers don't become thought leaders(obviously) and all thought leaders don't have blogs so what feels best to you Robert? - Myrna

Robert surprised me yesterday with is post from 21st amendment. He seemed surprised the person next to him didn't know who he was. That's dangerously close to celebrity think. - James Watters

Robert, what's there 14 billion dollar business cooking along, and how many billion dollar businesses do they have? - Stephen Pickering

I think so. Chris Pirillo is a thought leader with or without his blog... - krystynchong

I do miss your blogs Rob xx - Mark

Mark: that doesn't work on iPhone interface - Tyler Gillies

Having a blog is only a pre-requisite for being a thought leader in blogging. - Anton Mannering

Anton lol - Myrna

I think chris pirillos blog complements his video and not vice versa - Tyler Gillies

Robert - If the audience you're interested in is on Friendfeed then that's where you should be. However if a significant number of people in your audience feel you should be blogging then perhaps you should communicate that way as well. Go where your audience is. - Anton Mannering

Talking about thought leaders, i'd like the name of the person before the entry. Not everyone is equal when talking. - erwin blom

What's the char limit on friendfeed posts? - Tyler Gillies

Erwin - I'm equal - Anton Mannering

erwin: i like that idea. it could work as a sort of "mental filter" - Tyler Gillies

Erwin - Interesting stance that. If you know the people it makes sense. But surely you should take every unknown commenter as you find them and judge their comments neutrally until you can assess their knowedge/ability over time? Otherwise you run the risk of being lead by the same old faces without intelligent interruption of the conversation. - Anton Mannering

anton: sometimes a comment doesn't make sense contextually until you know who wrote it. i like the "feature" because it would allow you to form that context _before_ you read the comment - Tyler Gillies

Character Limits on friendfeed: http://friendfeed.com/friendf... - Robert Scoble

robert: thanks :) - Tyler Gillies

I still think the internet wrist watch is the next big thing :-P - Jesse Stay

tygerlilie - I agree, I was commenting on Erwins thoughts about not all commenters being equal not on whether the names should be first. - Anton Mannering

Great topic, been discussing this lately with colleagues too. If you're an individual who has an already established industry reputation, you can show thought leadership in many other ways beyond a blog, but if you're just starting out, you need some sort of a platform and a blog is an easy way to get going and show depth/substance - Louise Rasho

Implementing @username in friendfeed would be helpful - Anton Mannering

Anton - Of course that problem is there, but it's how i use FF on a busy day. Scan my favourites among the masses. - erwin blom

Regarding earlier posts re: video, it's just far too slow. I can scan faster than listen and watch, and with scanning you can absorb so much more information. - anna sauce

Jesse, I think you should continue your vodcast. I think it could be big. I myself looked forward to it as much as TWIT - Stephen Pickering

Louise - Totally agree. As long as your audience are likely to read blogs. - Anton Mannering

Absolutely. - Peter Johnson

Stephen, you think? I'm thinking I'll need to space it out more if I do. Also, need to figure out a focus. Editing is a pain, too, so need to figure out a solution for that as well. - Jesse Stay

i think video transcription will be a big thing. building 43 has already done it with at least one interview - Tyler Gillies

Jesse, definitely, just shoot it and let it go raw, forget the editing. Also it helps your exposure and compliments your other businesses - Stephen Pickering

Anton - even if they're not regular blog readers, you could use other tools (Twitter, FF, etc) to drive them to your blog. It just gives you an opportunity to have a longer monologue so that when you get into other short-form platforms you've established some cred. - Louise Rasho

yeah raw footage is always fun - Tyler Gillies

maybe I'll try that - I think I may space it out to every other week though. - Jesse Stay

Oh that's fine, every other week, I think, I would look forward to it - Stephen Pickering

Erwin - That's cool. I understand and if you get to know a lot of the people who regualrly comment you get to be able to watch out for the good ones and autoblank the ones who's comments you don't find useful. - Anton Mannering

Well, I think this proves that you might not be a thought leader using Twitter and FriendFeed but you certainly can get discussion going. I think I'll write a blog. :-) - Robert Scoble

Louise - I more meant that, dependin on your subject matter, it's dangerous to assume that people will be looking for your information online. Serious scientists read peer-reviewed journals to be taken seriously that's where you have to be. - Anton Mannering

Louise - But for a lot of things a blog is perfect and easy way to start sharing your thoughts/expertise with the world - Anton Mannering

Absolutely yes, a big yes. Scientists, acedemics, historians, archeologists, artists (except art marketing) are publishing research studies and conceptual papers. They may wind up on TED talks, but they are looking for large grant backing. Social media would be useful to meet others, so even Twitter is fine, but it is all unrelated to their career. - E-Advocate Network

hmmm. Robert, i'm 1 of 7 board members for an indigenous mapping wannabe nonprofit. i volunteered to redev the website. last oct started twittering news about mapping and indigenous issues. save them every month and archive onto the site. few days ago, we had a conference. folks came from different parts of world becuz of the twitter. not because of email marketing. people thought i was the leader or director becuz my writing/twittering in the back of the room with news. - Rosemarie McKeon

You have to have some way of publicizing your thoughts. A popular TV show would work just fine. Given then lack of Twitter or FF posts on Digg etc I would say they aren't yet ways of becoming a thought leader. - Todd Hoff

I think the blog is going to be the central hub of one's identity on the net. It's so cheap to host one. I think it will be the dial tone. So I think Wordpress is the biggest threat to Facebook - Stephen Pickering

Stephen: I disagree. My hub is going to be an aggregator. For now that's either Facebook, FriendFeed, or Plaxo or something like it or maybe Twitter since that's the defacto place most people come to pimp their blogs anyway. - Robert Scoble

I was busy and am late getting here, but I'll say you can't be a thought leader without a platform. For many the low barrier to entry in blogging provides the cornerstone of that platform. Speaking and writing books can be that platform too. And for many FriendFeed, Twitter and the like are the platform. I'd say microblogging tools, even with the conversational capability of FriendFeed... more... - Ken Camp

Ken: that's a good point and one that I was trying to get to. In the future thought leaders will communicate using a number of different tools, not just 140 character messages. Even the Twitterers I follow the most and like the most are ones who use other tools to communicate with me. - Robert Scoble

Just cause people 'follow' you on FF doesn't mean they _follow_ you, if you follow. (Whee, that's one of those fun words that becomes silly and nonsensical if you repeat it enough. follow follow follow.) - Andrew C

I don't think a blog has anything to do with being a thought leader. It's just another form of media. It comes down to what you say not how you say it. A blog might help to gain visibility, but there are plenty of ways to lead tribes without using electronic print. Having said that I think the real question we should be asking is can you be a thought leader w/o a FF acct? Is availability and interaction going to be required for thought leaders in the future? - Davis Freeberg

But with all these widgets you can bring all these services into your blog, and the blog is so much more expressive of who you are, with personalized design elements and so much more flexibility - Stephen Pickering

I don't agree to be a thought leader you need to blog. I also don't agree you need an audience to be a thought leader. To be seen as a thought leader in public, you do. If your goal is to be a thought leader in any industry, then you need to speak your mind, directly to that arena and do it loudly enough to be heard. However you better be prophetic unless you already have an audience... more... - Sheryl

Robert - great question and dialolgue here! Thought Leaders are wise folks that engage, lead, inspire and mentor their respective audiences by a *variety* of methods; including but not limited to blogs. For example, they may author and publish a book, launch a blog, speak at a conference, lead a discussion group, host a podcast, etc. Blogs are just 1 tool in the thought leaders' aresenal, albeit a very key tool at that as it's become an expected tool ... as in your case with JO. - Susan Beebe from BuddyFeed

When I google Stephen Pickering or Robert Scoble the first thing that comes up is our blogs - Stephen Pickering

Stephen: yes, but that's a historical problem. My blog has been around longer and has had lots more work and links to it. So Google counts it higher. For new users who don't have blogs the same will not be true. - Robert Scoble

I also think JO is a very bright man, but sometimes his thinking is about trends and assumptions, not reality. Reality can tell a very different story. - Sheryl

wow, great way to mine information here!!!! impressed. I truly attest to how great FriendFeed really is. - iTbay

Sheryl: I agree and good point. Some of the strongest thought leaders are the voices that aren't heard of the noise. In the Internet culture, it's easy for people to associate the noise of someone constantly talking with thought leadership. (ie. every time I look so and so is saying blah blah blah). That isn't thought leadership. Those are simply the leaders in echoing the lesser heard thoughts of the real leaders. - Ken Camp

JO is a very bright man with an amazing knack for echoing things others have said before. He's visible, but visible and visionary aren't quite the same thing. I like him a lot, but for me, he's not a leader. He's another preacher preaching to the choir, albeit a good preacher. - Ken Camp

Another key point: seeing a new developing trend, e.g. Steve Rubel's adoption of Posterous instead of his former tradtional blog site indicates two things: 1. he wants to speed up and simplify blog posting, and 2. he may feel that lifestreaming is a better way to connect, share and engage with his audience. I'm seeing that folks want more sound bytes, not thesis style content. - Susan Beebe from BuddyFeed

Sheryl / Ken - I disagree with you there. Audience is everything. That audience may be on Youtube, twitter or Friendfeed or blogs as Ken said, but ithout an audience (it can be a niche one) who are you leading? Where I'd disagree with Ken is that these are not the Platform these are only the medium. Previously in peer-reviewed journals the fact that a certain had to be reached to be... more... - Anton Mannering

A question, will you still do longer post and if so won't that be a blog, or is a blog only a blog if you call it a blog. - Kim Landwehr

But If I'm interested in Robert Scoble or Jesse Stay and I follow them, they should be able to monetize their energies and thoughts by way of their blogs. If all of their energies are on FriendFeed or Twitter or Facebook, its only pimping those services and putting money in their pockets - Stephen Pickering

I launched a new blog http://susanbeebe.com on 5/11/2009 and within only a matter of 2 weeks my blog was appearing on page 1 of my vanity search results on Google. Blogs are really fabulous for personal branding and what I call "personal real estate" on the web. - Susan Beebe from BuddyFeed

Susan, I agree, my blog was only born in March or so - Stephen Pickering

Some jewish guy once said "Do not hide your light under a bushel" Thought leaders who don't influence the world by doing or evangelising are just theorists who affect little. - Anton Mannering

TylerGullies- regarding issue reading FF on iPhone - use a FF client like the BuddyFeed app (no scrolling, etc) - Susan Beebe from BuddyFeed

Anton - I think the media is the platform. Broadcast TV and radio were platforms and they've been replaced by the new distributed now media of the Internet. I say that is the platform. And the Internet is a peer reviewed media in that we get validated, fact checked and are held accountable for our veracity and integrity or quickly shunned and forgotten. Sock puppets don't live long... more... - Ken Camp

And Blogs are so much more flexible. I still think these other services are ancillary, valuable of course but not a hub - Stephen Pickering

Anton: Hey! :) Thought leader doesn't necessarily imply you lead anyone but rather have thoughts that are unique and have potential to inspire. Having a blog will not make us so. Having a platform might, even if someone else is better. Example: Ken is brilliant. You know it, I know it, and he has been blogging longer than the vast majority of internet users. He comes up with amazing... more... - Sheryl

Yes you can be a thought leader without a blog or even be in public, its just a matter of scope of audience. You can be a Thought Leader within a Company, a department, within a community, etc. Believe or not, most people never heard of the people on these lists. So these are just Thought Leaders in areas that interest people that read Blogs, Tweets, Social Media or Tech. - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

But if you are a thought leader don't you want to monetize it? - Stephen Pickering

Stephen: I know some thought leaders who do it because they just want to be seen as the expert in that field. - Robert Scoble

Google monetizes, Facebook monetizes, Twitter and Friendfeed certainly plan to, so what's wrong with an individual? - Stephen Pickering

Hmm.. I disagree with you here Ken. I think that's 'Old Media' thinking. If I went on TV to speak about particle Physics everyone (especially particle phycicists) would be like "who the hell is this guy?". But the fact that I was on TV would give me a platform of a kind as people assume that the TV station checked me out. With new media there is no-one to check credentials so the only... more... - Anton Mannering

think most true thought leaders find money to be a horrible metric. I know several now vested and moderately rich start up CEO's who are still frustrated because their ideas didn't get to be as big or as impactful as they want. Money is a horrible metric: just look at the rich CEO of AIG..thought leader? Smart? - James Watters

I bet Malcom Gladwell doesn't consider money a horrible metric - Stephen Pickering

Hey Sheryl. :) I disagree (I know you're shocked lol). YOu can't be a thought leader unless you're leading. And you can't be a leader without followers. There's nothing wrong with being brilliant and not being followed not all thinkers are leaders. Sometimes one mans great ideas aren't recognised until a leader picks them up and champions them. - Anton Mannering

Anton Particle physics is dead. We have strings now! - Stephen Pickering

Stephen - See I told you the physicists would be horrified. :) - Anton Mannering

Anton: I love that we disagree and both are good with that. I think your physic example just perfectly described "Bill Nye the Science Guy" (a kids tv show personality of the past in the states). I think what is revolutionary about now media is that the fact checking power, the vetting if you will, of every piece of information is now in the hands of every person connected to the... more... - Ken Camp

Robert there are some out there that have others blog FOR them so they can be seen as thought leaders in their field. ;) - Jim Turner

Anton: Was Van Gogh an art thought leader? He wasn't leading anyone during his lifetime. How many thought leaders are recognized long after they've shared the leading thought? I think in human history, that's been the majority of real thought leadership in many areas. - Ken Camp

The determinists were horrified by Einstein's findings and Einsteins was horrified by Quantum Mechanics. We need horrified physicists! - Stephen Pickering

Anton I am not shocked at all and I'm honored to even be involved in this discussion. Now, having sucked up, (was that a 'leading' statement?) I would say to you, I believe you're misinterpreting the word leader here. To be a leader you need only have the potential to influence, not that you have actually done it. It's about original ideas and thoughts, content if you will. Many people... more... - Sheryl

Ken - That my friend is exactly my point. Those credentials that you build over time... that is the platform! Everything else, as you said, is a stupid network, a collection of tools. - Anton Mannering

And Einstein was just a lowly patent clerk - Stephen Pickering

No serious thinkers or CEO types I know read Malcom; he is considered 'pop' - James Watters

Depends on the context I suppose. I don't think there is any arguing that Jack Welch (@jackwelch) is a thought leader. A notable early trait was his resistance from using a computer. - Rick Bucich

LOIC seems to like him :) - Stephen Pickering

I don't consider Welch a thought leader. He was an executer. Peter Drucker was the thought leader behind GE's massive resurgence - Stephen Pickering

Thought leadership is subjective. Case in point, what Rick above me said. I have no idea who Jack Welch is. He is not a thought leader to me, and yet he may be incredibly bright and articulate. That I have never heard of him doesn't make him less a thought leader. Only means he has his own niche. - Sheryl

Sheryl: Jack Welch ran GE for years and is widely seen as one of the best executives ever. - Robert Scoble

Stephen #ironic given the Loic discussion today :) Interesting that the other day Jack Welch said a dog could have run GE in the 90's because of positive macro trends; most company performance is due to industry trend - James Watters

That was him being modest. All the greatest are modest, Buffett, Sam Walton - Stephen Pickering

Ken, I was just thinking about Van Gogh in terms of this. What about the visionaries who are tragically 50 years a head of their time. Van Gogh could have blogged until his face turned blue. He was not going to be accepted and that is just the truth. He knew it, so he became a "do-leader" I guess you could say, and focused on being a prolific creator. - E-Advocate Network

Robert: it doesn't change my opinion that you've explained who he is. He may be a thought leader to you, but to me he is just a man on the street. Does that makes sense? Now...if I met him...and he said something that made my ears perk up, I would likely think differently. In the meantime, anyone may be a thought leader in their own circle. That one person has a big audience takes nothing from those who haven't got one. - Sheryl

Emily Dickinson never published a poem in her lifetime - Stephen Pickering

E-Advocate Network: Funny because that was exactly what Ken said to me before he wrote that down about Van Gogh! :) - Sheryl

Ken - No he wasn't. He was a brilliant man whose genius was only recognised after his death. Which inspired the expressionist movement in Germany. The leadership was not his though. In fact Nietzche had as much to do with that as anyone. - Anton Mannering

Ken - Picasso though was a thought leader par excellence - Anton Mannering

Too much invested in the concept of thought-leadership. I'm just happy to be participating in conversations about what I consider to be relevant thoughts and theories. It is first and foremost about context. I think this is a perfect case in point. - Jerry Schuman

You can be a thought leader via voice.... but more people will find you if you blog about what you talk about on-air and in podcasts. - Lisa Osborne

Scoble is the catalyst for this. I know I kiss ass, but its true, none of the other "important people" as Guy Kawasaki terms them engages us everyday folk like Scoble does. Why is that? He's as busy as the others - Stephen Pickering

Jerry: ^5 I couldn't agree more! - Sheryl

Lisa: I agree with you. I do a weekly podcast and I write a blurb about it. I also write the occasional blog post. Still, many people come to my site via search. - Sheryl

Stephen: Agreed, but sort of reinforces my point. The idea of thought leadership aside, Robert uses a broad platform; Guy uses a narrower one. But they are doing what works for them personally. - Ken Camp

Yes, oh I'm not dissing Guy, I love Guy, Tim O'reilly, Leo, and all the rest - Stephen Pickering

E-advocate/Sheryl - Unfortunately if you're too far ahead of your time you're not a leader. It's tragic and horrible but there you are. The Country of the Blind by H.G. Wells is a cautionary metaphor. - Anton Mannering

Anton,and I have the scars to prove it. - Jerry Schuman

Stephen: I'm not dissing Guy either. Today. I've done enough of that. lol He's simply on a platform I don't hear any more. ;-) - Ken Camp

Anton: I love you! :) I don't think we're that far apart with thought's not really, I just think we have some minor differences ;-) - Sheryl

Does YouTube count as a blog? I think any form of user generated content can allow a person to step into an audience and be a thought leader. A blog is just a mechanism. I'm not talking about replacing a hammer with a saw either. I think there are plenty of mechanisms to get in front of an audience and we're likely to see many, many more. - Dave Saunders

Ken - Guy is an interesting case. Do you not listen to him because of the tools he uses or because you feel he has "worn out his credentials" so to speak? - Anton Mannering

Anton: You like poking a stick in the hornets nest don't you? lol if you want to talk about Guy, we'll find somewhere private. I simply have chosen to remove myself from his audience as much as possible. ;-) - Ken Camp

No, I think he was just asking - Stephen Pickering

Ken: I don't mean to pry and I meant only in general terms. You response though indicates to me that you don't trust the messenger. - Anton Mannering

Anton: :-) - Ken Camp

Sheryl: Oh no, I was caught yapping away about academics and artists. Anton: Agreed on Picasso- he achieved fame while alive. He was outstanding and much more articulate than Van Gogh. He had a slight edge- being "avant guarde" was somewhat interesting to the art world at the time. It still required heavy lifting for acceptance and Picasso had that brilliance. Other artists before him had to crack the academies. - E-Advocate Network

A blog or some other long-form, semi-permanent body of work that belongs to you I believe is required to be a "thought-leader". As both a producer and consumer, I think this will become even more important as information flow gets more fragmented, higher volume, and unfortunately, lower quality. FF, Twitter, et al are great for finding thought leaders and getting bits of insight but at the end of the day, real value comes from a smart person putting hours/days into a robust article/blog/essay. - David Ziembicki

Ken: It goes to my point earlier about the platform being the trust you have for the person not the particular tool they uses to transmit the message. Basically to me Platform = "The reason I listen to you". In the old days a soap box was used as a literal platform, and was used to "stand out from the crowd" and the crowd paid attention because you were higher up. As things developed the "platform" became more figurative. For instance a politicians "platform" is the fact he was elected. - Anton Mannering

Anton: The politician being elected may not be elected at all but they may have bought their way into office quite nicely ;-) - Sheryl

Michel De Montaigne became a thought leader without a blog. As did Adam Smith and Emile Durkheim! - Mark

Sheryl: That can happen. I would suggest though that in that case his legitimacy is questionsed and his "platform" becomes somewhat eroded. Everyone will start to question everything he does much more. :-) - Anton Mannering

Anton: I think what you call platform I call pulpit. And what I call platform you might call message. We don't disagree on any of this. We just use different syntax. - Ken Camp

Ken: I'm not so sure we are totally aligned here, but I'll be writing a blog post pulling together all my thoughts on this and you can call around and berate me if you think I'm wrong. LOL ;-) - Anton Mannering

Anton: In art that may be hard to find now. We expect it to be wierd, finally. For this discussion, an interesting question may be are there any thought leaders to whom a blog might greatly alter your perception of them? - E-Advocate Network

E-advocate - I agree somewhat re Art, but perhaps people are looking in the wrong place. Regarding your question: I don't think so. It would depend what was in the blog posts. If they continue the same quality using a different tool then great. - Anton Mannering

@Robert, being a thought leader has nothing to do with writing a blog or not. It is a label put on you by others. It does imply you need to express and interact over your thoughts very frequently, but that can be done anywhere. Given the broadcasting and interaction possibilities on Twitter and Friendfeed you would be heard faster there. I know from experience that writing long,... more... - Alexander van Elsas

BTW on the general topic here neither Jeremy or Robert are thought leaders but the guys they talk to every day are. - Anton Mannering

I would characterize most of twitter/friendfeed traffic as infotainment, not thought leadership. - Steve Wilhelm

Steve: that isn't what I asked, though. - Robert Scoble

Twitter and FriendFeed would be perfect for: Thought leaders in mathmatics, computer science or a similar field who can write a technical journal that revolutionizes their field, but just can not dumb down what they do and have never been good writers anyway. - E-Advocate Network

Hey, I have a blog, but whenever I try to do Thought leadership, Scoble slaps me down... then again, I usually deserve it... - The Web's Wendell Wittler

A great Twitter stream belongs the head of Warchild. She can rarely give away her location, let alone blog as she in war zones most of the time. She is a thought leader and we would never know her experiences if it was not for short form. For some it is not choice but the only way. - E-Advocate Network

Thought leadership is innovative thinking - this can be done in a narrative way on a blog, a visual way on video, and short succinct way here on FF/Twitter ... now thinking of it I think thought leadership is almost obsolete -- give our ability to crowd source ideas. I think the should be "pattern recognizer" or "synthesizer" or "insight spinner" or whatever .. - Beth Kanter

I misread this and thought you wrote, "Can you be a thought leader without a DOG?" Now that would be an interesting question too. - Amy℠

Actually you can be one thought leader that spread the idea of being a thought leader that don't uses a blog, you just have to show how - Felipe Lopes

absolutely - Patricia

Having a twitter account is practically having a "microblog" and having a FriendFeed account is practically having a blog anyway since you can easily post full blog posts here although, its better in the sense that you can engage via conversation etc to provide more indepth points about something which you are discussing rather then just mentioning them all in a post. As it become easier to elaborate on a point in real-time ;) - Nicholas James

Blog does not equal thought leader. In today's age, a blog is becoming one tool to present ideas and interact with others. - Ted Kinzer

Ted: Your definition on what a blog is becoming is something which FriendFeed already is a place to present ideas and interact with others ;) Personally I don't think a blog is needed to be a thought leader because, there are numerous ways which facilitates you to be a thought leader without the use of a blog. Although some people would prefer you to place them on a blog since they have got used to blogs. - Nicholas James

Thought Leaders need media to spread their thoughts, share ideas- its not necessary they need to have blog.. look for yourself you will find numerous examples of them.. - Saravanan

Of course, but if you are a thought leader, a blog is a good place to share your thoughts. - Francine Hardaway

If you have a good thought dropping it into the right pond where the other fishies will munch on it and spit it back out would lead me to believe that FF with some heavy hitters subscribed to your feed. Not too many folks read my blog per google analytics but I like doing it so I do much like my aggregating things here. - Mathew A. Koeneker

You can certainly be a thought leader without a blog, IMHO. To say otherwise is to assume that all thought leadership must necessarily be only pertinent to the subset of populations that are connected to the Internet and that understand how to communicate using social media tools. I don't think anyone could credibly argue that all thought leadership is that narrowly constrained. That said, it certainly can't HURT. - Scotty Perkins

Thought leader does not equal blogger. The number of "thought leaders", or people that make the world go around, far out number those that blog. So, categorically, the answer is yes. - Diego Barros 

What do you mean by "thought leader"? Do they actually do anything? Produce anything? Or just think about stuff and blog about it? I'm glad Steve Jobs doesn't have a blog. Then we'd be readying about the iPhone and not using one. - Diego Barros 

To be a Thought Leader you must have a) Original Ideas that are b) Somehow Disseminated, either c) Directly or through Credible Intermediaries to a d) Large Following and e) Sustained through Practice. and f) Influence Social/Governmental Decisions. So the First Critical Link is (b) .Today, dissemination of ideas occurs mainly through broadcast or dead-tree media. Increasingly, the... more... - Murli Nagasundaram

wow, you got to F), thats a heavy duty list. - James Watters

Holy crap, this thread proves my point. How could these many comments from everyone prove that Robert is being a thought leader. Robert, I can barely hear your voice in here. Case in point. Case closed. - Jeremiah Owyang

Robert, I wrote this for you: http://www.web-strategist.com/blog... - Jeremiah Owyang

I responded my own thoughts in the comments of Jeremiah's post. I've got a blog post in the making I think, too - still putting together my thoughts on this. - Jesse Stay

Isn't friendfeed a form of microblogging? - Khürt Williams

I would say that FriendFeed is more of social discussion platform then microblogging. - Usman Bashir

Yeah, maybe, as social medias rule.. but a blog is an important item in the whole system. ;) - Thierry R. Andriamirado

Of course, you can. Being a thought leader means contributing original ideas that affect the way people think. You don't need a blog to do that. - Leslie Carbone

A media is required to express the thinking - thus 'thought leaders' actually 'do' rather than 'think' because without a medium, there is nothing to exchange. The issue about having a blog or not is meaningless - the choice of medium today is based upon it's ability to spread an expression, not an idea - and that means reproduction. Anything digital is reproducible - an expression... more... - David Bausola

"Can you be a thought leader without a blog?" Yes. - Greg J. Smith

Leaders are nothing, without people to help/to 'give directions' to. Blogs -and- other (social) medias are tools for them to do so. - Thierry R. Andriamirado from email

Which came first, thought leaders or blogs? Did thought leaders exist before the internet? Can you name one modern thought leader that doesn't have a blog? Not all thought leaders are good at spreading their thoughts to the masses, but they are smart enough to surround themselves with those that are (or perhaps they just attract them). Not every "thought leader" is a spring. Some are... more... - April Russo (app103)

April, yes - this is the difference between Synthesizers and Generators. The reality is that we are all 'thought directors'. - David Bausola

Yes. In this age of collective thought, leaders are able to ask the right questions and engage people in insightful dialogue. Maybe we just need a feature or method for dialogue/thought leaders to synthesize threaded discussions like these in order to capture knowledge. - Steve Levin

I think you're over thinking it - Jesse Hattabaugh

Part of the issue is "thought leader" is community dependent. In order to be perceived as a thought leader, you have to be visible in the tools that that community uses. For example, I have been blogging much less since starting to use FriendFeed and Twitter, which connects me to one community, but disconnects me from my still large blog reader community. I tweeted and FriendFeeded a... more... - Richard Akerman

What i need is someone who wraps discussions like this up ;-) Otherwise: to many thoughts to follow! - erwin blom

Great thoughts ... from non-bloggers : http://www.stanford.edu/~somik... - Meryl Steinberg

Wrap. - Jay Collier

Late to the discussion, but will answer anyway since I'm egocentric enough to think you'll be interested in my response. Yes, you can be a thought leader w/o a blog, Robert. You'd be a thought leader if you were standing on a street corner discussing English Muffins. It's who you are, not the medium you choose to express yourself with. However, as I'm proving by this long response,... more... - Molly

Robert -- you're a thought leader in your respective medium. So no matter the tool you use, they'll follow you. So yes, you can be a thought leader with out a blog. Once you're an influencer people will watch your every move. Especially since the area in which you're a thought leader is the interactive space. We look to you for guidance. Now if you walked the public streets here in... more... - Ramsey Mohsen

Yes you can. There were thought leaders before the era of blogs. Being influential is medium-independent. - Volkan Özçelik

Wow- Sorry if I repeat anything as I am tired and couldn't read everything posted before me.... YES, you can be a thought leader without a blog, but you do need to express long-form thoughts. Nobody will ever be a thought leader through Twitter, Friendfeed, or even Facebook (unless it is completely open). Twitter and Friendfeed, as we have all mostly agreed, continue the conversation,... more... - Daniel Zarick

Robert Scoble

I see there's tons of new people here on friendfeed participating. How do I know that? Because there are tons of white icons in comments. That means I am not following you yet. Just a month ago all I saw were blue icons. That's cool and welcome to all the newbies!

June 18 - Comment - Like - Share

Tyson Key, Robert Freeze, Steffan Antonas and 76 other people liked this

I'm not really a newbie, per se. Been on here a while, just haven't commented much, Robert. - John Fox

51 more comments

i am trying to bring some of my tech/faith minded friends on here over the next couple days. - Tony

you da man Robert always interseting... ha ha from Sydney australia - Chris Henderson

John: well, you now are a blue icon. :-) Thanks. - Robert Scoble

good to hear Robert. we needed some new blood. - Carlos Ayala

Build it and they will come. "Supply Creates Demand" - Stephen Pickering

Robert: Thanks for the follow. You completely rock. I love your insight into all things social media. - John Fox

FriendFeed should offer something to people who join from Twitter. Perhaps a delicious pastry or a fetching t-shirt. - Brett Kelly

Using FF more because I've figured out I can use Twitter for news ... and FriendFeed for actual conversation :) - Curt Mercadante

Curt: bing! - Robert Scoble

Curt: ooh, nice distinction. - Tony

Robert, Bing is something entirely different altogether ;-) Welcome to all the new faces! - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

Curt has got it on! I stick by my complaint that that it's not actual discussion, just comments. Discussion would entail threads, + better management when discussions get too overwhelming at 50 comments. - Malcolm Bastien

So you run a hacked ff too? - Matthew DeVries

Thanks for the welcome Robert. I've only been using FF for about a week and I love it. I find myself participating more, even just replying to tweets. - Alex Hellstrom

welcome x - David Lloyd

@malcolm how can you make that assertion with such limited participation here? i disagree with your comment...it is the "actual discussion". i think we may have successfully redefined the terminology. - Carlos Ayala

And friend feed new people - Avoid this link like the plague - http://ff.im/3EcXi - Brent - Long Live Rock

How's that nap going, Robert? - Brent - Long Live Rock

Thanks to my new iPhone I can now be more active and addicted to Twitter and friendfeed. - John Ford

Brent: it's not, someone just invited me to a private party. Sigh. - Robert Scoble

This proves the point that you are sub'd to the entire base. Interesting... - anna sauce

Should I be offended that you're not following me yet :( - John Meagher

follow the white rabbit, mr. scoble. (me) :P - Oğuz Serdar

We're proud newbies too (on friendfeed) - make our icon blue to you - HippyGourmet

As long as Oprah doesn't come to visit, welcome n00bs! - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

anna: actually I'm not. Most people don't participate. I only subscribe to those who participate. And even of those I only follow a small number. For instance, I only follow those who speak English. There are tons on friendfeed who don't speak English. - Robert Scoble

First day on FriendFeed, glad to connect Robert. - Gabe Taviano

Yeah I haven't been here in a while. Everything has changed. It isn't as small as it used to be (I was here right after it started). - Jake (aka Jawee)

I'm a newbie to Friendfeed as a result of the interview with Don Tapscott. Thanks! - Brian Ostrovsky

Jake I'm with you. I left Friend feed for a very long time because there was nothing here. The times they have been a changing. - Brent - Long Live Rock

I'm still trying to figure out how to really make use of this other than just lurking. - John Meagher

Friendfeed is for lurking - Charbax

There is a video that Johhny Worthington made which might answer that question mark, on participating, if I can find it, John. - Brent - Long Live Rock

Yeah, but there's got to be more to it than *just* lurking - John Meagher

Twitter's for lurking and blasting links, FF is for conversation and community engagement. - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

Brent: is this the video you meant? http://friendfeed.com/jworthi... - John Meagher

You start some interesting discussions here, I'll have to try & comment more. - Steve de Mena

Thanks for the welcome. Looking forward to contributing to the conversation ;) - art jones

Yes that is it John - Brent - Long Live Rock

I totally agree Mark....I do lurk on Twitter with an occasional tweet, but love the "conversations" on FF, and find that I have been participating more and more lately. - Bonnie Foster

Sometimes it takes a while to catch on. Friendfeed is much more interactive than the others. If yo have interesting friends they post interesting stuff. No filtering necessary. The spammers do not get followed. - Alan Morris

I am not really a FF newbie. I started with a private feed, shared with some friends some times ago. Then, Brome convinced me to turn my account into public. I then started to comment in english... And here I am! - DAL

I was asking to myself why there are blue and white icons on comments.. I have tons of whites though. - Jacque

I never knew any blue comment, maybe I should follow more people and start commenting - Hendra Saputra from Nambu

I've been checking it out more because of people like you that have been pushing it's merits. I think I finally "get" the conversational aspect of it. Took me a while! - Bill Kinney

twit, twit, twit, what more can I say - Cace Ackerson

Robert, perhaps it's also related to Friendfeed being picked up in Feedburner count? - Brian Wallace

FriendFeed rocks the house and i am totally happy with it!! Have to say: I luv it :) - Ronald

FriendFeed does rock, but it is very much a geeks tool. My wife has gotten into twitter but no luck with friendfeed - Chris Patterson

Tip of the hat to you too - Bret Rowe

Yeah, I'm been a lurker on here on FF for the past age and am only getting "in to" it in the last while... Have to turn a lot more of those whites to blue :) - Paul OFlaherty

Thread hijack: Worst Photoshop of a Woman ever? http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter... - David Lloyd

C.C. Chapman

Ice cream flavor of the week http://twitpic.com/5ydsf

May 25 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Helen Hoefele and Peter Warnock liked this

Non-toxic. Makes sense to me :-) - DaveDelaney.ME

Steve Rubel

Short URLs shared on Friendfeed now reveal the re-direct if you hover over them.

December 27 - Comment - Like - Share

Daniel Rowley, Bryan Lee, Angus Burton and 147 other people liked this

great find Steve - btw, would it be ok for to drop you an email? Just a short one don't worry - Zee.

17 more comments

Like this. +5 more points for FF. - Amani

Steve, I love that I made a cameo in your post. I only wish my short URL was more inspired. - Scott Gatz

Finally! Yay! Wish Twitter had this a long time ago. That's the reason I never use full links that get converted. I change the www. to w3 .website.com and that way everyone can see the full link still and copy and paste it if they want to view the site. I got annoyed at clicking on duplicate TinyURLs. - Adam

@Adam, Just try out the grease monkey script, it will let you see all the tiny url's. http://tinyurl.com/5wduxf - Dennis Goedegebuure

Nice feature add. Keep them coming! - Eric @ CS Techcast

Nice feature enhancement!! - Susan Beebe

What Mohomed=genieyclo said! Thanks, FF crew. :-) - Lisa L. Seifert

One small nit. Does not work in comments. Try this link - http://tinyurl.com/5wduxf - Atul Arora

@Atul Arora Right! First thing I noticed. I also wonder with how many shortening services does it work with... - Nikos Anagnostou

This is awesome. Hopefully this can be added to twhirl too - Guy

This should be definitely exported via API - Alex Kapranoff

Finally! - Mr. Gunn

This is an awesome feature! - Nicholas James

Lovely! - Mitchell Tsai

I use the greasemonkey script tinyurl-ru at http://kapranoff.ru/friendf... but it only covers tinyurl.com and tinyurl.ru | Maybe we should do a community project that keeps updating that script with all those url-shorteners out there. | Alex, are you game? - ĎÚβĨŐÚŚ Dod

Is this a feature that friendfeed removed? Because it's not working in Chrome. - James Poling

I don't see any short URL's in FriendFeed anymore. all are automatically expanded. - Rahsheen ™, Coach of FF

http://bit.ly/vVvYi - James Poling

Robert Scoble

What a gift to friendfeed: Twitter is down.

April 6 - Comment - Like - Share

Daniel Rowley, Luca Filigheddu, Rob James and 74 other people liked this

"It's cool, I can chill." Yeah, but I'll chill on Friendfeed - Alan Le

38 more comments

No surprise there, twitter has been awful all day - Daltonsbriefs

it's a conspiracy I tell ya! - Peter Ghosh

It's really hard to understand Twitter when it's down all the time... - Juan Pablo González

Especially with FF's new beta Twitter-like UI. :-) - Brent Logan

Come on, they certainly have one of the cutest down messages... - Jef

yup, thats why i came here. - jason l baptiste

is there a FF equivalent of tweetdeck and a good iphone app? - Pat Richards

I was just thinking the same thing. It's either good for FriendFeed or Facebook. - Roger @ CineVegas

Pat friendfeed.com/iphone is it for now - Jay Martinez

Here's the deal on the downtime on the Twitter blog: http://blog.twitter.com/2009... - Dion Hinchcliffe

That´s why i am here - Ramiro Arturi

I'm watching this live update stuff here on beta for the 1st time - it's really nice 8]- - Frédéric Dénommé

Pat: I just use the web interface on my iPhone. Why doesn't that work for you? - Robert Scoble

How did I know I was going to see this from you just now? - drew olanoff

FriendFeed is a permanent freezer ;-) - Larry Hudson

Agreed! as soon as I saw it was down - I came here right away. :) - Tony

Robert: yeah it does but not near as nice as a dedicated app maybe I'll write one - Pat Richards

Twitter loves Friendfeed. That's why it's down on the first day of beta.friendfeed.com - akihito

The Twitter Web interface on the iPhone is what I use. Even better than SMSing. Dedicated apps are too slow. Though I've been using http://twitpic.com e-mailing more and more recently. - Dion Hinchcliffe

I knew something was not right when tweoples icons started disappearing - Bryan Thatcher

I have to agree. With no twitter to use for the next hour or so, at least I still have my FriendFeed. - George Hall (Australia)

Noooooo! - TheHenry

Funny; I was thinking the same thing. Maybe I should switch order (logon FF 1st, Twitter 2nd) - Larry Hawes

Like Arringon said, it is the cool application that nobody uses - Menno te Koppele

Just like Macs are cool computers nobody uses. - Ken Sheppardson

At this point, it would take an extended unplanned outage to make a dent in Twitter. FriendFeed has had a superior feature set and user experience for 18 months, but simplicity plays well in many markets. - Louis Gray

my guess is the syndication to Twitter application they have got some extreme usage today, all those Likes, comments, beta popularity stuff, and then the regular users. - rob friedman

Thanks to Twitter, I got inspired to write a new blog post... ;) - Martin Lindeskog

Twitter is back online! - Winston Teo

its a good day for FF :) - shaff

only for one hour and it's back... - ybs

BTW - Your avatar ROCKS - Shun the Non-Believers! SHUUUN! - Frédéric Dénommé

Yeah, love the Incredible Hulk-style avatar... - George Hall (Australia)

@martin writing a blog post when Twitter is down makes sense, in that when there are major blackouts 9months later more babies than usual. - rob friedman

Maybe Google will buy FriendFeed, not Twitter! :) - Shanthala Balagopal

It was enough for me to come check it out. I'm shocked at how many services I can aggregate here. Plus the "imaginary friend" feature? Brilliant! - CAJ, somewhere else

Why do you feel the need to create an artificial turf war between FF and other services? The genius of FF is that it brings those services together. Rabid fanboism only serves to alienate users and is a clear sign of insecurity. - Erik K Veland

always... - kang

oops...just got the fail-whale again on Twitter! - Kenny

William Harryman

Richard Dawkins: 'There is something illogical about the fear of death' - the European magazine ~ Cafebabel - http://www.cafebabel.com/eng...

April 3 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Helen Hoefele, Gary, Tapio Kulmala and 17 other people liked this

Q: "The comfort of a dying soldier, the succour for a grieving mother or belief in the after-life of a widower - is it still possible to see the utility of certain psychological aspects in some religious beliefs or customs?" A: "I do see a psychological value, if it does have a real value. I would not wish to be the person who destroys that person’s psychological succour. I would not compromise with my public speaking out in the public forum and writing. But if I was visiting someone who was recently bereaved, I might dissemble somewhat in what I said, but would not do so when writing a newspaper article. It is also disputable whether it is that comforting, given that people are brought up to fear hell for example. They might actually be comforted by the lack of religion, depending on their upbringing. Although many of us fear death, I think there is something illogical about it."" - William Harryman from Bookmarklet

37 more comments

Duh. - Alex Scoble

I am fan of Richard Dawkins. - Baard @ Pixum

I think the fear of death (aside from the simple will to live, which is something different in my view) is the fear of the unknown. Yet a simple "materialistic" world view makes it quite clear there's nothing to fear. You won't even be there to experience anything fearful. I expect my death to be a non-event for me personally. Others will need to learn to live with my absence though. - Meryn Stol

I'm in a quandry myself.. I fear the abyss of death.. of no longer existing. But I fear the concept of eternal life too (tho I know that nothing is eternal) as the thought of continuing this existence scares the crap out of me too. Interesting, tho, that I have a strange obsession with breaks in consciousness. Sleep is a strange thing, likewise the abyss of my seizures. I question every day if this is the same me or if I died the previous night, only to be born again now, just the memories persist. - alphaxion

Isn't the fear of death also the accumulation of a lifetime of regrets and what-ifs and unfinished business? In Feb 08 my mother had an acute septic shock and was expected to die within hours (she had an incurable illness and a weak heart on top of that). She was afraid, she was delirious and then she said "no, not yet. I win, i'm still here" (she did, it was eerie!) and came back from... more... - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

one of the greatest fears most people face is death - so one of the tenets of Buddhism is that we need to deal with that fear (thus meditating on impermanence, sitting in graveyards or, in India, charnell grounds - http://tiny.pl/b3s4) - until we can face our mortality, we can never overcome the grip of the ego on our lives -- AND alphaxion, SELF is an illusion - we only seem to be a continuous self, but really our self arises new in each moment - but memory and ego create the illusion of continuity - William Harryman

Agree with Meryn. Fear of the unknown. - Lis Miller

@william I know what you're talking about - I question the reality I see around me pretty much every day. After all, it is nothing more than a model representation in our minds & isnt a true representation of what existance we are aware of really looks like. My comment about how I ask if I really am me or if I died and this is a new me with the persistence of memory is along the lines of Bhuddist thinking. Some days I see tears in this reality. Epilepsy is possibly my greatest insight gifted to me. - alphaxion

Appreciate the pondering/thoughts here; especially the experiences you shared, Joelle and alphaxion. - Micah Wittman

alphaxion - wow, do you suffer grand mal seizures, or something less severe? I can't imagine what that must be like - and it sure must give you a very different sense of "reality," whatever that may mean - William Harryman

Joelle - amazing story, my experience was very different - my mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer (90% fatal) and after surgery, chemo, and radiation went into an unexpected remission (after saying she was tired and ready to die, at 72) - she got 3 more years, until my sister died in a fire and the cancer came back within a month - 3 days after it was confirmed, she died - I KNOW my sister's death "released" my mom to go in some way - William Harryman

@william yes, they are tonic clonic (grand mal isn't used as a term anymore). In my eyes, reality is the outcome of the processed input created by our minds. The greatest mystery for me is how similar they are for everyone, as though they are a single shared consciousness. - alphaxion

I'm sorry to hear that you lost your sister and mother in such a short time span, William. - Kamilah Gill

I've had my own deep thoughts about this just yesterday, brought on by an uncomfortable trip to the dentist last night. Sitting in the chair getting my teeth drilled started to feel like an analogy of death for me. I've never been especially fearful of the dentist in the past, even when getting crowns & so on, but this dentist is kind of heavy-handed. Anyway, it's like death maybe because you have no control, you're immobilized, things are uncomfortable, but you must surrender. - Kamilah Gill

I think that might be why some people fear the dentist, on a subconscious level. I'm also losing tiny pieces of myself forever at the dentist. Tiny deaths in a way. - Kamilah Gill

I feel like in the U.S., we've gotten to the point where we think of death as a pathology. It's one thing to be afraid of the unknown, but I feel like a lot of people think of death as something abnormal. - Victor Ganata

thanks Kamilah - it actually wasn't that bad - I have been the black sheep most of my life, so I wasn't too close with them - but it was interesting to see how my mom reacted to my sister's accidental passing - my father died when I was young, many friends died during my school years - grew up on a farm - being around death my whole life makes it seem a part of the process, nothing to be feared - William Harryman

Victor, that's probably right for some of us. I'm assuming you've been in some situations as a doctor. One thing that having a mom who's a doctor has done for me is helped to put death in perspective. She knows enough to know when the battle is over. Most recently she told me just before her younger sister, my aunt, died, that she knew there was no more to do, and she helped her get hospice care (the aunt was also schizophrenic, which complicated things somewhat). - Kamilah Gill

for me it's not fear of the unknown.. it's fear of ceasing to be. While I question this existence, I've grown used to being here and spending time pondering it, death would get in the way... - alphaxion

@William So different and yet similar, and I feel for you having two losses so close to each other - but glad you had 3 more years and I suspect your family made the most of it. My mum died not of cancer (which she had, bone marrow multiple myeloma) but of her heart giving up - it's not the fear of death for herself, but things still to resolve that kept her going for longer, then she... more... - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

@alphaxion I guess I am still young but I don't have that fear of ceasing to be - the point is, once you're gone you're gone, so any regrets, pain etc. is gone too. If there is any fear it is to make sure I don't end up looking back and feeling bad about my life when I am near the end... and I guess there is the fear of horrible illness, pain, death, but my mother had far more pain... more... - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

IMO, fear of death is not the same as fear of dying. and, in the end, are we talking about *death/dying* or are we talking about *fear*? - MikeAmundsen

"I would not compromise with my public speaking out in the public forum and writing. But if I was visiting someone who was recently bereaved, I might dissemble somewhat in what I said, but would not do so when writing a newspaper article." - this quote is rather disturbing. what is Dawkins saying here? it may be the editing here, but it sounds to me as if Dawkins is unable to come to grips with his place in the community. - MikeAmundsen

Mike - I think he is saying that no matter his public stance, he has enough of a heart to not trash someone's comfort in faith when they are grieving - at least that's how I read it - personally, I tend in the same direction - organized religion is a mess of mythic comforts (even Buddhism has this issue), but if it helps someone deal with suffering and ease their pain, it's not my place to take that away from them - William Harryman

Sounds a lot like people trying to make Data and Spock their role models instead of trying to deal with real human issues. It's a bit childish. - Todd Hoff

I read it the same way William. It's nice to hear someone who has such definitive views say that he's willing to put his view aside if it comforts someone else. Richard Dawkins is a rare one. - Louis P.

@William: you could be right, possibly this is Dawkins having "enough of a heart" not to... what? tell the person the truth (as Dawkins sees it)? having the heart to allow the person their own lie? then he would walk out the door and possibly write an article that contradicts his behavior - maybe even belittle this very same person's beliefs? i could be way off here, but it sounds like he's living a double-standard. if so, he's in for a break. - MikeAmundsen

Being a friend is living with someone else's truth with grace. Dawkins' truth is no more true than anyone else's. It's condescending to say he can put aside his true truth to comfort the poor little deluded ones. - Todd Hoff

In general, I don't think Dawkin's cause is worth fighting for. I don't see what the problem is with different ideas about truth. What matters to me is one's *values*, what one does or would do in specific situations. Also, any truth that is comforting seems like a good truth to me. :) - Meryn Stol

I think the point is that the very idea of "truth", that there are things which are absolutely true, is corrupting. We need to be constantly reevaluating our beliefs and open to having them proved wrong. That way people are far less likely to follow an authority figure on the basis of some "truth" - Louis Simoneau

Louis - I agree - Dawkins' truth isn't my truth - he's a reductionist, and I think there is more than selfish genes, firing neurons, and natural selection - but I don't believe in a mythic God - all truths are partially true, at best, so being open to other variations is crucial - only an open system can grow - closed systems are condemned to their limited experience of the world - William Harryman

@William: i think you point about "an open system" is important. recently, i've become more intrigued by Fritjof Capra and others who think modeling life as a system/network is more important that focusing on isolated components (DNA/RNA, synapse, etc.). their theories fall right into line w/ evolutionary concepts, but diverge when attempting find a 'source' for life. to them life is an "emergent property" of the system/network. this is where i find Dawkins missing the point. - MikeAmundsen

I agree - I'm not big into Capra, but I work with integral theory a lot, and it uses systems theory to model how consciousness (and everything else) emerges from a variety of functions/sources, none of which can be reduced - in dealing with change or growth (including evolution) we want to work with open systems, rather than closed systems - I use this approach with coaching clients - William Harryman

I've always admired Spock and Data, but I doubt this diminishes my viewpoint. For some, death''ll be a release from misery; for others, it will be the end of the fun. Did God create man, or vice versa? I don't know, but for the mourning and frightened, I will say "I will pray for you," and I will, even if I'm not sure someone's listening. I can reluctantly attend wakes, funerals and other rituals that don't benefit the dead, but I do not want this for me. Have a party; don't hover over my corpse! - MiniMage, sheeple of FF

@minimage that's something I find quite odd, especially Catholic funerals.. there's no celebration of the persons life and it's all about god. When I die I have asked people to simply turf me over the side of a boat with no dogma (basically let nature recycle me as it should, life came from the seas, let it return there). Then just go and have a party, celebrate me, my memory and your memories with me. I don't want it any other way. - alphaxion

I think part of my fear of death stems from when I was about 7 or 8 (I've been acutely aware of death most of my life) when I dreamed that I was watching myself in a hospital. I was on a life support machine, in my early 30's and watched as they flipped the machine off and my older self die. For someone only 7 or 8 years old, it's quite a profound dream to have. - alphaxion

@alphaxion: that's a powerful dream to have at that age. has it recurred? i had a very powerful dream at that age(not as literal, but one in which i am fighting for survival) and it repeated for several years. i can conjure up today, but only as a memory. - MikeAmundsen

I've not had the dream again, but I've never forgotten it, it is stuck in my mind... it scared the crap out of me as a kid. It was in the same year that I dreamed of a post apocalyptic scenario. Rubbled city, skulls piled up, reddened sky. I woke up in such a panic I rushed to my parents room to see if they were still alive. And this was before I had even heard of the terminator movie! Thinking about that year, quite screwed up - I also spent an hour chatting to a ghost in the pub my parents ran in Grimsby. - alphaxion

Marko Saric

"Spread the word about your blog, don’t be a passive blogger" - Latest post - http://www.howtomakemyblog.com/marketi...

March 15 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

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Mark Drapeau

Rising Unemployment Sparks "Forced Entrepreneurship” Phenomenon http://adjix.com/fx98 via @guykawasaki @nytimes

March 15 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Helen Hoefele liked this

Jim Kukral

I'm on the cover of a magazine! Ok, it's @garyvee feature but I'm on stage with him. Awesome. http://www.scribd.com/doc...

March 15 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

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Bill Romanos

How to become smarter - http://www.daniel-lemire.com/blog...

March 8 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

AJ Kohn, bcultral, Helen Hoefele and 3 other people liked this

Uh - if you need to read a how-to on becoming smarter, I don't think you can be helped. :( - Mona Nomura

3 more comments

ouch Mona :o - chaz2b

I just realized how rude that sounded. I apologize (for being a jerk) but smarts and common sense are attributes you should figure out how to attain on your own -- how else are you supposed to get... well... smarter? - Mona Nomura

i need all the help i can get, no offense taken or meant :) - chaz2b

Mona - Isn't one way of attaining 'smarts' taking advantage of those who are smarter (i.e., going to school)? I'm not convinced anything is wrong with reading a "how to" and getting some shortcuts / tips. - Herb Hernandez

Robert Scoble

FriendFeed Isn’t Dying, Although It’s a Nice Line - http://www.inquisitr.com/14164...

January 3 from Google Reader - Comment - Like - Share

Dobromir Hadzhiev, endiaferon, TheHenry and 48 other people liked this

It's interesting that there's so much noise about friendfeed. It is growing much faster than Twitter did in its first year and is much more important to the new web. The problem is that not very many people know they need an aggregator. At least not yet. But, the truth is that friendfeed has always needed features that I've just started to call "track" in honor of Steve Gillmor. I asked for those features back in February and still haven't gotten them. Until we get those kinds of features then the real time web will not go to the next level. - Robert Scoble

19 more comments

I'm confused about the real-time web (there's no Wikipedia entry!). I thought all of the ping services that emerged years ago were in the business of capturing updates from blog posters. Wasn't that what Dave's weblogs.com, among others, did? - Scott Loftesness

I'd love to give Bret or even the loyal power users who help ff, some feedback. They're too close to see some things. Some NON technical things. - Ed Shahzade /NextInstinct

yes scott as you would have seen if Feedburner worked, because it's all about ping servers. Check back in another hour or so. - Steve Gillmor

Twitter is an input to FriendFeed; that's why the comparisons don't really work. Comparing Twitter to FriendFeed is like comparing pasta to lasagna. - Daniel Miessler

I message people who follow me on Twitter to follow me on FriendFeed. Most all of them are not familiar with FriendFeed, but are willing to give it a try. This means there is room to grow. However, many people who have used FriendFeed in the past say they prefer Twitter. But it is not an either/or. Twitter and FriendFeed are not competitive. They serve different functions and people *don't* understand this. I think once they understand this they will adopt it in greater numbers. - Bill Romanos

Scott: ping servers are centralized. The real-time web that's evolving now is decentralized. Getting it all to work together is what TRACK is all about. - Robert Scoble

I use Twitter, FF and FB. Not everyone I know is on all three sites. I like Twitter for rapid-fire snapshots, but am coming to appreciate FF more and more for its texture and the ability for people to engage on a deeper level. - Sue Radd

I have Friend Feed, Plurk, Twitter, and Facebook running all at once. For some reason FF doesn't catch it all. - MarkCarras

I'm all for decentralization, but it seems to me that FriendFeed and Twitter are pretty centralized! - Scott Loftesness

I have no desire at all for FF to go mainstream. The slines can keep FaceBook and MySpace. - Internet's Tad

I use FriendFeed to post to Twitter. I learned this from Scoble. Thanks - Bill Romanos

@Robert Hehe, I wrote a post this afternoon claiming that the real time web isn't important at all. Am I in trouble now? http://vanelsas.wordpress.com/2009... - Alexander van Elsas

I have no idea what I would do without FF right now, it is my gateway to the world, much more so than any other system I have ever used. - Dan Morrill AKA Techwag

Real-time isn't nearly as important as getting the right information at the right time. Big difference imo. - Alexander van Elsas

Friendfeed is miles better than Twitter but too complicated for the masses to go mainstream. Twitter is a training course for Friendfeed. Once Twitter is swamped in noise FF will rise 2011+. - Thomas Power

Friend feed will become more relevant and important as Twitter fills up with auto dms and spam and more - Richard Binhammer

sidenote: Don't understand why Friendfeed would be better than Twitter. They serve a different purpose. And they both get filled with crap at times - Alexander van Elsas

FriendFeed is alive and well. - ka3drr

using FF is a diversion from my normal work right now, but I have high hopes that soon enough it will become integrated with my workflow. once it gains critical mass (read: popular beyond you 1st adopter web-types, sorry to typecast) FF will be a useful communication tool for business as well as fun. - grant fox

Alexander, it's easier to add delays to a real-time system than it is to add real-time to a delayed system. My response to your blog post is here: http://friendfeed.com/e... I also want to answer the people who commented two months ago. Scott Loftesness, are you still reading this? - Bruce Lewis from fftogo

Robert Scoble

Seth Godin's Blog: Personal branding in the age of Google - http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_b...

February 28 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Marek Blazek, mark ivey, TobiasVerhoog.com and 66 other people liked this

I won't hire anyone I can't find details in Google about. So, make sure you feed it good stuff about you. That's why I think it's necessary to blog now if you're looking for a job. But Seth's post reminds you to blog about what you want to do and make sure you think about the consequences. - Robert Scoble from Bookmarklet

51 more comments

"Everything you do now ends up in your permanent record. The best plan is to overload Google with a long tail of good stuff and to always act as if you're on Candid Camera, because you are." - V Mary Abraham

V Mary: at Microsoft we taught each other to always pretend that everything you said would get onto the front page of the New York Times. - Robert Scoble

Robert: We understand this, but how do we help teens eager for an FB page understand this? - V Mary Abraham

I agree, It's good to know what those people think you will be working with - Helge V. Keitel

V Mary: my son, who is 15, was talking to me about that last night. He said he doesn't put a lot of weird stuff on his facebook or myspace pages because he knows other kids will use it against him. His friends bug him about that too. - Robert Scoble

As a college student, I actually think a lot of "millennial" types monitor pretty closely what's on their social network pages. They may make poor decisions about which pictures are appropriate, but believe me, a lot of thought goes behind it. Just because there's Facebook, MySpace, and Google doesn't make drinking and drugs any less "cool" in college. - James O'Malley from twhirl

To bring this into real life, too, last night I was listening to two guys who were griping about being laid off. Both had weird punk haircuts. Both had bad attitudes. Neither were talking about creating something that would get them noticed in the global marketplace, just that they had been screwed by the system. They might have had a point, but it wasn't going to get their jobs back. Get a haircut that tells other people that they are professional and upstanding. Then go volunteer time somewhere. Geesh. - Robert Scoble

i've preached this to my teens constantly, what you do online lasts forever and even if you think it's in a closed network like fb that only you're friends can see it doesn't matter, it will surface - the frontpage of ny times is being replaced by search filters and bots - i'd rather see folks own their brands via ownership of their profile(s) and a domain that's theirs that maintains pointers to everything they want to publish/share about themselves and their interests - mike "glemak" dunn

In the long run, all stupidity on Facebook (and like places) will be forgiven... There'll be so much dirt on everyone that nobody cares anymore. Private live doesn't say much about one's professional performance. It's just that everyone wants to pretend that they're very well behaved everywhere.... This masquerade will slowly disappear. - Meryn Stol

"Get a haircut that tells other people that they are professional and upstanding. Then go volunteer time somewhere." Indeed. It's so sad to see people with a victim-attitude. - Meryn Stol

"The best plan is to overload Google with a long tail of good stuff " I like that bit. - Meryn Stol

+1 Meryn! Stop being so buttoned up and just have fun! - Brad Williamson

There is no such thing as privacy anymore. Everything is public and saved for ever. It is harder and harder to control your personal brand. Bruce Schneier wrote an interesting article yesterday. http://tinyurl.com/c74rxa Here is a short quote : "Welcome to the future, where everything about you is saved. A future where your actions are recorded, your movements are tracked, and your... more... - Tapio Kulmala

I'd like to clarify that I think that one's personal life doesn't matter, *as long as* someone displays a good professional attitude. Hopefully this shows from your Google search, or similar. - Meryn Stol

If someone's haircut is how you judge them, I believe that can be adequately described as superficial. Who decides what a "professional hair cut" is? I don't think a haircut has anything to do with a victim attitude. - coldbrew

"a haircut has anything to do a victim attitude". Objectively, you're right, Coldbrew, but if your potential employers truly dislikes your haircut, it decreases your chances of being hired. Doing everything you can to adapt to the environment if you're in trouble is the only right strategy. Otherwise, you're just blaming the environment, which won't bring you any further. If you're in an environment where people don't care about your haircut, all the better for you. :) - Meryn Stol

Robert, it sounds like your son has his head on straight. My impression is that is quite rare among teens who often seem to feel that they are exceptional (invincible?) and just won't get caught. - V Mary Abraham

coldbrew: Malcom Gladwell and others teach us that job decisions are made in the first 30 seconds. So, having a professional looking attire may make the difference. It sure does with me. I don't want to work with people who look unprofessional. Yesterday I visited Cisco. I noticed that the guy who met me was wearing a suit and tie. He sure isn't going to hire you if you wear a ratty t-shirt, have tatoos showing, and have a punk haircut. - Robert Scoble

Thankfully, in Boulder, it is seen as odd to wear a tie. It is exactly this type of attitude that makes me appreciate co-founding my own organization where we set the values, and they have nothing to do with appearance (ok, maybe the sales person's appearance is linked to performance). - coldbrew

I worked for a CEO once that wouldn't hire people that were overweight because he believed it demonstrated a lack of self-respect. Obviously, we had to part ways :) - coldbrew

Coldbrew, I like your "tolerance", but accepting others "intolerance" is part of life. That is, if you're on the needy side. - Meryn Stol

coldbrew: exactly. But I bet you have your own little biases on hiring. I know I have mine. Of course I still hired Rocky, who rides a Harley, has tatoos, etc. So there. :-) Funny enough, though, he was sort of forced on me at Podtech and we found that we got along after a while. - Robert Scoble

It didn't matter, he was judging by appearance like Scoble is suggesting is ok. - coldbrew

Should I share my old handle with my employers; Goatse.cx ? - Matthew DeVries

Ok, Scoble, I should have guessed these were mere guidelines, but I'd rather encourage people to base their decisions on things like productivity, insight, creativity, etc. - coldbrew

coldbrew: I'm not sure I quite got to the point where I condoned it, just explained it happens all the time. This is why you wear decent clothes to interviews. Me? I look at what you do online. Your online reputation is important to me if I'm going to hire you. - Robert Scoble

Colbrew, I'm not sure he's suggesting that. - Meryn Stol

Yeah, when you are hiring for the PR industry,I suppose image is important. - coldbrew

coldbrew: research shows that people don't actually hire on anything but the first 30 seconds impression. The rest of it is justification. :-) - Robert Scoble

Robert, I take it this is all hypothetical, meant as advice, since Rocky was laid off. I assume you aren't *actually* hiring... or are you? And another question... I have many other interests besides programming, and I do not own the I.P. developed on someone else's dime, thus cannot blog about it. Since my blog to date is "me minus programming," and there is a glut of good blogs about programming, I'm not sure this advice applies. Does my public LinkedIn profile solve this dilemma? Thanks in advance.... - Richard ¿digame? Walker

http://reechard.vox.com/ http://www.linkedin.com/in... - Richard ¿digame? Walker

Richard: some day I will be in position to hire once again. Some day. :-) - Robert Scoble

Richard: I'd rather you be able to point to a blog where you have demos, samples, and other examples of what kind of programming turns you on. That demonstrates to me that you actually know what you're talking about, rather than LinkedIn, which just is a resume. - Robert Scoble

"That demonstrates...", aka "Show, don't tell." :) - Meryn Stol

I have done that for several years. Now its quite more relevant because of all the social info, but even 4-5 years ago you were able in some cases to find a small crumb trail. - RicardoSilva

I consider google as a hiring resource tool one step above handwriting analysis and astrology and too many steps below valuable methods or tools. The red flag is that too many people on the internet turn out to be very different in real life and that is not just the extreme examples. Overlooking that fact to me says a lot. Easy info is often of little value. - Erwin Blonk

Where are those days where you could just lie about who you are to get a job ? :) update: [/sarcasm] (Just in case anyone misses it) - Shivanand Velmurugan

Erwin: the problem is that if you advertise a job right now you'll get hundreds, or thousands, of responses. So you MUST filter them down to, say, 10, to have any chance of getting any work done. That's why the Internet is such an important part of your career plan. You won't get past the filtering stage if you don't work on that. - Robert Scoble

Thanks Robert, I could at least go through all my programming-related items and feed them to tumblr... - Richard ¿digame? Walker

@robert, you'd miss out on alot of prospects from entertainment biz, then. a lot of the industry doesn't want people to find them - it's more word of mouth, intros, relationships, etc. - Patricia

@Shivanand doesn't scan - needs rewording and/or punctuation ? - Richard ¿digame? Walker

Robert: these comment sections are too short to discuss it in any depth, so I'll do with what I get :) Also I do value your opinion and insight and I get your point. People do,with or without intent, paint a picture of themselves online that has little to do with who they are. Maybe 10% of the info has value. Use it with discretion. Otherwise it is like the Salzburger insurance company that only hires from 5 astrological signs (in the news a month ago). - Erwin Blonk

Robert: from another angle, anyone has to keep in mind that whether it's worth anything or not, it will be used. I have had my blog mentioned in an interview 2 years ago once and they got an image of me that was sligthly too positive in some aspects to the point I had to tone it down a bit. Yet I had not done anything to make me look better, I was just blogging on things tech, - Erwin Blonk

Not disagreeing with you about first impressions counting, but I was hiring in late 2002 - early 2003 - when there were also far more candidates than jobs, and there were a huge number of candidates who wore 'professional' clothes and had 'professional' resumes, but no talent at all. Most of the people who were worth hiring stood out in some way. Not nose-rings and tattoos, but at least some amount of individuality, implying a level of confidence in their ability to perform rather than just conform. - Robin Barooah

It all depends on the character of the company and the nature of the position. Personally, I wouldn't want to be associated with any organization that judged people so superficially based on tattoos, piercings, hair color or style. If I was a client and walked into an office with little variation in attire and personal grooming, I'd run away scared and really wonder about how such an atmosphere could foster much creativity. - LogEx

We've surfaced thousands of people and brands using social media for branding. see http://media.tEarn.com/ Old media guys have terrible brands. New media has been very aggressive. - DJ Chang

Been thinking about how to extract information of any value from a person search on google: gather all the data - make a timeline - find out the context of each bit of data- remove data based on other persons with the same name - set aside all your personal religious, ideological etc preferences - that's just the tip of the iceberg. You might get some relevant information. In short, if you spend less then a few hours on one person, you have nothing. - Erwin Blonk

These factors should be evaluated in context. I might not hire a starving artist in a long-term full-time position but to clean my house every week or two? Why not? Otherwise that smacks of the sort of elitism that gives elitism a bad name. - Kyle Maxwell

Observing this trend of googleing everybody is part of the reason why I started http://www.extendr.com. Among the many reasons it fits in this conversation is at least that most of us don't have the time or expertise to game Google to get the results we want. Why not create a page of your web footprint and start sharing that place? Your candor in my experience will not go unnoticed. - Joseph Rueter

joseph - i think your site/product will be useful to some folks trying to create one location to point to & not have to create their own - i've been using using http://glemak.com for years for just that reason, but i wouldn't be in your demo ;) - mike "glemak" dunn

I'm a very open person; I post about many topics most people would consider private or controversial (or both) and often very publicly. I always do so knowing that I am posting ONLINE and that anyone could potentially see my comments. Any lesser awareness is either naiveté or stupidity. Be bold (and accept the consequences) or be private. - fn (fairnymph)

@Richard Walker What do you mean it doesn't parse?! - Shivanand Velmurugan

Robert Scoble

Re: louisgray.com: Is Twitter Broken, Or Are We Looking at It Wrong? - http://www.louisgray.com/live...

February 27 from Disqus - Comment - Like - Share

Riaz Kanani, Stewart Heys, Melanie Reed and 27 other people liked this

"Twitter isn't broken if you just want to send a 140 character message. Unfortunately much of human experience requires more than that. But Twitter +is+ broken for a whole lot of reasons and more and more people will realize that over the next year or two. This time I'm not going to provide consulting for free, cause there are things that Twitter could do to really rock and roll its community, but it isn't listening and that's reason #1 why it's broken. You listen. Louis listens. Where's Twitter? Behaving arrogantly. Why is it doing that? Because @ev got away with that with Blogger. Blogger had tons of spam, was slow, was always down. Yet it sold to Google for tons of money. @ev got rich. So did a few others. Blogger had no real competition. This time is different. Twitter has competition all over from Facebook and friendfeed (and other new upstarts). It'll be interesting to see if @ev is successful with Twitter. I'm finding that I'm cheering for him and his team less and less because..." - Robert Scoble

24 more comments

I'd argue that your view is based in the belief of a homogeneous customer segment for these services. Facebook and Twitter are targeted at very different people. Twitter requires more learning time, but has unique benefits for customers who want more control of the experience - a more tech-savvy end user. That audience is more patient with new ideas in rough form, and will give Twitter more time to get it right. Twitter's model is also harder to evolve, and to your point, may be its Achilles heel. - Arthur Coleman

Twitter takes more time to learn than Facebook? You have GOT to be kidding, right? Twitter is way EASIER than Facebook or friendfeed to learn. Where do you make this up? - Robert Scoble

twitter is the easiest service ive used. if ur taking about the follower getting thingy its not that hard if you are interesting enough. - Zafarali

I think there's a danger of the "PC vs MAC" type discussion here. As Louis said in his reply to my post http://tinyurl.com/ffvtwit "It is my opinion that FriendFeed and Twitter are complementary tools that work well together" Other commentors said things like "These services can co-exist. Each fills a particular niche". If this is the case then how can Twitter be 'broken'? Isn't it like saying that the Mac is broken because it is a closed environment designed for one hardware set? - Gary

Gary: you are off the rails. If you pick up a wrench and it hurts your hand everytime you use it, do you say it's not broken? I say it's broken and could be better. It has nothing to do with the screwdriver sitting next to it. - Robert Scoble

i rather like twitter precisely for its simplicity, search works well, dm is helpful and 140 is good discipline - different tools for different functions, diversity is strength, don't blame the tool tool. - ernie yacub

Robert: I like the broken wrench analogy. Unfortunately Twitter isn't a wrench, nor a screwdriver, nor a power saw or anything else. Your contention appears to be that because Twitter hasn't evolved to match other tools you like (such as FF), it has no right to remain as it is. Your perspective is interesting, but is it relevant? Surely - to follow your analogy - that's like saying "I can't cut this wood with my hammer therefore the hammer is broken". - Gary

I'm so tired of people driving down my throat what Twitter 'should be' That's bullshit. It's whatever you want it to be. I'm so sick of people blogging about what the rules are for my behaviour in order to be 'follow worthy'. Fuck you. If you don't want to follow me, don't follow me. Having sd that I'd love to know everything Scoble is thinking but I understand why he doesn't want to do anymore "free" consulting. If I ran Twitter of FF I'd hire him in a second to consult. - Stephen Pickering

Stephen - Are you serious? Robert as an evangelist yes, as a consultant noooooo. Everything is 'For twitter to work for me, it should do this' - that is not consulting, it's dictating. Scoble wrote something a year or so ago about passion and getting beyond the echo-chamber of early adopters. I don't see anything he's posted since then that suggests he is at all interested in how 'others' or a mass market might want to use these tools. - jeremy ettinghausen

Haven't we discussed this enough already? - Frode Stenstrøm

jeremy: I definitely have thoughts on that, but Twitter is doing just fine in getting the mass market going. By the way, so did AOL back in its day. What's more valuable today? Facebook or AOL? Frode: we could always start arguing about Mac. vs. PC again. I've been doing that since the mid-1980s. :-) - Robert Scoble

I'm curious as to how many have tried and are using TwitterGadget in Gmail and how that fits into their UC. Considering that Forrester says that UC will become a "$14.5 billion business by 2015", how does this little customization that Google labs injected into the primary UC interface affect how each of you now communicate? - Melanie Reed

All software is broken. Clearly that isn't an impediment to actual use. - Victor Ganata

Robert - I am sure you are not saying that twitter = AOL. You couldn't be, could you? Twitter is getting big because lots of people are talking about it and, increasingly, using it and finding their own uses for it. AOL got big by giving out free trials. Facebook didn't exist in AOL's heyday. This is a nonsense argument. - jeremy ettinghausen

jeremy: I started using AOL because it was the best online service for the Macintosh back in the 1980s. That was long before CDROMs came out (my first computer with a CD came out in the late 1980s and didn't get popular until early 1990s). The similarities to Twitter's success (and arrogance) are striking, actually. - Robert Scoble

If I start getting 10 microSD's every day in the mail from Twitter telling me I get a jillion tweets free as long as they're done on wednesdays during lent, someone is getting a cockpunch. - Matthew DeVries

I like the AOL analogy for the simple fact that it was the best mass market broadcast medium of the time for those with (the span of attention to wait) what was then a 640x480 or smaller screen -- dense albeit terse information. - Jay Cuthrell

Matthew: you already are getting the equivilent! How many tweets a day do you see in friendfeed? How much bacn do you get from Twitter in email? They don't need to send you CDs or physical media. They have an even better system of bugging you into using the service! - Robert Scoble

The awkwardness with which every NPR personality pimps their Twitter would send me running from it, were I not already entrenched. - Matthew DeVries

Twitter is broken because it ignores 90% of the last 20+ years of information management on the Internet. ex: You need to follow conversations in _reverse_ because there is no concept of threaded conversations (there are reply-to and message-id fields for each tweet, but they are not used). ex: Twitter is like having a real time conversation, but on the internet, with none of the... more... - Andy Bakun

I am starting to like FriendFeed over and above Twitter. I used to think they were truly different and non-competitive. However, I am starting to think that FriendFeed could co-opt the function of Twitter (140 character messages) and provide other benefits. FriendFeed and Twitter may in fact be in competition and so far, I like FriendFeed a whole lot better. - Bill Romanos

I think I'll take the "we're looking at it wrong" POV. There's an art to microblogging, a sweetspot that few find. You can use it like an IM...but if its going to go on take it to chat. Email is for more formal biz stuff you want to save- now you can with the "save this document" link to Google Docs (and most universities consider email legal communication-no, excuses, students, for "missing" your bursar bill online-they won't buy it anymore.) But if an email goes to 3 or more, please switch to realtime. - Melanie Reed

I think we've played with it long enough to see what its good for and what its not. It's not good for long dialog, or extended monologue. That's for FF. Twitter has two very clear uses in my mind: 1) business: is great for posting event dates (and correcting them if need be without a ton of fuss), Weather alerts, National alerts, quick updates to other programs (learn the commands), notifications both personal and business. & 2)... - Melanie Reed

It's great for just what it has been billed as: a microblog, a vehicle for very pithy writing. Oftentimes, I see it used as the online version of those 'dailyquote' memos you used to see on desks. If you're careful, you can say something hopefully helpful, encouraging, or brilliant and share a meaningful link with it. - Melanie Reed

Twitter also does status updates. Believe it or not, some people actually find it interesting what other people who they know IRL are doing. - Victor Ganata

Robert Scoble

Does Bill Gates read friendfeed? He just told me thanks for the nice comments I made about his annual letter there.

January 30 - Comment - Like - Share

Dobromir Hadzhiev, Eric @ CS Techcast, Gavin and 158 other people liked this

ooh.. Bill is around us =) watch out - Qbat

61 more comments

Will we see a comment from Bill? - paul mooney

Yeah! well, i think he's got plenty of time now - Constantine

It'd be awesome if we do see a comment from him. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

i think he needs to do it to stay connected and to see what's going on. - Sascha Pallenberg

well why not? would you expect him not to? or anyway, someone that briefs him - sofiagk

At last he is a geek, too. Nice to know. - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

we won't see his comment, because anybody seems to know his account; that clearly means he's not going to use FF as a main [and public] tool of communication. Why should he burn his hidden identity here - if he really have one? -- Anyway I just think his press office has done a good job, telling him what Robert wrote here. - Markingegno - Donato

Markingegno: knowing Bill I seriously doubt it was the press office. The dude does use all social networks. - Robert Scoble

Ironically, Bill Gates could pop in here and say "Hi, I'm Bill Gates" and no-one would believe it now... - Warren

*waves at Bill* There are few people who could change this from ScobleFeed, and he's one of 'em. Heaven help me if Jobs has a covert FF account, I'd be using the hide button like a mad woman. - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

Maybe he's stalking you, Robert. Or maybe he has a mancrush ;) - Ron's Home And Hardware

But is he on Twitter? ...Sorry, had to drop that in here. :) - phil baumann

@Robert - I believe you about his attitude towards social networks, but still think he doesn't want to pop in. I'd be glad to discover I'm wrong ;) - Markingegno - Donato

Markingegno: he won't participate because he gets too many requests. He was on Facebook for a while and deleted his account. - Robert Scoble

Hi Bill! i think your a kool guy. (now call me and say thanks) lol - @robert whats his twitter? - Chris Clayton

He probably reads it for the same reason many of us to to stay up to date and in touch - Rob Cairns

If he does, his personal stock just went way up in my book! - Aaron Strout

HE is watching us :-| - ◄ani625Ξ

I hope so, he owes me a computer! - Ed Shahzade /NextInstinct

Which reinforces the point that the readers/lurkers are often more important than the participants (or more precisely shouldn't be discounted and can surprise you considerably) - Shannon Clark

Hi Bill. If you're reading this. Please come back to Microsoft. We miss you - Marcus Beagley

If you're reading this Bill, I'm writing you from Nigeria and need help getting my money... - Kevin Leroux

ROTFL, Kevin... Are you having a serious amount of Spam-Mails per month ? :) - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

Everyone listens in on your conversations Robert; have you heard from the pope? : ) - Mark Harai

what happened was that Bill did a Live search for entries/critiques/analysis of the report and nothing came up...then he ran the same search on Google. First hit = FriendFeed.. - Carlos Ayala

ok, now I can tell you, my real name is Bill: http://is.gd/hO6f :) - Markingegno - Donato

Maybe somebody who knows him uses FF and told him about the comments. - Bruce Lewis from fftogo

awesome! - Davide D'Incau

that's eerie yet cool... - Anthony Farrior

Hey Bill. Loved you in Stargate! - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

That is cool, Robert. And I thought the annual letter was interesting and very well written. I'd love to work for the Gates Foundation. - asiriusgeek

Would Bill even use his real name?? ( apologies in advance to Bill if he does read this)??? - Roberto Bonini

Like it or not, a message like that is EXACTLY why Scoble is such an influencer on here and other places. How many people could say that Bill Gates had personally thanked them for a comment they made about him while arsing about on social networks and you know straight away that it's true. - Philip Tomlinson

I'm sure he has a "listening strategy" like a google alert on his own name - or maybe he creates specific alerts for his name plus a keyword for a specific event/topic. - Laura Norvig

YAY!! I hope Bill does check out and participate in FriendFeed. Perhaps he saw it on your blog. You mention FF quite a bit there too - Susan Beebe

Gates=authority - Wallace

OMG! Wait, and you're sure you didn't post those comments anywhere else but here? Nice! - Sarah Perez

Bill is a nerd, why wouldn't he read and do all the other stuff other nerds do? That and in between meeting with heads of state and playing WoW on a real set :-) - Todd Hoff

Wouldn't a system like Twitter, FriendFeed be better for someone like Gates? Even if 1,000,000 people follow him, he's not obligated to follow back, and people wouldn't be offended by this, there would be respect of his privacy. Whereas on Facebook, he would be inundated with requests for various apps... - Mike Nayyar

Now I have to say more nice things about Microsoft. :) - Paul Buchheit

It would be cool if Bill Gates was a lurker here, but all I can say is that he better get along with Derrick. Otherwise there will be all kinds of drama! :-) and just in case...Mr. Gates, longtime customer, first time commenter. Just keep on doing what you feel you should be doing. It's worked for you thus far. You is, be da man. So if no broke, no fixin.... nuff sed - Morgan Haley

Paul, I'll give you one: Microsoft is all about innovation. When it comes to innovative software companies, nobody's bought more of them than Microsoft. - Bruce Lewis from fftogo

moive: Dead Man on Campus - "Bill Gates wants my brain" --- i just had too, one movie quote i always think about when i hear his name! - shayne catrett

Bill wants his annual letter ritual to eventually rise to Warren Buffett level, so guess it's not surprising he's blowing kisses your way Robert. Or he just plain misses you. - mark ivey

Full on lurker or might he have an alias account? - AJ Kohn

Wouldn't Bill Gates employ someone to manage his social networking accounts? Or is the risk of mis-communication too great? - Bill Romanos

If Bill went on Twitter I am sure he would get a gazillion followers... Though Jobs would probably get a gazillion+1 - Peter Efland

BIG microsoft fan...Until I gotta macintosh that is. - Zee.

i'm sure someone e-mails him a daily ego-blast of all such things said throughout the Web. - Andy Sternberg

He has people read it for him, of course. - Monica Bower

Why do people assume he has people looking at Friendfeed and Twitter for him? Bill might like to read Twitter and FriendFeed feeds. - Nicholas James

first even before google: omniscient/omnipresent would be the Gates himself ~ he's watching.... - sofarsoShawn

Maybe this is really Bill: http://friendfeed.com/bob - April Russo (app103)

I bet he's pleased as punch about all the positive feedback on Win7, and should be. It's the best OS since Win95 came out. - Haggis (Sean Loyless)

Bill needs to grab this username quick@ http://friendfeed.com/billgat... ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Time to out myself, I'm actually Bill Gates. I've been watching you all. - jjprojects

jjprojects - LOL ... so Bill is running earthhour now too?! :) - Susan Beebe

tell him the credit check passed & yes, he can borrow some money, just wanted to make sure, you know financial crisis & alll... - sofarsoShawn

Wouldn't it be funny if Steve Jobs was here with an outrageous avatar? - Phil Boiarski

There could be a private room for tech CEO's, except Jerry Yang, of course - Roberto Bonini

@Jason, You have a camera on his office? - Phil Boiarski

لایک برای بیل عزیز. به فارسی نوشتم که نفهمین. هه هه - مرتضی

Twitter: Aditya Mukherjee

Filttr is the brand new way to use Twitter. There are people who complain about Twitter being noisy. We think we can help you. Filttr has advanced algorithms and prioritizing of users to decide which tweets you see. Currently in closed beta, there are 100 invites for you to signup! https://filttr.com/signup...

December 14 - Comment - Like - Share

Bill Romanos, Mihai Secasiu, Nathan Chase and 25 other people liked this

Gaev it a short try, it only filtered like 10% of my timeline. Dismissed. - w0nk0

32 more comments

Looks neat, but didn't appear to do much. - Voyagerfan5761

Did you guys play around with the settings? We filter based on auto-generated keywords and the priorities you assign to the people you follow. - Aditya Mukherjee

I did, actually. - Voyagerfan5761 from fftogo

@Voyagerfan5761: I just checked up. You assigned priorities to just a few people. Were they active at that time? In any case, if you didn't get what you were expecting, help us improve it? Give us feedback at http://filttr.uservoice.com/, and we'll see how we can improve it for you :) - Aditya Mukherjee

Sounds like NoiseRiver, I can't work out how it decides which tweet should be filtered or not. - Andrew Trinh

@Andrew: It's a combination of priorities and what our algorithm understands of your interests. It's more than a simple 'ranking'. We'll be introducing more options to filter according to in the future – as the beta progresses. - Aditya Mukherjee

But I didn't have any of the settings modified from default and it just decided to filter some tweets out. - Andrew Trinh

@Andrew: We run a check to get some basic understanding of your interests when you sign up. If you don't change the settings, it'll not count the priorities and just show you the relevant tweets based on the initial factors. The priorities are an added 'fine tune' if you want to think of it that way :) - Aditya Mukherjee

We'll be allowing further customization soon. Moreover, if you tweet through (app/web) through us, that'll help us generate better keywords. - Swaroop Hegde

Looks like an interesting app! Kudos! - rampantheart

@rampantheart: Thank you :) Let us know how it goes for you at http://filttr.uservoice.com/ - Aditya Mukherjee

Very cool. Thanks for sharing Aditya. - Yu Yu Din

@yu yu din: No problemo. Let us know how it goes for you, or any suggestions you might have: http://filttr.uservoice.com/ :) - Aditya Mukherjee

Very interesting app, but it's a pain to set up the priorities. I guess if I assigned high priorities to a few, rest would automatically get demoted, right? - MiaD

What's Filttr? - Frederick Bvalani

How does one get the twitter updates when using filttr? - Frederick Bvalani

@Mia: One person's priorities doesn't affect someone else's. It matters on the stream of tweets coming in. If you get a lot of tweets from someone who's priority is low, a lot of their tweets will get filtered out, and so on. We provided a search box so that you can pick and choose whose priority you want to set. - Aditya Mukherjee

@Frederick: I've explained the concept at the top. And you get tweets like you normally would from Twitter – just that they're either hidden or shown, based on how what our algorithm judged. You can always click to show the tweet if you want to see what someone said regardless. You can use our web interface or our desktop app. They both use your Twitter 100 API calls/hour limit. - Aditya Mukherjee

@Mia, @Frederick – ofcourse, we'd love to hear from you about your experience and any suggestions you might have :) – http://filttr.uservoice.com/ Happy filttr'ing! - Aditya Mukherjee

We just released ßeta2 with a bunch of new features, and a few changes to the existing ones. We'll be sending invites to users who signed up with us during the beta 1, so that they can invite one more person if they want to. More details (and a screencast) over at our blog – http://blog.filttr.com/ - Aditya Mukherjee

I just subscribed to AM and registered for the beta. - Russellreno

I searched for Filttr on Twitter and found an auto sign up page. I like this filtering. - Russellreno

@Russellreno: We do have a few stray invites floating around :) They're for anybody who can find them. Do let us know how it goes for you, and anything you want to see in future releases! http://feedback.filttr.com/ - Aditya Mukherjee

@Frederick Bvalani - It's a Brita for your Twitter, or something equally catchy like that. ;) - Tyson Key

I am a big fan of Filttr now. - Russellreno

@Russellreno – Thanks! :) We're constantly working on improving it, so chime in with your suggestions. - Aditya Mukherjee

@Tyson – Nicely said! Can we quote you? ;) - Aditya Mukherjee

@Aditya Mukherjee - Sure, quote away! - Tyson Key

looks like I missed the window to beta - Jeff Marmins

@Jeff: No worries :) Our release cycles are fairly quick, and we offer more invites every time (last time, we sent a +1 type invite to all existing members, to let them pass it on to their friends). Keep an eye out :) Plus, we'll announce it here as well. - Aditya Mukherjee

OK so what's the secret code? Anyone have a +1 invite to spare? - Internet Strategist

We're now in our 3rd beta, aptly called ßeta3! We have full IM support, some awesome updates to the web interface – involving groups, conversation tracking and a unique 'Uni-timeline'. If that's not enough, our AIR based desktop app has seen a lot of changes too. Notifications, timeline search, and memory/CPU optimizations – making it the smallest full fledged Twitter AIR app ever! This is our most fantastic release yet. Signup for a code, we're regularly letting new people join in! http://blog.filttr.com/ - Aditya Mukherjee

Filttr is now open for everyone! We've again added some features – you can check it up at: http://blog.filttr.com/2009... Tell your friends – they can walk right in. Happy filttr'ing! :) - Aditya Mukherjee

Robert Scoble

20 things about friendfeed http://m.kyte.tv/ch...

December 28 - Comment - Like - Share

Kisha, Well Conditioned, Keith - @tsudo, K.D. and 124 other people liked this

Told you he'd be posting before the hors d'oeuvres were served... - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

40 more comments

hor d'oeuvres? where? - Michael VanDervort

I'm watching your video right now - sofarsoShawn

Robert, I am unable to watch your video (never been) in kite.tv with GNU/Linux and Flash 10. Although I have no problems in any other video platform. - Ricardo Galli

It is the first service to bring all our content into one place - paul mooney

Watching your video. Definitely learning a lot. Much to take in. - Marty McPadden

This is a great tuturial Robert, I am learning about all kinds of features I never knew about. Too bad Friendfeed doesn't have a video/visual tutorial like this for all the newcomers (albeit more concise for them). - Brian

Yes - and screencasted, not video of screen. - Hal

Have they ever come up with a good way to sync my twitter follows as imaginary friends without having to add each individually? - Hal

Was it just blurry for me or is it blurry for everyone? I think I could have learned way more from it if I could see what you were was doing. Looked like you were doing some cool stuff. - MarkCarras

awesome job Robert - watching it right now. It's great you're not over the top in describing it's usefulness...rather a sensible overview of it's benefits. - Zee.

That's great info, Robert. Thank you. Lots of stuff I didn't know. - Drew

Thank you for taking the time to put this together. - Rob Michael (Atmos Trio)

Love it Robert, thanks, I learned a lot. - Ginger Kenney

Great vid. Really showed off some awesome capabilities. - Joe Brinkman

Robert: Either I'm losing my mind or you're double-clicking on links. - Chris Luckhardt

Chris: my computer is messed up. :-) - Robert Scoble

I love FF and have been using it for a few months (though not exclusively), but I still picked up a few powerful tips that I didn't know or understand before. Thanks, Robert! - Helen Hoefele

Robert did you make this video for Arrington? I hope so, that way he'll start participating more...same goes for Guy Kawasaki too. :) - Susan Beebe

Nah, just trying to explain the features. - Robert Scoble

This friendfeed thing confuses me to no end. Maybe I'm just dense, but I've never been able to figure out how to organize things here so that the cool stuff perks to the top, then there's keeping track of things I like or whatever. I hope your vid is damn good cuz it's downloading now over a dialup line. yup, they still haven't fixed my highspeed yet. :-) Edited to put a smiley after that last statement, hehe. - Eddy Cole

It's a really good introduction to both basic and advanced FriendFeed use. Perhaps more interestingly, helps explain how Robert manages his massive inbound data flow. - Michael Krigsman

Ross the Friendfeed intern did some tutorials a while back, but FF sure failed to keep up with creating new ones as the feature set (and interface) evolved. Ross's videos here: http://www.vimeo.com/rossmil... - Mitch

I think that if I knew that I could see all of my twitter activity from within friendfeed, then I would use it in leui of a twitter client - but I don't feel like taking the time to add imaginary friends. - Hal

What we really need is a "Friendfeed Tour" room which is added by default to ever single new account. It could be moderated by the FF crew and include links to a whole bunch of goodies for new friendfeeders. - Mitch

Next installment: 20 ways to being a bigger FriendFeed monster than Robert Scoble? =) - deepikaur

Comprehensive. Needs a screencast treatment instead of pointing vid cam at the screen. - Tom Landini

This should go on the ff homepage - Michael Fidler

2009 is the year I start really drinking the FF Koolaid. I started a week early, technically, but then the good resolutions are the ones worth getting ahead of right away. This video was helpful for understanding how to make the most of the service, Robert. I'll be sharing it with others, especially if I slip into the social media rabbit hole that this service can be for many users. As always, thank you for sharing your experience. - Alex Howard

I find that friendfeed has a lot of passive users. Their activity comes from the aggregation of other media, not from any attention on friendfeed itself. Robert is very active on FF and so gets a lot of immediate conversation going, but many have it set on auto-pilot. I find this is less the case with twitter. Perhaps it will change. - Marcel LeBrun

Robert, I love the down to earth presentation on this. Very approachable method of video, and informative. - Ken Stewart | ChangeForge

I've been waiting for this video. Good stuff. - Andrew

Thanks for this - its great to have a practical 'how to' guide. - Graham Hills

Nice! Didn't really get Friendfeed until now. It would be phenomenal if I could manage and write to everyone of my aggregations via friendfeed. Hate to have 3+ Backends for my Blogs etc - Sebastian

Robert, I've been using FriendFeed for a while now. Thanks! This was superb. - Pilgrim Five

"Hide" feature!? I have no "Hide" link under my entries - how did you get one of those?! I want one! I have "Comment", "Like" and "More". - Isha (Marysia)

Thanks for posting. I never knew that Friendfeed could be so useful. I didn't even know there was a like feature till you pointed it out. I just thought it was another one of those lifestreaming aggregators. - Thao Ly

Marysia: "Hide" is only available on entries if you are in the home screen. So click on "Home" and now you should see Hide. - Robert Scoble

"Hide" is available in any list at the top level. For instance, if I create a list called "Tech Bloggers" and add six people to it, "Hide" is visible if I click the Tech Bloggers list on the left side. If I open the reveal triangle and click on one individual's ID, then "Hide" is not available. - Will King

Thankfully this was a tutorial. I still expect Robert to use a computer nearly as fast as Commander Data. - Kevykev

Great video Robert. Really enjoyed checking out all the features on FriendFeed. You seem to have it set up really well. I wondered why you didn't use a screencast recording program so we could watch what you were doing on your screen a bit more easily. I don't want that to sound like a criticism though because I really appreciate the effort you went to, recording the vid. - Paul Richards

I'm bumping this post, because this video is so good. Just sent it to a friend who just signed up to help explain the experience along with the FFundercats Episode 25 podcast. These are great resources. http://www.kyte.tv/scoblei... - Eric @ CS Techcast

Robert Scoble

I will discuss why I can never have another Diet Coke here:

January 20 - Comment - Like - Share

David Cook, Nigel Walsh, Cristinella, Inc.©®™ and 111 other people liked this

My dad has a degenerative kidney disease. They don't know what causes it. But he's slowed it down by changing his diet. Today I was diagnosed with the same disease. Turns out I can't eat red meat anymore and I can't have coke or Diet Coke in it either. I'm in early stages, according to doctor, but says changing diet might help, especially since it helped my dad. - Robert Scoble

205 more comments

what happened? - Akshay Dodeja

I think it makes him pee. - Mona Nomura

don't leave us in suspense! - Bryce, Low in Sodium

Is that brb or brp? - Ed Shahzade /NextInstinct

Sweetener debacle? - Mo Kargas

Remember: not every bathroom comes with a built-in Tweetmachine. - David Feng

This is interesting. Please tell us! - Keith Neisler

Because it is really bad for you, gassy and tastes like crap? - Lee Stacey

I had to quit because it got hard to remember my name! - Reed Porter

That's an interesting thing to entice us with...now where's the finish? - Alex Scoble

Cogent with a touch of brevity. - Bill Romanos

Doctor says my kidneys are working about half of what a normal person's is. He's already done tons of tests to make sure it's not some really bad disease. My dad's had this condition for decades. - Robert Scoble

Ow. Whoops. Sorry to hear that. (I think I should cut Coke my end too.) - David Feng

Saccharin makes you vanish? - Jose Castillo

I also should avoid all red meat and many dairy products including ice cream. Sigh. - Robert Scoble

"might" is the dr.'s word for who konws, so enjoy your life and don't worry unless they're definitive - Bob Sonin

A very big change in your eating habits. Good luck, Robert. I'm sure you can do it. - Yolanda

That doesnt sound good at all. Lets hope its not as bad as it sounds. - Akshay Dodeja

Robert - sorry to hear about your diagnosis. Please, take are of yourself. - Mona Nomura

Oh no. Ice cream. My fave during the Summer... (Beijing has this hidden ability to fry people alive come May already. 100F, anyone?) - David Feng

@Robert: I'm sorry to hear this. I hope you are able to find some substitutes for your diet. Switching off meat is possible (ask some vegans) but be sure to talk with a nutritionist to ensure your protein intake remains controlled (one of the biggest problems). Good luck with this. - Andrew Leyden

Aw, that sucks. But hey, look on the bright side: You're still young enough for it not to cause a problem if you monitor it and sort out a workaround. You'll be fine. I know this. Can't tell you how but I do. - Lee Stacey

Anything with lots of protein, like beef, lamb, pork are to be avoided. Anything with phosphorus like nuts, beans, milk, cheese, ice cream, yogurt, and coke/pepsi are to be avoided. Sigh. - Robert Scoble

I knew a diabetic who was sometimes hit by an overwhelming feeling of being deprived...probably more than he would feel if he avoided certain foods by free choice. Does that happen with you? If so and I meet you in person I'll be sensitive to that. - Bruce Lewis

Ahh yeah, since he got diagnosed my doctors have been watching the protein in my urine. I've been on blood pressure medication for a while because of it, which seems to help a lot. Bummer that they didn't catch yours sooner, bro. - Alex Scoble

At least you won't get Mad Cow Disease. In all seriousness though, I'm really sorry to hear about that, Scoble. - Dean Gebert

diet soda hasn't really ever made sense to me anyway, just drink something else if you can't have regular soda ya know? well do what you gotta do scoble, its not your life, its your family's - David

Jeez Robert. You better SERIOUSLY change. You add lots of color and vitality to the scene. The world is a much nicer place with you IN it, so make the changes you need and stick with it. Best wishes to you man. - Ari Burton

Sorry to hear it, my friend. All the best with adapting to this with change of diet. - John McCrea

Now we know why Scoble can do so much online. He only visits the restroom half as much as the rest of us. In all seriousness, I hope it works out for the best, Robert. - Jared B. Luther

DO NOT WANT! Yogurt! My absolute favorite! Oh my God I feel so bad and so sorry for you Robert. - David Feng

I'm sorry to hear that, Robert. - David Cook

Sorry to hear about it, Robert. Hopefully, the diet modification will help. - D. Lambert

Avoid ice-cream?! Meat? Please get a second opinion. - Mo Kargas

It sounds mostly harmless but good luck with it! - Andrew

That totally sucks, Robert! I don't think I could live without Coca Cola and meat and dairy products. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Sorry to hear Robert. At least it is manageable. Good thing is ... you only need about 1/4 of *one* kidney to survive. I should know, my daughter was born with only one kidney. LOTS of research! - AJ Kohn

Robert, it's great that they're catching this now, so you have time to make changes. Food changes will be hard, I'm sure, especially because of restaurant food. Take care of yourself. @LPH is doing a similar type of weaning from meat, soda, etc. but for cholesterol reasons. You can commiserate ;), but I don't suggest following his chili spaghetti - talk to Mom about recipes, not Layne lol - Lora Heiny

Mo: I already have a second opinion. My dad was told by his doctor to avoid the same things. By the way, it's not the artificial sweeteners in Diet Coke that are bad. I can't have regular Coke either. It's made with phosphoric acid which turns into phosphorous. Turns out that's bad for your kidney. Of course I've been drinking tons of Coke and Diet Coke for decades. - Robert Scoble

Best of luck Robert! - Chris Rossini

wow Robert. Sorry to hear about this. Hope you can work around the diet limitations and stay healthy. - Justin Korn

That just seems to leave beer and sushi. Could be worse ;) - Dennis Howlett

Dennis: and Scotch! :-) Oh, wait, that kills your liver. Can't win at this game anyway. Might as well have fun! :-) - Robert Scoble

http://twitpic.com/15djf <==Here's a happy thought for you Robert :) - Ari Burton

Robert, sorry to hear this. If the diet has made a difference to your Dad, it made well help you too as these things can definitely be hereditary. - Sally Church

Sally: my dad is worse. He can't eat anything that has lots of potassium, like bananas. - Robert Scoble

Sorry to hear that, but glad to hear that there's something that can help. Also glad that there's every chance you can get a head start on keeping your kids healthier, too. Good luck. - Linda Mills

Yes, all carbonated stuff kills the kidneys. And red meat. Byproduct: you will lose weight. - Francine Hardaway

I'm addicted to Pepsi and/or Coke. Quit drinking it about 18 months ago and have to say there have been numerous health benefits. Still want a coke pretty much every day, but it's just not worth it. I know change sucks but you WILL feel better. Well, wait, I don't know the ramifications of your degenerative kidney disease so I should say I hope you feel better. Keep positive, remember you're loved, and tell yourself Diet Coke is "yucky!" - tracy

Glad this got caught early for you and that you can make a lifestyle change to help address it. Our lives are pretty fragile when you think about it, no? - Kevin C. Tofel

tracy: yeah, I hear you. It's going to be tough. But ice cream? Damn. In-N-Out? I love that stuff! Oh well. - Robert Scoble

I'm in the early stages of giving up Diet Coke (which I've been on now for a few years after giving up Coke). It's rough because I do miss the taste and I think plain water just sucks. I wonder how many computer folks really drink too much of this stuff? - Andrew Leyden

Kevin: exactly. My life changed one afternoon when a lady hit my car and my car overturned. Made me realize that every day could be our last. Party hard! :-) - Robert Scoble

Is it called FSGS? Mind sharing the diet with me? I know someone who has FSGS and it sounds like it might help! Thanks! (ann.finnie@hp.com) - Ann Finnie

Andrew: Diet Coke (or Pepsi) is a staple of a majority of geeks world wide. - Robert Scoble

Diet Coke me. - tony

Ann: they don't know what it is. My dad had lots of tests and they couldn't figure it out. - Robert Scoble

Did you ask your doc if a diuretic, like in blood pressure meds, would help? - Francine Hardaway

The bright side: in about 3 months, you'll probably be in the best shape of your life and you'll feel 10 years younger. You may as well go vegan and seek out vegan recipes/foods. - Paul Reynolds

Francine: since my dad was helped with diet changes, I bet that will help me too. My condition is pretty stable, this stuff happens over decades. Anyway, I have low blood pressure and always have. - Robert Scoble

Robert, It will really be rough the first week or two. Be strong. After awhile you won't miss it. You - Ari Burton

Sorry to hear it, Robert. I switched to Diet Coke years ago and now I'm trying to cut it out as well. Good luck with the diet changes and your health! One of my favorite quotes: Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live. --Jim Rohn - Carmen

hi scoble, sorry to hear about your diagnosis. Diet changes can definitely help esp. if it's early; will slow the degenerative process. Something to consider, you may find qigong beneficial in strengthening your system. Sending you good energy! - Antonia Teixeira

You're gonna be fine. :) Good times ahead. - Ari Burton

Pfft. I can beat that. You up for a game of degenerative disease top trumps Robert? Stay well in the meantime. - mattpovey

Sucks Robert, take care of yourself, but no red meat? What a life! - Mark Trapp

sorry to hear. best wishes managing your condition - mashable

I've been a Vegetarian (I do eat fish) for 32 years. PLENTY of good food without red meat or otherwise meat :P - Ari Burton

Robert, this is a shock. How did they find out you had this? Were there any symptoms that clued them in or did they do a ton of tests? i'm a Mountain Dew junkie and eat lots of red meat......and i smoke. But I'm happy. Wish you luck man! - Ⓐ ☠ slayerboy ☠ Ⓐ

Mark, yeah, sucks. I like hamburgers. That's going to be tough to give up. Mashable: thanks. - Robert Scoble

slayerboy: I had higher than normal creatinine levels. My dad said to be on the lookout for that. Then they did a bunch of tests to make sure I didn't have some weird and deadly disease. - Robert Scoble

I HEAR YOU CAN POUR COKE INTO YOUR TOILET, IT MAKES A GREAT TOILET BOWL CLEANER! sorry caps. not shoutin... - Karin Hiebert

Yeah there's nothing like an ice cold CRAPuchino at Starbucks! :P - Ari Burton

I've seen 2 great pointers for those wanting to eat healthier: if your grandmother wouldn't recognize it - don't eat it (strange but true) & do your shopping on the outer rim of the grocery store - fresh produce, bakery, fresh meats etc. Best of luck! - MicahBear78

The question I have is this: Is it better to live a long, healthy life and be miserable trying to be healthy or to live a short, unhealthy life but be the happiest person on earth? Yes, this sucks, but in the end it's all about what makes you happy. Doctors have been wrong before. Obviously if this is causing you pain, it's better to change to healthy stuff so you can live happier. Everyone needs to evaluate what makes them happy, each person is unique. - Ⓐ ☠ slayerboy ☠ Ⓐ

for people curious about food substitutes that Robert is talking about: http://www.kidney.org/atoz... - Lora Heiny

Robert, my prayers are with you. I know from personal experience that it is amazing what diet change can accomplish. We are indeed "...Fearfully and wonderfully made". Be encouraged. And Boca burgers are not bad at all. ;) btw- I wanted to add that I had to be on Macro for 5 years and a 14 day rotation diet before that. You CAN change your body chemistry and organs have been known to heal. In my own case, I came back from jaundice and very bad adrenals which put a hardship on my kidneys. - Melanie Reed

slayerboy: the problem with this disease is it doesn't kill you. It makes you go on dialysis when you're older. So, I have to decide whether I want to take steps to put that off. I do. - Robert Scoble

Really sorry, Robert. They don't know what causes FSGS either, but it scars the kidneys and reduces their function over time. - Ann Finnie

Robert - Soda is a small sacrifice. I don't drink it... quit completely about 15 years ago. Red meat... well that would be more troublesome for me. Take care of yourself. - Brian Roy

Well... I'm late to the party and this is certainly interesting news. Robert, my best to you and please keep us posted. - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

Lora: I love the Internet. One reason I talked about this is so you'd all slap my hands if you saw me breaking the rules at a conference. Damn, I love my morning coffee with milk, too. Grrr. I might be grumpy for a while. - Robert Scoble

a blessing in disguise. once you stabilize the change in diet you will never be or feel healthier. the pepsi and cokes of the world are poison. drink water instead of coke and eat sorbetto (sorbet) instead of ice cream...and fall in love with seafood while your at it. mark your weight when you switch up your diet and in a week you will see 3-5lbs shaved off without you doing anything else. - Carlos Ayala

Robert, sorry to hear about your condition here as well. I was diagnosed with GERD several years back, and diet cured it, but I know this isn't anything like GERD. If I can help in any way let me know - you're in my thoughts. Best wishes Robert. - Jesse Stay

We can VIRTUALLY slap your hand any time we like as well :) It doesn't hurt to keep you on your toes :-> - Ari Burton

So sorry to hear that Robert.A raw food diet could really help. Check out http://thesunnyrawkitchen.blogspot.com/ - Gemma Craven

i'm sorry to hear that. you could retain carbonated satisfaction with home-made soda flavored in various ways. there are a few flavors (my secret recipes, but you can have them if you like) i'd take over cola any time! best wishes. - idnan

Robert: lol definitely. You watch out for peanuts in food for me already - now, we watch out for milk products for you :) At least you can have non-dairy creamer -- oooh and popcorn ;) - Lora Heiny

Robert, I can empathise with you and your Dad since I nearly lost a kidney as a child. It still struggles sometimes and also gets sore so yeah, I have to drink lots of water, avoid fizzy drinks and artificial sweeteners etc. No bananas or salty foods is the hardest for me. - Sally Church

robert... positive vibes your direction. my aunt has Coeliac/Celiac disease (she can't eat wheat) and it was tough at first, but your eating habits will become normal to you eventually. Keep your chin up! - Chris Heath

Sorry to hear. Best of luck to you!! - Ted Louie

I'm so sorry to hear this, I don't know how serious that is, but I'm hoping it's something that can be corrected with the change. I'm sympathetic too. Giving up things "forever" is incredibly hard, even when necessary. Too bad there aren't patches or gum to wean you off the D.C. (I have the same addiction). I wish you the best in the new, healthy lifestyle you have ahead of you. - Sarah Perez

Sorry to hear that, but at least it sounds like you have time to deal with it. Your hand could get pretty sore from several thousand people slapping it! I think that might be incentive enough! Or tweet slaps, that might crash Twitter! - Chris Mayer

Scoble, I'm sorry to hear about this. Glad that you caught it early and glad that you don't seem to be to down about it. I like your attitude, many people would say F' it and just continue to eat how they were before. So well done. If you blog tweet all your meals for a while it may work as a good support system? I'd yell at you if you want me to when I see cokes or red meats.... :) best of luck my friend. - ryangraves

so sorry to hear about this. i hope the adjustment in diet helps and isn't too terribly difficult to get accustomed to. - mario anima

I'm sorry to hear about this Robert. Thanks goodness those are the only two things they took away from you. It still leaves you with many other options. Better to look at the glass half full. ; ) I hope your new diet helps. - Adriana

Bad news - sorry to hear about that. Early detection/treatment is so important. Be glad you caught it early. Hopefully diet keeps everything under control. - Bryan Duke

The best is yet to come Robert. :) I am going back over to Twitter for awhile now if ya wanna yell at me to shaaddddaaap :P LOL - Ari Burton

Ryan: hah, we all have a death sentence. It does no good to worry about this stuff. In fact, I am pretty sure that worrying makes it all worse. - Robert Scoble

Thank God u found out for starters. Second, there is so much progress these days who knows what info is just around the corner,Three, you have so much energy and will that u bring to life-that is huge. Finally, think about accupuncture as a support. I know that it has helped many people with very serious problems. More positive vibes! - frankiecarl

Awwww that sucks! :( - Brandy Lea

I understand Robert, it seems you've done your research on this. Sounds like a very hard decision to make. I don't think it will be all bad for you though, as Carlos says it may serve to improve your health in the long run. It may even serve to open up your food choices, and help you experience a wider range of foods. Wishing you all the best mate - Mo Kargas

Thanks for helping to cement my decision to eliminate soft drinks from my daily routine. It's been one month as of today. As others have mentioned, it will likely turn out to be a blessing in disguise with you ending up feeling healthier and dropping some weight if you eliminate all soft drinks. - maczter

Mo: I like all foods except for eggplant, so finding something to eat won't be a problem. It's just they took away some of my favorites. I will deal. A lot of people have a lot worse. At least I can still hang out with @garyvee! :-) - Robert Scoble

Just watch that liver Robert ;-) Enjoy what you can, though. - Jesse Stay

Jesse: if I hang out with you and Louis my liver will be fine. My kidney, on the other hand... :-) - Robert Scoble

Once again, FF needs a comment button at the bottom of the comments... I started the year off not eating anything from cow as part of a diet plan. Good luck. Be sure you replace the Iron intake. - Gus

You're being proactive, which is great. I'm reading up on your food list so next time we meet at a conference or wherever we can help keep the food straight. :-) - Loren Heiny

Ok, Robert, not the news you wanted I'm sure. But...at our time of life (well, you have a couple of years on me but we'll let that slide) re-evaluation is a great thing. Do what the doc says and you'll be fine. Just don't switch to bottled water because it's an easy - but ecologically damaging- alternative. You got lots to do yet (*cough* interview *cough*) and when you've digested the news I'm sure you'll be sharing your kidney-health tips with us all - as is you way. Best wishes. - WorldofHiglet

strength to you, Robert. and welcome to Veggie-world (well, the outskirts, anyway<g>). - MikeAmundsen

Mike: I remember talking to you about your vegetarianism back in the 1990s. Wild, huh? - Robert Scoble

I've heard of this. What a blessing to discover it early in your life. Many folks have diabetes as well and don't realized it until it's too late. Thanks for sharing. - Todd Jordan

Robert I was diagnosed in 1995 with degenerative kidney disease (glomerular nephritis). My prayers are with you. Watching your protein intake is important. Did you have a renal biopsy done? @lawain - lawain

lawain: the doctor and I decided not to have a biopsy done because it isn't a weird fatal disease (they've already checked for that) and because it's hereditary and stable. All sticking needles in me would do is cause me pain so I decided against it. - Robert Scoble

Sorry about the news, Robert. I took myself off meat (except fish, like Ari) & I rarely drink coke (but oh is coffee my weakness). I was the biggest Carl's Jr Western Bacon Cheeseburger / IN N OUT / all things steak / bacon...BACON! guy. 5 years ago something snapped & I changed my eating lifestyle. I'm dragging this out just to say I can't explain it, but it wasn't as hard as I would have imagined. After a month I felt real good and I didn't miss it. Keep sharing - it's not called FriendFeed for nothing :) - Micah Wittman

Health can catch up on us. I was diagnosed with High Blood Pressure a few months back (my Mother also has hypertension) and then less than a week later suffered a stroke at 44. I'm recovering now, and learning to live with a changed diet also. So I have some idea of what it's like for you. Keeping a positive outlook really helps. Best wishes. - John Collis

@R: yep. life is like that. next time we meet, we can share a tasty non-dairy health drink (oxymoron?). - MikeAmundsen

Robert, check out http://www.rawfor30days.com. Amazing film about changing your diet and the effect it can have on your health. Good luck my friend. - John Seiferth

John: a stroke is what killed my mom. Not good at all. Glad to hear you're doing OK. - Robert Scoble

sounds like some alternative SXSW plans may be in order (or at least a lot of bbq chicken - you still can have Chicken?). Good luck with the diet changes - at least you have caught it early and have the positive example of your dad's slowing it down via diet to keep you motivated! - Shannon Clark

Shannon: damn, you reminded me of SXSW. Yeah, Chicken is OK. - Robert Scoble

I don't blame you on the needles...I had the renal biopsy and it was terrible. I had to lie on my back (no movement) for 24 hours...and the pain was not fun. Good luck Robert. Fish Oil supplements are a must. Keeping a good thought for you this night... - lawain

So sorry to hear about your dx, but I'm glad you got it and I'm glad you are acknowledging it. The act of change is hard, but will be worth it in the end. I wish you the best of luck. - Heather Solos

sad to hear that, Scoble, but glad that it can be remedied by diet. :) - Rom Feria

Robert, What a shock for you. Am sorry to hear this news. I cared for my Father, who had same disease along with diabetes.. Am not going into detail here. But if you or your dad need resources or anything at all. Please let me know. Will keep you both in positive thought. (Not sure if they mentioned to you about managing your salt intake and foods with certain perservatives.) Most people do well with disease if they take good care of themselves. Stay grounded, think positive and above all don't worry! - SashaKane

Just curious Robert, since it seems like you are always on the move do you pack snacks with you to keep you going or just hold out from meal to meal. I'm a snacker myself...weird question I know, but thought this was a somewhat relevant time to ask. - Tyler Brownfield

I'm glad this was caught while you can deal with it with diet changes. I've been working on diet changes myself (mostly getting rid of refined sugar and white flour and, well, as much "manufactured" food as I can). It's a lot more work for me, but the health benefits are well worth it. Take care! - vicster

Scoble, sorry to hear about your diagnosis. But I'm glad you've caught it now. My boss read the book Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman: http://tinyurl.com/8sh23u and was impacted by it so much, that he decided to cater salads and a health conscious kitchen for us every day at work. We don't consider enough that what you eat really affects your health. Check it out, hope it helps. - Marcus Kwan

Red Bull makes an awesome all natural cola. No phosphoric acid, no high fructose corn syrup, good stuff. Maybe you can drink that.. Disclosure: I work for Red Bull but honestly, the stuff is awesome and NO phosphoric acid. - Kevin Doohan

I cut out soda. It wasn't so hard to do. Plus, you can save money just asking for water when you eat out. - Morton Fox

I have a relative who is on a restricted diet because of a medical condition. Restrictions can be frustrating. Good luck. - Ontario Emperor from fftogo

ok, i don't eat meat, but still drink soft drinks occasionally. if Robert is giving them up, then i will, too. no more phosphoric acid for me! - MikeAmundsen

Nothing to say, but feel better, and soldier on! - James Ostheimer

Sorry to hear it, Robert. Best wishes, hope diet will help. Chinese medicine is a great remedy as well....just a suggestion. - Moushumi Kabir

Hey Robert, I guess they will come up with a cure very soon - so you may be having ice-cream sooner than you think! - Rahul Deodhar

Good luck with it Robert - cjmart

Robert, what is it about coke that aggravates your condition? The carbonation, the caffine, something else? Just curious as to why that in particular is an issue. - Her Lindsay-ness

all the best robert ... sounds like action now is the smartest medicine. - Toby Forage

Good luck Robert. I was diagnosed with a heart condition a few years back, and had to give up chocolate and caffeine (although I still occasionally sneak a coffee in). It's very difficult to change diets at first, but you'll get there and I wish you the best. - Brandon Mendelson

Sending you good wishes for the future, Robert. These will be hard changes to make, but you may find yourself feeling better as a result. I hope you're doing okay. - Matt Cutts

Good wishes to you. That's sad. But I ask myself, why can't you drink coke anymore? Is it because of the phosphor ? - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

Right, Ryo, because of the phosphorous and also the potassium...Means he also has to limit his intake of salt, broccoli and a bunch of other stuff. - Alex Scoble

all soda? just the coke products? cola? dr pepper? 7up? Ginger ale? - rob friedman

Mostly the dark ones. But really he should limit himself to herbal teas and water for most of his fluid intake. - Alex Scoble

What about seltzer/carbonated water? I was thinking of switching to that because of the texture of soda carbonation that water doesn't do much for me - Ⓐ ☠ slayerboy ☠ Ⓐ

Have the real stuff, I never liked diet coke - Michael McGimpsey from twhirl

He has to avoid the real stuff just as much as the fake stuff, Michael. - Alex Scoble

@Alex Scoble: Oh,. so at last he can drink coke. There are some on the market like "Red Bull Cola'" which are all natural, without phosphor or other artificial stuff. Check it. It tastes great, and it's the original american cola. Like it was invented. - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

Ryo, impossible.....you do know what was in ORIGINAL Coke, right? dDon't think that's legal in the US lol - Ⓐ ☠ slayerboy ☠ Ⓐ

Again, no, he can't drink coke at all, nor root beer, nor pepsi, nor anything with much salt in it or potassium, which a lot of stuff has...means coffee is right out as well. Imagine my dad, a guy who drank 2 pots of coffee for 30 years, having to give up coffee...well he did. - Alex Scoble

Ryo--can you imagine how much Scoble will be on Twitter/FF etc, if he switches to Red Bull? - David Thomas

Lol David :) But don't worry., Red Bull Cola does not include any stuff from Red Bull. They just use the name for marketing. http://www.redbullcola.com/ - It's all natural, without chemicals. - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

I'm sorry to hear that you found out you have kidney disease. Did your docs recommend a kidney biopsy to get a diagnosis, or are they just watching and waiting? You *can* eat/drink things with phosphorus if you eat enough calcium to bind it, but obviously it would be best to discuss that with your physicians. If things are still early on, the protein load isn't as crucial, it's actually more important to eat *enough* protein to replace any protein you're losing and to prevent catabolism. Good luck! - Victor Ganata

drink HONEST TEAS -- they are awesome - can get them at Whole Foods - Maneesh

Your diet changes will make you feel much better long term anyway. My daughter is diabetic and when she gets low I tell her because of her healthy eating and close monitoring she's more likely to live to a ripe old age than most others who eat trash. Good luck Robert and a long and healthy future to you. - Nicola Quinn

Man, sorry to hear the news. Diet coke is terrible for you, so you'll be doing yourself a world of good. Glad they found it early. B - Ben Metcalfe

Robert, I'm so sorry to hear about this illness. You may indeed be able to control its severity and you will improve your overall health by not drinking soda or eating red meat. I'm sure your doctors will tell you more, or a good nutritionist will. Even though it's hard, you now have an opportunity to eat and live in a more nourishing way. My best thoughts to you and your family. - Cathryn Hrudicka

So sorry to read that. Ganbatte, as they say in Japan, Robert! - Paul Papadimitriou

Sorry to hear that, Robert, my thoughts are with you. - tartfromhell

Robert, yoga is supposed to help significantly. I'll connect you to a yoga guru if you like. Are you sure its the diet coke and burgers and ice-cream? Sure it isn't the facebook and friendfeed and twitter? :) - Amit Pradhan

Robert, listen to your doctors. Renal failure is not a good thing and getting dialysis sucks. Learn to love fresh lemonade but best yet just simple water. Learn to love life in the process of this diagnosis. - Janet

I'm really sorry to hear that! The diet sounds like a big adjustment, but worth it if it helps to keep you well. - Kate

Well, that sucks. I've dealt with food allergies/things to avoid previously. You get used to it relatively quickly once you've made the effort to find out all the alternatives. But good luck staving off the dialysis and dysfunction. I'll consume a burger in your honor this weekend. - Kevin Leroux

I am really, deeply sorry to hear this Robert - I follow your posts and tweets with great interest and can't begin to imagine that such a big name could suffer. Famous people don't get ill!! My real sympathies. - Peter Curd

I am a Diet Coke addict and I thank you for reminding me that drinking it is not healthy nor is it good for our bodies. Changing your eating habits may be difficult at first, but it will soon be second nature. Take care of your kidneys! - Rachel Baker

Put yourself on your list of things to take care of. - Phil Boiarski

Robert - With all the flying and running around you do, it could be worse. You've got more energy than the Energizer bunny. - Charlie Anzman

Good luck Pal. Sorry to hear about his. You'll come out just fine though. You've got lots of people who love you and support you around you and you might find some brand new foods that you never even knew you loved. - Thomas Hawk

Sorry to hear. :( - Tyson Key

So are you allowed Pasta? What about Fish - Marcus Beagley

After I re-installed Windows Vista three times on my dekstop it was finally stable, enough to the point where I could use it. - Patrick from twhirl

Very sorry to hear that - any threat to kidneys or liver must be taken very seriously, but we can be thankful that there is so much we can do within our own control, through diet. Been having to tiptoe around my kidneys since I was a kid (but thankfully I can eat almost everything in moderation, but I had years salt-free and it could change again - salt free seriously complicated life!). There is plenty of great foods you can still eat, and do learn to like new things faster than we realise. - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

Robert, very sorry to hear that. Changing a diet is difficult, but I am sure you can work through it. Good luck. - Rob Diana

Robert, I am so sorry. Giving up Diet Coke sounds to me even harder than giving up Big Macs. Take care of yourself, please! - Betsy Devine

I have been against diet drinks for a very long time. Good for you to do this! - Martha

I know Tofu and Textured Vegetable Protien are pretty decent in terms of what you can do with it and the taste. - Stephen Lecheler

First month hard to give up , but by third month it will be much easier and by then you will be able to tell a difference in the way you feel. More than your kidneys will thank you. Overall fitness/wellness program may help too. Best of luck! - Tracy Benham

I gave up Coke and French Fries from one whole year. It was surprising how that also basically meant I gave up hamburgers as well (you wouldn't order that without the other). Wife is nagging me to give them up again. - Andrew Leyden

I hope that you get to feeling better. I really need to give up red meat - or more of it. Soda is a no go already. - Nation Hahn

Robert, take care of yourself and stay healthy. - Paul

robert, sorry to hear about your illness praying for you and your family - Jonathan Jesse

thats not good. Take care of yourself. - Venky Chinnathambi

Take care of yourself! By chance, is it polyarteritis nodosa? My mom has it and I've long suspected it was caused by her...unhealthy consumption habits. - Phoenix

Drink water, lot's of water and your kidneys will love you - paul mooney

Diet pop to me has a really bad after taste, I avoid pop when I can, but if my mom buys it I drink it. Other then that I drink water - Patrick from twhirl

Drink water, but don't drink too much if you have chronic kidney disease. You'll swell up. - Victor Ganata

I myself prefer regular - sofarsoShawn

I'm not sure if you've discovered the wonderful world of loose-leaf tea yet, but I recently did and it's a wonderful alternative. Check out adagioteas.com. Good stuff! - Rob

Lose-leaf tea is simply the best tea you can get; I've been drinking Darjeeling Second Flush for many years now and don't ever want to miss it. - Donald Townsend

Hope you feel better soon. Take care! - Head Ov Metal

"I knew a diabetic who was sometimes hit by an overwhelming feeling of being deprived." - these times inevitably come because it's for the rest of your frickn life. The good news is the feelings go away and you realize life is still good. It will suck, but I have confidence you can make it through. Life will be different, but it will be just as good, maybe even better. - Todd Hoff

Robert, sorry to hear you have the same disease, but making the decision to stay away from diet drinks and red meat will be good for you in lots of ways. Your heart and arteries will thank you too. Be sure to encourage Patrick and Milan to adopt the same limitations, since it's hereditary. - Karoli

Robert I know you'll be able to manage this disease. I wish you the best of success in keeping it from impacting you enjoying your life to the fullest. I just found out last year that I have diabetes, totally changed how I'm supposed to eat, live, etc. I haven't done a great job with it - but I just remember how stunned I was when i found out and how it seemed to change how I look at everything, from my own mortality to priorities, to family to everything else. - Morgan

Sorry to hear that. Robert :( - Shey, Jamaican of FF

Sorry to hear that, but it's great it was seen early. Hope you discover lots of good juices and thing to replace the sodas. And hope the BBQ at SXSW doesn't drive you nuts :) - Patrick Jordan

For your cold beverage + caffeine fix, the South (yes, I'm speaking for the region) recommends Sweet Tea. *Real* sweet tea with sugar. Not that weird raspberry tea stuff they pass off in California. - Paul Reynolds

Whole Foods 365 Cola has no phosphorus, no corn syrup and tastes pretty good - RAPatton

He can't have ANY cola...as they all have potassium. He has to avoid salt, potassium and phosphorous like the plague. - Alex Scoble

Alex: I can have potassium. That only matters in later stages of the disease. But I can't have phosphorous. Some sodas, like 7 UP are OK. Any that have phosphoric acid aren't OK, though. - Robert Scoble

If you say so...although 50% is the middle of it...should definitely avoid salt and keep your blood pressure low as that has an effect on the kidneys as well. - Alex Scoble

7-Up -- it takes the ouch out of grouch. And it's Lithiated! http://www.flickr.com/photos... Sorry about the kidney issues, no fun. - Paula W

Thanks everyone for the very kind words! Unfortunately iced tea is on the list of things I can't have. I don't know why. So is beer. These foods have phosphorous which is bad for my kidneys (yours are OK, so you don't need to worry about these limitations). They don't know what is causing our kidney disease. - Robert Scoble

Sorry to hear about this, as someone who doesn't drink tea or coffee (so lives on Coke), and is addicted to red meat, ice cream and beer! Just glad to hear you've found out about it at a time when you can make some changes. If it helps, I'm about to give quitting smoking another go, so I'll be having my own withdrawal problems! - Badger Gravling

I'm a bit late, but sorry to hear about this. It sounds like you're still able to keep it under control by changing your diet. One of my uncles was on dialysis and it's not fun. Since it's hereditary, is there any chance Patrick & Milan could also develop it? - Mike Hussein Cohen

Am from India here. Seen enough veggie, teetotalers. Welcome to the club (partly at least! ). It's not that hard, will be tough initially but as your friends,colleagues learn and understand, it will become much easier later as nobody is going to offer you foods you r not supposed 2 take, so less temptation. Switch to soya (ask doc 1st of course). Heard soya has lots of stuff which you would otherwise miss out due to severely reduced meat intake. - Akshay Kini

My dad had kidney disease and was on dialysis for 15 years back when it was less efficient and more problematic. I am sorry your dad is struggling with it too. We never were clear on what the triggers might have been with my dad but environment was a likely factor as he spent a lot of time in old print newsrooms and aerospace manufacturing facilities. - sean808080

Mona Nomura

@Scobleizer says: "It's amazing to me that so few people know what journalism is." [QUESTION] ARE bloggers journalists?

January 18 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

David Cook, Ciaoenrico, Hutch Carpenter and 27 other people liked this

Bloggers can be journalists. Other times they are opinion authors. - Robert Scoble

49 more comments

Should bloggers follow the same rules of ethics as journalsts? - Mona Nomura from IM

Some bloggers practice journalism. Most don't. And those that do also reserve the right to sprinkle opinion - and add editorial. - Louis Gray

Wouldn't one of the main distinctions be whether it is a hobby (me) or a main occupation (Scoble)? - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

It seems like everyone has different definitions LOL - Mona Nomura from IM

(/Micro)Bloggers are real-time journalists. - Erhan Erdogan

I fully admit I don't know. I have a blog, ergo I am a blogger. But I certainly am not a journalist! - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

SOME bloggers—indeed—are journalists. - .LAG liked that

Doesn't matter, Journalists have to learn to become bloggers now :) :) - Bwana ☠

Some are. - Michael Fidler

So waht about ethical issues? - Mona Nomura from IM

Blogging as a medium is definitely not journalism. How many bloggers research a story, fact check, secure quotes and write the 5Ws and an H. It's a different form of writing. - Karen Swim

There's ethics in journalism? *runs* - Bwana ☠

I tweeted a reply, but here's my two cents: Bloggers are journalists. Difference? Levels of professionalism, authority, influence, experience, and pay. - Anthony K. Valley ©

Hmmmm... I wonder when journalism schools will start offering blogging classes. Wouldn't that be interesting. - Mona Nomura from IM

Some journalists blog but their blogging isn't automatically journalism. Some blogging counts as journalism. Some blogging is just blogging. - Kevin Leroux

Also, the Pew Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism lists the "Principles in Journalism" http://bit.ly/2AyVIv Many blogs and bloggers follow these principles. If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. - Anthony K. Valley ©

I hope I didn't offend anyone with my wacky antics and joking. I know zilch about journalism, so I'll quietly bow out of the conversation now. Keep journalizizizing! - Bwana ☠

Mona: most of the bloggers I follow have deep ethics. Just like most of the pro journalists I know. Oh and journalism schools are indeed teaching blogging. - Robert Scoble

Robert - I agree - your shares speak for themselves. :) But do non seasoned bloggers follow your leads? - something I've been wondering for a while. Bwana - no worries, you're super playful and I get you. If others don't, screw them! - Mona Nomura from IM

It evolved. It was a journal-er, then kinda this 'thing like an opinion page writer'; then some branched out into a journalistic type writing, others maintained this 'blogger' label like it meant something, now, who knows. I know I'm trying to shed the label- I'm not a journalist, I write stuff and post it to the web. Regulate me with rules you will not. It's my web site. - Eric Rice

Eric Rice? Who are you, and where did you come from? :) - Bwana ☠

No. That's why they're called bloggers. - Sean

I see a blog as more of a personal opinion.. even a news blog. - MicahBear78

I was just reading Clay Shirky writing about this in Here Comes Everybody. Obviously there are a few bloggers out there who actually come from the print journalist profession and a few more who practice sound journalism. But being a blogger doesn't make you a journalist, that's for sure. - Laura Norvig

It's amazing Scoble thinks that he is a journalist. - ld

Yeah, I think the ethics thing is important. There are some out there, although it's probably more noticeable in its breach than its actual practice. And I don't think you can just declare it unilaterally. If your sources and your audience don't think you're a journalist, then you ain't a journalist. - Victor Ganata

I think this discussion haoppended before. When TV was getting mainstream. Now it's the same. Bloggers ARE journalists. They do the same, only with other media. - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

Not all bloggers are journalists. Not all of them want to be. - Victor Ganata

Victor, yes, but In one way or another, they are. I guess some "writers" for the press, don't want to be journalists, too. But they learned how to get rid of moral issues, somehow. - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

I guess my extreme hypothetical question is this: can you really be journalist if no one trusts you? - Victor Ganata

If "Journalist" is defined by people who trusts you, there are only a few on earth left. And who really trusts the big newspapers or Fox News ? :) Journalist is a work, not a lifestyle or something. And I trust more bloggers than I do trust "old media" writers. - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

My understanding was that journalism was a profession, not just some job, but what do I know? But how do you get sources if no one trusts you? - Victor Ganata

Journalists for the most part are hired hacks and propagandists for mainstream media owners and oligarchs. Dignifying this activity with the term "profession" is a bit of a stretch. - Sean McBride

Uh Sean? That is a separate topic... lol - Mona Nomura from IM

Heh, that's why I said "was" not "is" :) Media consolidation has certainly jacked things up. But I do feel that it is more important than just some job, since a free press is usually considered a necessary pillar of a functioning democracy. - Victor Ganata

Easy there Sean - journalism is more dignified and professional than you give it credit for. When your father and your wife have been journalists, you know from where they come. - Hutch Carpenter

When Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity are defined by society as leading "journalists," I begin to have trouble with the term and the "profession." - Sean McBride

Aren't they political commentors or broadcasters? - Mona Nomura from IM

That is the wrong question. Journalists can use blogs as their medium. Not all bloggers are journalists. - Andru Edwards

We can't really accept Rupert Murdoch's definition of journalism, can we? Fox is propaganda, not news. - Victor Ganata

Sean - sure, but to paint a profession based on a few personalities is a tough burden. Not sure any profession could survive that approach. - Hutch Carpenter

Bloggers like to think so, but journalists have more rules to live by. At best we're amateurs who should be glad fewer people want to sue us - Ciaoenrico

Essays,Op-Ed's and other non-fiction writing are considered part of the Journalists canon, but real journalists get out there and ask questions. So no, people with web pages are not journalists. - Jay Cruz

Ok, Hutch and others: which contemporary journalists do you most respect? Who define the best of the breed? - Sean McBride

Sean - good question. I'd need to think about it a bit. But off the top of my head, I enjoy Joe Nocera of the NY Times. - Hutch Carpenter

Two "journalists" I respect off the top of my head: Craig Unger and James Bamford. I am not sure if they would define themselves as journalists -- they strike me as more substantial researchers and writers than most journalists who define themselves as such. - Sean McBride

Journalists are supposed to do research, aren't they? And text is still the primary medium. - Victor Ganata

Great journalists find big and important subjects, research them in depth, provide objective analysis and original insights, and write elegant prose that resonates in the mind. They are a rare breed, and are seldom found in the mainstream media these days. Great journalists never hesitate to challenge the status quo or the powers that be. They speak truth to power. - Sean McBride

Research? Most journalists (yes, official working for newspapers) are just copy&paste from the big news sources like AFP or DPA. That's the reality. So if you go on by that, you could almost all journalist call something else. Maybe it would be good, but they are journalists, just as bloggers are. An occupation is not defined by lifestyle or behaviour, but by your pay-check and your contract or your company. Bloggers are more journalist than the ones from the "old media". - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

A job is just a paycheck, but a profession is defined by the codes of conduct that you adhere to. Ask any doctor, lawyer, cleric, or officer in the armed forces. The question is, is journalism a profession? Maybe it no longer is. - Victor Ganata

Robert Scoble

To people who don't like high flow twitter accounts, sorry, you won't like me. I'm following 20,000 in TweetDeck and I'm going to talk back.

January 18 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Morton Fox, Will DeLuca, India Feeds and 28 other people liked this

that's for sure - Colin Clark

26 more comments

And thus the reason I don't follow Robert on Twitter... Last thing I want to see is half of 20,000 conversations. - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

Yeeeeea! Let's the lottery begin :) - Sasha Kovaliov(.com)

do you have a life outside twitter...? - Joe Buhler

Tina, but you won't see them unless you are following the people Robert replies to. - Sasha Kovaliov(.com)

Just turned my full twitter stream on in IM. went away for 20 minutes to have a phone conversation; came back to 500 messages! still, i enjoy reading the full stream when I have time to do it. it'll get filtered again on Wednesday, I'm sure. - Karoli

That assumes every reply starts with @username which isn't always the case - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

He does have a tendency to retweet ;) but that's not that much noise. - Sasha Kovaliov(.com)

I prefer to follow Robert on FF - in fact I prefer to follow most ppl on FF. Those I follow on Twitter are usually those who aren't on FF. - WorldofHiglet

Sasha, you can set up an RSS feed of a Scobleizer search on Twitter as an imaginary friend on Friend Feed - that will give you both sides of the conversation. - Matthew DeVries

Sasha, I would recommend putting that friend in it's own list, and not part of your home feed. - Matthew DeVries

BTW, Happy birthday. I can't think of a better day for someone to do what they love. Enjoy! - Michael Fidler

Oh, I'm perfectly fine in TweetDeck ;) And I have no probs with that. On frf - I put everything into one feed - too lazy to have to click one more time ;) - Sasha Kovaliov(.com)

I can't figure out how to make a specific search as a group on Tweetdeck, is it a new version? - Matthew DeVries

sweet, sorted that out, it's a good night now - Matthew DeVries

*Hide all Scobleizer tweets unless they have likes or comments* - Mitch

Mitch: works for me. If you have time, all the hidden tweets are at the bottom of my screen. Personally I don't worry about a ton of tweets. friendfeed hides most of them anyway, and makes you already click on them to see more. - Robert Scoble

I follow as many people as I think will offer me good info. I may only be able to read it a few hours a day because of my paying gig, but when I do it keeps things interesting. Too much is never enough! :D - MarkCarras

I get the same uneasy feeling of seeing "47 more" on Friendfeed as I do seeing "1000+" in Google Reader, so I just choose to hide all the heavy twitter users (and also unread counts in Reader). - Mitch

They'll get over it. - Bwana ☠

Robert, Have you written a post on different Twitter tools, e.g. TweetDeck? Compare real-time stream vs FriendF thread feature. - Martin Lindeskog

Martin: I would be VERY interested in an article on that. Someone should do it. - MarkCarras

Agreed. Which of his 20,000 doesn't deserve a reply? Enough said! - Ed Shahzade /NextInstinct

Hey, just curious - do you know what your talk-back rate is? That is, your percentage of @ replies you respond to? I admire your prolific communication, but don't see how you can possibly talk back to all. Maybe some aren't saying things you find worth covering? - John "Boz" Handy Bosma

John on friendfeed it is close to 100%. on Twitter? Probably 30% but only because people get pissed about my noise there (but not here). - Robert Scoble

Someone once tried to insult me by saying "you tweet like @scobleizer does - all noisy!" and my reply was "no, I tweet twice as much as he does daily about considerably less of interest - because I answer all of the stupid folks who @ me too rather than just the interesting ones - but I take it as a compliment when you say that, as he's the one that taught me the value of listening on Twitter... so cool!" I don't think that was the response he expected. Ah well. :) - Lucretia Pruitt

Scoble. You use Tweetdeck. Trying to make the switch, but not being able to read the tweet in the popup notification like I can in Twhirl is a big thing. Thoughts? - alexander horre

Don't worry. I love high flow twitter accounts. It's what keeps me interested in the Internet - Bryce, Low in Sodium

Share your Google Reader!

Lifehacker's Guide to Catching the Inauguration from Anywhere [Events] - http://lifehacker.com/5132476...

January 18 from Google Reader - Comment - Like - Share

Helen Hoefele liked this

Mike Elgan

Zimbabwe to issue $100 trillion bill. http://www.inquisitr.com/15689...

January 18 from HelloTxt - Comment - Like - Share

Helen Hoefele liked this

Steve Rubel

userfly - http://www.userfly.com/

January 18 from delicious - Comment - Like - Share

Jeremy Dunck, Helen Hoefele and Mike Orren liked this

Run instant usability studies for your website using your real users. - Steve Rubel

We're testing it. So far their servers are overloaded and we're still wrestling with the ethics of recording users. Also how to communicate what is happening without confusing people. Great concept. - Mike Orren

Chris Brogan

Online Business Ideas - http://www.clicknewz.com/1838...

January 18 from Google Reader - Comment - Like - Share

ivanandersson, Helen Hoefele and Michael R. Bernstein liked this

FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

Weekend In The Life Of A Work At Home Professional - http://reallifevirtualworld.com/2009...

January 18 from Real Life, Virtual World - Comment - Like - Share

Olivier Castets, Helen Hoefele and John (a.k.a. dendroica) liked this

Last week marked my first full week in this new work at home endeavor, which made this my first weekend off. As Sunday winds down and I prepare for another week of work, I started to realize that the concept of ‘weekend’ is now slightly skewed in my world. Other than days on the calendar, what [...] - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

Robert Scoble

RT @bbbozzz: @totspot Same old same old. @Scobleizer spouts some silly, tired definition of journalism and thousands see it b/c he's famous

January 18 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Helen Hoefele and John "Boz" Handy Bosma liked this

Fred Wilson

Re: Selflessness vs Selfishness - http://www.avc.com/a_vc...

January 18 from Disqus - Comment - Like - Share

Jeffrey J Davis and Helen Hoefele liked this

"yup, a venture communist" - Fred Wilson

Brian Clark

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." ~MLK

January 18 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

DanielthePoet, Duncan Riley and Helen Hoefele liked this

JD Lasica

I suppose we can all take some small solace in knowing that working at Google isn't so great (at least not anymore). http://www.techcrunch.com/2009...

January 18 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Helen Hoefele liked this

Kol Tregaskes

13 Alternative Search Engines That Find What Google Can't - http://www.makeuseof.com/tag...

January 18 from Digg - Comment - Like - Share

Bill Romanos, Martha, Helen Hoefele and Jaemi Kehoe liked this

TuneFined = sweet - Jaemi Kehoe

Helen Hoefele › Likes