Well, I personally use FF primarily to keep up with all the content my *friends* post on the web. So a -1 one from me ;-) - Horst Gutmann from IM

Maybe it's just how you're [not] using the service. I consider about 85% of the people I'm subscribed to as friends and would offer them a sofa to sleep on if they needed it. - Akiva Moskovitz

Is this going to turn into a duplicate of the "logo looks unprofessional" thread? - Andy Bakun

You know Apple, Inc. doesn't really sell apples, right? - Mark Trapp

I'm actually *friends* with fewer than 10% of the people I'm subscribed to/from here. I bet for Louis Gray, it's more like 1%. People subscribe to people they find *interesting*; that's why the no-reciprocity-required "friend" system of FF rocks. But the name is a misnomer, and it confuses & upsets potential FF'ers. Several of my real friends have tried but quit FF because "none of my friends are on it!" - Adam Lasnik

The word "friends" says it's about people. "InterestingFeed" doesn't seem to have the same kind of socialness to it. - Andy Bakun

When I explained to one of them, no, no, it's not like Facebook, it's not "keeping in touch" with people, it's finding cool and fun and useful stuff from *people you find interesting*, then she got it (and stuck with FF). "FRIENDfeed" creates unrealistic and, IMHO, plain inaccurate expectations. Dunno what you should rename FF to, but I seriously think you *should* rename it. And you know what? The name (with its expectation) initially really frustrated me, too. - Adam Lasnik

I tried to use facebook but there are very few faces and even fewer books. What about facefeed or feedspace? - Andy Bakun

heh, damn, you all are too fast! FF either needs bigger text blocks for those of us who have more to say on a subject, or some of us (ahem, me) need to learn to be more succinct :P. - Adam Lasnik

I'm with Akiva. All these folks who post interesting stuff are now officially my "friends". What's in a name, anwyays? - Laura Norvig

Akiva, that's fascinating (that you're actually close with so many people on here). Maybe I'm just too detached. But -- particularly when trying to get non-geek friends into FF -- I have seriously encountered this problem repeatedly. One of them even commented that "I don't want online friends. I have enough real friends" and while that came across as a bit brusque, I can understand her point. - Adam Lasnik

we are all friends here - tony vaio

I've been mildly teasing a friend of mine about how lame his Facebook updates are ( http://friendfeed.com/mutantn... ). The stuff on FF is much more interesting, no matter what the name is. Do sump pump updates really draw people into Facebook? - Andy Bakun

You know, I've been on Facebook and they have more than faces there. I've seen photos of entire people. They should change their name. - Akiva Moskovitz

Everyone on here is my Friend. They give me their opinions on stuff and answer my questions. It is a 'Friend' feed. Besides, this conversation is a waste of time. They won't change their name because already to many people know it by the name - Tyler (Chacha)

I agree with Horst. Content is King. It is impossible though, not to interact, share and connect with the friendly people here at FriendFeed. Mark, perhaps Apple Inc sometimes sells lemons? - Chris Loft

I totally agree in spirit... Facebook should be Friendbook and FriendFeed should be PeopleFeed or one of the first names "Simplist". FriendFeed is powerful because you follow ideas and interests, not "friends". I don't consider many people on FF "friends" and that's perfectly fine. - Steve Isaacs

PeopleFeed? Soylent Data is PEOPLE! - Andy Bakun from IM

Consider that, as a participant in FriendFeed, the "friend" is because you are being a friend, not because other people are your friends. Golden rule and all. FF is a publishing and aggregation platform first, a consumption platform second (or these are at least on equal footing). Does FF support lurkers (pure consumption), or would they be better off lurking somewhere else? - Andy Bakun from IM

Bodybook? RandomPeopleWithContentFeed? Neither quite have the same ring to them... - Tyson Key

FiendFeed? ;) - Tyson Key

What about del.icio.us? You can't eat it, so you don't know if it's delicious. Flickr has static pages that don't flicker, too. ;) - Tyson Key

Google doesn't have a gooey center. I want my money back. - John Craft

I think I should have opened with a less radical premise. But I'm disappointed that I either failed in communication or there's a kneejerk ignoring of one of my core points. Outside the geek-o-sphere, people who join FF (from my experience) *find few or no friends here*. Their friends are on Facebook. And, more importantly, in meatspace. They don't want online friends. I would like FF to find a way to compellingly speak to and invite and support these folks to make FF a richer place for all of us. - Adam Lasnik

What about Google? It didn't leave a slimy mess everywhere, last time I used it. In all seriousness, FriendFeed is fine, and it sounds good. - Tyson Key

So then they should get their friends on FF. When I joined Facebook, not many of my friends were on it because it was a new service. Same when I joined Myspace, Twitter, YouTube, Friendster..Your core point is a moot one. - Mattie Kenny

I'm with matsie. Spread the word. Annoyed with kisses from vampires and being poked on facebook? Want a more serious online interaction? Try friendfeed. Use the different services on the internet like you always have, but have everything show up in one easy to find and navigable place. There's a whole internet out there, friendfeed will help you find it, and you'll help others find it. - Andy Bakun from IM

My. Friends. Are. Not. Geeks! At least not the ones I'm emphasizing here. They don't have 42 accounts online, a Flickr, a Posterous, a Whazhoodat etc. etc. etc. To them, Twitter is something a bird does. I want them to understand that there's interesting stuff to see, learn, talk about here, without them feeling obligated to sign up for other services, share a ton with strangers, etc. I think I'm fighting SSB (Severe Selection Bias) in this conversation <sigh>. - Adam Lasnik

I don't have anyone on here that is really my friend. I mean I don't feel I connect very strongly with anyone, but I still love friendfeed. I know someday my friends will care about Friendfeed, just like it took time for them to care about Myspace, FaceBook and so on. I think of my self as a pioneer among my friends. I venture into the areas they won't go cause I know one day they will follow and I can tell them about the things that are so new to them. I'm already a native friendfeed user. - Colide81 (James)

Adam, I think you're finding that line between FriendFeed the service and FriendFeed the community. The problem, imho, is that in essence FF has become an enhanced BBS or newsgroup of sorts. The community aspect took off, yet the service itself has almost become secondary to that... (notice for instance how the most popular posts are almost always done manually and not automatic... people almost skip the automatic ones now because the problem of "the noise" was never defeated). - Ňicķ

FriendFeed is a fun place for those who get into it and join the flow of these dispersed strangers who happen to be forming an online community here, but it is, sadly, not a easy life-enhancing service for the uninitiated.... (the real tragedy is that anything you can do on FF you can pretty much do on Facebook.... but not vice versa) - Ňicķ

Okay, so if FF doesn't appeal to people who consider Facebook to be The Internet®, what can be changed to bring them into the fold? Agreed Adam, the stereotypical facebook user doesn't have accounts on different internet sites. In that case, FF doesn't offer them much out of the box. This is, in my mind, not a deficiency with FF. In the same way that a hammer doesn't offer a way to tighten screws, but no one makes claims that they should. Different tools. - Andy Bakun

Okay, many good points here :). Perhaps, as you're suggesting, Andy, I'm trying to nail my friends...er, I mean, pound my square friends into a round role, um, you get my point. Maybe, as much as I enjoy FF, I have to realize that 1) it's not for everyone. 2) my definition of "friends" may be indeed different than others' definition :) - Adam Lasnik

I will agree that if your friends, or anyone, isn't on friendfeed, they are squares (L7, baby), yes. That's what we need: peer pressure. Peer pressure has seemed to work so far for me to get people onto FF, but it is an uphill battle against the likes of facebook (and the facebook sump pump updates). - Andy Bakun

I think it's bad to frame this as a FF vs. FB battle. They're both very different, IMHO, serving not only different people, but different interests. I like them both, and view them as complementary, not substitutional. - Adam Lasnik

I merely have been using FB, and twitter, as wellknown stand-in names for the stereotypical services that compete for mindshare with FF, acknowledging the fact that most people will only use one service/account regularly, and a lot of the people (not all) that are on those two services would actually get significant benefit from switching to FF. - Andy Bakun from IM

Friendfeed is a bit complicaated when you are starting out, I don't think many 'non-geeky' type of people would quickly fall in love with it. - Frederick Bvalani from IM

Sumpbook(TM) - Tyson Key

@Adam If you're friends aren't geeks and they don't use multiple services than FF is pretty useless to them so why are you even pressing this issue? There is absolutely no reason for FF to change it's name. It's a community to aggregate your various feeds and build relationships through conversation on those feeds. You can build a relationship with someone you know IRL or someone new who you have only encountered on the site. Either way you're building relationships, FRIENDSHIPS, if you will. - Mattie Kenny

relationshipfeed sounds like a dating site for lonely, hungry singles. - Andy Bakun from IM

@Andy Which is exactly why it's called Friendfeed. The "friend" connotates a positive relationship built through the service. That's why it's not Enemyfeed or Blockfeed. I don't even understand why we are discussing this. I feel like this is the most ludicrous message left in FF Feedback in a WHILE. - Mattie Kenny

Blockfeed. Nice. I used to hang out on a MUD called Zen, where you could just connect and contemplate the universe, there was never anyone there but you, it was peaceful, and quiet, no one to bother you. - Andy Bakun from IM

@Andy Sounds nice. Very peaceful. haha. - Mattie Kenny

The annoying thing about the name is it come out of the keyboard as freindfeed too often. - Peter

Or fiendfeed... - Rich

LOL @ Peter and Richard. That's so true!!! - Mattie Kenny

How about EgoFeed or ZenFeed? - Rameez Nooruddin