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@michaelpinto I sound like someone whos willing to admit that most of this is worthless garbage. Name one web series that is really great.

December 8 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Jim Turner liked this

Louis Gray

5 Reasons Why You Should Comment on Blog Posts - http://www.bitrebels.com/geek...

December 2 from Google Reader - Comment - Like - Share

Jim Turner, H0llywoodWh0re, Dan Morrill AKA Techwag and Chris Brakebill liked this

Loic Le Meur

Seesmic Desktop seems to work perfect under snow leopard, good news!

August 28 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Thomas Power, Jesse Stay, Sardar Mohkim Khan and Jim Turner liked this

Robert Scoble

Great book by @chrisbrogan:

August 21 from email - Comment - Like - Share

Meryn Stol, K.D., Adam Singer and 25 other people liked this

I've now read it and everyone who wants to change the world should read "Trust Agents: using the web to build influence, improve reputation, and earn trust" by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. - Robert Scoble from email

22 more comments

Still don't like that title. - WorldofHiglet

Excellent book - devoured it! Although - got to agree - the cover a little communist feeling. Took it off on the plane just to feel, well, less sickle and hammer. - Mary McKnight

Couldn't put it down last night even though I was on a 24 hour day - Dave Ferrick

I really enjoyed Chris & Julien's talk. As Chris said initially, the book is something that any one of us would've written and I agree. It was just really nice to hear echoed back to me in a far more more well thought out way the things I've been realizing myself since launching Misanthropic Geek. - Akiva Moskovitz

Robert, Thanks for the hype. Why don't you write a decent book review instead? I'd love to read your in-depth synopsis. - William Mougayar from iPhone

William: it is a freaking great book. You can pay me $40 for a good review. Geesh. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

Hmm, Robert: don't tell everyone your price - that's not good policy :) - WorldofHiglet

You read it? - Eric

This is an excellent book. However, trust is a journey into the unknown and we all know that the unknown is at the root of the fear emotion. If this concept is to take hold, some of what was valued in the previous century, information and exclusivity, will be devalued in this century, If we don't, much of this social media era will be a waste of time. Here is the first of a two part interview with Brogan on Trust Agents http://bit.ly/8pzOm enjoy. - Albert Maruggi

So I Google 'book review trust agents Chris brogan' and the 11th result is this very post (boomerang!). I was trying to find a real review by an unbiased non-friend of Brogan that I shld trust more than friends of Brogan. - William Mougayar from iPhone

I can't wait to get my copy of the "Trust Agents" book. Chris Brogan is one of the smartest guys writing today! - Susan Beebe from BuddyFeed

William everyone is a friend of Brogan's and that is why he is a trust agent and why you are having trouble. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

Naturally, I'll have to track down this book and read it. - Dennis Jernberg

What's a book? - Cliff Gerrish from iPhone

Cliff: a thing you read on a Kindle. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

or on your iPhone (Kindle app) - Susan Beebe from BuddyFeed

Just clicked the Amazon "Tell the publisher!" "I'd like to read this book on Kindle" link. Actually yes, on iPhone Kindle. - Peter Thistle

Robert - But the hype doesn't serve a friend. That was my point. Substantial statements go further than "read this, it's great". I was looking for 1 or 2 nuggets. "...will change the world" is a hype statement,- but I get your enthusiasm. - William Mougayar from iPhone

William: it has tons of stories and ideas of how you can gain trust, credibility, etc and use that to improve your business. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

bought one yesterday - got it signed! Whoot! - Dan Morrill AKA Techwag

I'm reading mine on the plane ride home. - Jim Turner

After all these reviews I'm really looking forward to reading this. - Daniel W. Crompton

I'm looking forward to reading this too, ASAP. - Michelle Nicol

drew olanoff

Geeky pick up line: "Hey baby, wanna manipulate my protein?" #gnomedex

August 21 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Rochelle, DaveDelaney.ME, Sarah Cooley and 7 other people liked this

Hey, baby, fold around here often? #gnomedex - Akiva Moskovitz

laura "@pistachio" fitton

Maybe there'd be more women speakers at tech events if more women had jobs where they're paid to spend hours preparing & giving free talks.

August 17 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Cathryn Hrudicka, Jim Turner and Jesse Stay liked this

Louis Gray

Let's Have Some Fun With This: Facebook Buying FriendFeed Is Like ____ Buying _____.

August 10 - Comment - Like - Share

Nicholas James, sofarsoShawn, Mitchell Tsai and 112 other people liked this

GM Buying BMW - Louis Gray

305 more comments

Paris Hilton buying Thomas Pynchon. - Akiva Moskovitz

Wal*Mart Buying Macy's? - Louis Gray

God Buying Buddha? - Jon, the Chilled Beartato

Louis Gray buying the Giants. - Mark Krynsky

McDonald's Buying Ruth's Chris? - Louis Gray

Mark - exactly the route I want to go. - Louis Gray

Louis Gray buying sleeping tablets - WorldofHiglet

like Lyndon LaRouche buying Barack Obama. - Spidra Webster

The Yankees Buying the Green Bay Packers - Louis Gray

Dell Buying Apple - Louis Gray

Ford buying Ferrari - Ken Sheppardson

tr.im buying bit.ly - Jon, the Chilled Beartato

Boeing buying Airbus - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

QVC Buying Ebay - Louis Gray

China buying the Internet - Mahendra (SkepticGeek)

China Buying the USA - Bastard Operator From FF

like Microsoft buying Adobe - Marco

Canada Buying Puerto Rico - Louis Gray

MySpace buying Twitter - Ken Sheppardson

like Juicy Couture buying Christian Dior. - Spidra Webster

Some big company buying some little company - Glen Mistletoe

Facebook Buying FriendFeed Is Like POP Buying CORN - chaz2b

+1 Spidra! LOL! - Michael Forian

McDonald's buying In-N-Out - http://ff.im/6q8Qp - chrisofspades

CBS buying CNET. Oh... no... wait - Ken Sheppardson

Some big GOOFY company buying some little KICK ASS company - Marco

Techcrunch buying Engadget. /me hides behind his desk. - Matthew Horton

The Catholics Buying the Mormons. :) - Louis Gray

"Dell Buying Apple" - Louis Gray -- I think makes a great deal of since in this context. - Nicholas Kreidberg

AOL Buying Microsoft - Jon, the Chilled Beartato

Swatch Buying Movado - Louis Gray

A teenager buying condoms. Awkward. - Andrew Smith

Microsoft buying Yahoo. Wait... shoot. That's not right. - Ken Sheppardson

Time Warner Buying AOL - Cathleen Rittereiser

Microsoft buying Canonical - vrjbln

Entrepreneurs buying futures - Josh Haley

Internet Explorer buying Opera - Marco

Yahoo buying Broadcast.com - Cathleen Rittereiser

GoDaddy buying InterNIC - Ken Sheppardson

Everybody Loves Raymond buying Arrested Development. - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

Ford buying Volvo. Oh...wait. - wyclif

Wall Street Journal Buying Seeking Alpha? - Louis Gray

Fox buying Revision3 - Matthew Horton

Looney Tunes Buying The Simpsons? - Louis Gray

Techcrunch buying Mashable. Or is it the other way around? - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

Rupert Murdoch buying The Huffington Post - Ken Sheppardson

Drudge Report Buying the Daily Kos? - Louis Gray

Yahoo buying Google....in 1999 - Onur Cengiz

National Enquirer Buying the New York Times - Louis Gray

Michael Jackson buying the Beatles. - teh Dork Knight aka Kenny

Batman buying the x-men! - Wayne Sutton from iPhone

Comcast buying TiVo - Ken Sheppardson

Beige Buying The Color Spectrum (think about it) - Louis Gray

G4 Buying TechTV - Jon, the Chilled Beartato

Ouch +1 Jonathan - Matthew Horton

CNN buying TWiT - Ken Sheppardson

Experts Exchange buying Stack Overflow - Brian Sloane

Google buying YouTube. ( YouTube and FF are my favorites) - Renchin(Reina)Wang

Microsoft Buying Quicken - Louis Gray

Hey now, LG, Looney Tunes is frakking awesome. How about Disney buying Pixar? Oh, wait..... (and actually, that one hasn't worked out badly, so is there yet hope?) - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

++ Jandy -> How about Dreamworks buying Studio Ghibli? - LogEx

elephant buying wings - K.D.

+1 Jandy - Guess that means there can be light at the end of the tunnel - Matthew Horton

Microsoft Outlook Buying Google Reader - Louis Gray

Google buyingTwitter - Bob Morris (polizeros) from iPhone

Polyester Buying Silk - Louis Gray

Larry Flynt buying Vogue - Ken Sheppardson

Fox News buying The Onion - Brian Sloane

+ ken - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

Warner Music buying Labrador or Barsuk - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

Budweiser buying Guiness - Matthew Horton

Microsoft buying (then eating) Linus Torvald's offspring - Slappy Line

LE, that one works. :) - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

Sam's Club buying Neiman Marcus - LogEx

LOL @ Brian- Fox News buying The Onion - zephyrlily

Utah Buying Las Vegas - Louis Gray

Jimi Hendrix buying the farm. - Adrian

Geocities buying WordPress - AJ Kohn

USA buying Australia :) - Matt G

Ticketmaster buying The Fillmore - Ken Sheppardson

Polaroid buying Flickr - AJ Kohn

lol Holden I think that sums it up - 'Like' robot (frɐnc)

Like Scoble buying decaf - Eric Rice

Oops I think Eric just killed the thread - Gilbert Harding

The Atlantic Ocean Buying the Carribean Sea - Louis Gray

Casio buying Steinway - Richard ¿digame? Walker

like trees buying flowers - Marco

Baskin Robbins Buying Coldstone Creamery - Louis Gray

The Pirates of The Caribbean (film) buying The Secret of Monkey Island - Jon, the Chilled Beartato

Britney Spears buying Billie Holiday - Rob Michael (Atmos Trio)

Bill Gates buying Steve Jobs dinner? - Gilbert Harding

Payless buying Zappos. - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

TWiT Buying FFundercats - Louis Gray

Walmart buying Barney's - AJ Kohn

@Jandy, or how about Amazon buying Zappos? - Jon, the Chilled Beartato

Like Bud buying Cuervo - jacky

LOL: TWiT Buying FFundercats - Marco

Amazon's cool, though. :) - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

USPS buying FedEx - Ken Sheppardson

Bee's buying Honey - Mac Sharp

@Jandy, they insulted my grandma. :P - Jon, the Chilled Beartato

+1 Mac - Gilbert Harding

UGO buying 1up - Matthew Horton

The IRS Buying H&R Block - Louis Gray

New York Yankees buying ... oh, well, that doesn't work. - AJ Kohn

India Buying Pakistan? :) - Louis Gray

Michael Bay buying Joss Whedon - Jon, the Chilled Beartato

+1 Jonathan - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

+1 Jonathan Definitely - Matthew Horton

NASA Buying Star Wars? - Louis Gray

Rails 'buying' merb - Ahsan Ali aka. Slick

Microsoft Buying Linux - Louis Gray

Microsoft buys Toys R Us - Gilbert Harding

Sears buying HBC - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Valve buying Playstations - Eric Rice

Like your grandma buying a nose ring http://www.youtube.com/watch... - BairdWilliamson

Wikipedia buying TVTropes - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Apple buying Xerox Parc - Richard ¿digame? Walker

Activision (Instrument Controller Division) buying Gibson - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

Encarta Buying Wikipedia - Louis Gray

Huffy buying Cervélo (for you cycling fanatics) - AJ Kohn

Richard: Waitaminute... - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Swarovski buying DeBeers - Spidra Webster

Thompson Guides buying GoogleMaps - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

Microsoft buying Digital Research - Richard ¿digame? Walker

AJ: Or Trek buying Gary Fisher? - Ken Sheppardson

Chevron buying the Sun - Rob Michael (Atmos Trio)

Lucifer buying heaven - LouCypher

You can tell you're still an LA n00b, Jandy. It's Thomas Guides. :)) - Spidra Webster

Vanilla buying chocolate - LogEx

George Lucas buying Star Trek - Jon, the Chilled Beartato

+1 Ken - Mainly because I actually got that one ;-) - Matthew Horton

Spidra, lol. I even started to look it up! I have a Thomas Guide somewhere, but haven't used it since I got an iPhone. - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

Digg buying reddit - invariant - farewell FF

Forrester Buying Gartner - Aaman (Clone of FF)

Me buying a Mars Bar - easy, relatively cheap, good for me and ultimately the end of the Mars Bar. - Martin Bryant from iPhone

Mike Nayyar buying his Dumpster - Jon, the Chilled Beartato

Night Train buying Chateau Neuf du Pape. - Spidra Webster

Nokia buying iPhone - LouCypher

Starbucks buying Pete's - Richard ¿digame? Walker

@Ken: Yup. - AJ Kohn

Exxon Mobil buying Greenpeace - Ken Sheppardson

The News of The World buying Twitter - Zackatoustra

Microsoft buying Firefox. - Jason Huebel from iPhone

Australia buying Bali - LouCypher

is like, well, there's nothing truly like it, but it might be like Myspace buying Fox.... - Mike Shields

That would possibly /improve/ Myspace - Matthew Horton

McDonalds buying Arby's? - Matthew Horton

Louis Gray buying China. - imabonehead

Boeing buying NASA - LouCypher

Coca Cola buying Starbucks ! - Nir Ben Yona

Coke buying water - Chris Nixon

Australia Buying New Zealand - Louis Gray

National Enquirer buying Louis Grey? - Matthew Horton

Simon Cowell buying Radiohead - Mark Evans

Japan buying Hawaii - LouCypher

U2 Buying Nine Inch Nails - Louis Gray

Mark... blasphemy! :) - LogEx

Warner Bros buying Lucas Film - LouCypher

Radiohead buying Muse /me runs for his life! - Matthew Horton

Hilton buying Paris - LouCypher

Dracula buying the Blood Bank - Matt G

Marriott buying W hotels ... - Amani

I think the sentence should end like so: Like ______ _____ing ______. I would have SEVERAL suggestions then. ;) - abacab

"The Most Boring Man in the World" buying Dos Equiis - .LAG liked that

Steve Ballmer buying The Cluetrain Manifesto - Richard ¿digame? Walker

Mike Arrington buying Leo Laporte - Larry Roth

Like a fat old guy buying a mail order bride. - Willem (@wim66) ☠

Fail whale buying the skater snail - Matthew Horton

Oil buying water - Mark Evans

Premiere Radio buying FFundercats - Richard ¿digame? Walker

Bono buying Pirate Bay - LouCypher

LA Galaxy buying Manchester United - Larry Roth

Like Ask buying Google - Keith - @tsudo

Pirate Bay users buying anything - Larry Roth

Night buying day - Mark Evans

Lars Ulrich buying Megadeth - LouCypher

Russia Buying Europe - Louis Gray

Flash Buying AJAX - Louis Gray

Lars Ulrich buying Napster - Larry Roth

I would say you're drunk with that Flash / Ajax one but I know it's not possible unless your milk is spiked. - Mark Krynsky

The Queen (HRH Elizabeth Windsor) buying France - WorldofHiglet

Yahoo buying Flickr. - Gus

Safeway buying Whole Foods - Matt Weeks

Louis: Aussie buying NZ! that will never happen - Geer

Jon Bon Jovi buying Van Halen - LouCypher

Timmies buying Starbucks - WorldofHiglet

Nike buying Converse... oh wait.. - Richard ¿digame? Walker

The Earth buying the Moon - WorldofHiglet

U.S. buying the moon - LouCypher

WalMart buying Whole Foods - Dominic Jones

Italy buying Mediteranian Sea - LouCypher

Myspace buying Facebook - Aaman (Clone of FF)

England Buying Wales - Louis Gray

The Yankees buying a World Series...oh wait... - Larry Roth

Silvio Berlusconi buying English Premier League - LouCypher

Shopper buying his necessities, (it's a business decision) - Wins Fern

Mark Cuban buying NBA - LouCypher

Berlusconi & Murdoch buying NPR - Richard ¿digame? Walker

Edward Lewis buying Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman - Andrew Smith

"India buying Pakistan" rofl - Rishabh Mishra (p248) from Android

LOL @ Rishabh - Aaman (Clone of FF)

Oracle buying Sun Microsystems. - imabonehead

Scientology buying Anonymous - Aaman (Clone of FF)

Vanhalen buying Sammy Hagar - Mac Sharp

Robert Scoble buying Louis Gray. - Wins Fern

The Vatican buying Hubble Telescope - LouCypher

lol you guys :-D - Richard ¿digame? Walker

Christmas Buying Hanukkah - Louis Gray

Swine Flu buying Tamiflu - Aaman (Clone of FF)

Monkeys buying footballs for the expressed purpose of fornicating with them. - abacab

Nerf buying the NFL - Keith - @tsudo

Bing buying the Google search engine - Ian

Java buying C# - Ian

Chris Pirillo Buying Mona - Louis Gray

HAHAHAHAHA, LG! - Spidra Webster

Dodi Al-Fayed buying a Mercedes - LouCypher

Amazon buying Zappos - Ian

AT&T buying T-mobile - Richard ¿digame? Walker

Mattel buying LEGO - LouCypher

Philip Morris buying Club Penguin - Dominic Jones

My school buying me, and I kick it off. - Lizunlong

Mickey Mouse Club buying Porn. oh wait. my bad. they had us at Spears. - TheMacMommy

SFMUNI buying the Concorde - Spidra Webster

Bono buying into "sunglasses are not cool". - Gilbert Harding

Delta buying NASA. - Frankie Warren

UGLY.COM buying BEAUTY.COM - David Newman

Tom buying Jerry :) - Serkan Unsal

Oracle buying ... oh wait ... - Julio F ~ @SocialJulio

Twitter buying Facebook - Tyson Key

Facebook buying whole web - Jacque

Apple buying Fisher Price. - Jemm

Mark Zuckerberg buying Bill Gates - Jacque

McDonald's buys Telco - Tyson

A large social media company buying a small social media company. - Big K

Facebook Buying FriendFeed Is Like Google Buying Lazyfeed. - sean808080

Walmart buying Zappos - phil baumann

Apple buying Facebook (and believe me it's coming) - Thomas Power

Oracle buying salesforce.com - Dave Food

Tinker-toys buying Lego? - MVB (Grinch of FF)

*smacks MVB* How DARE you besmirch tinker toys!!! Oh, and what's up with fiddling with your name, you trying to make me get MDV and MVB confused? - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

Lenovo Buying IBM (PC Group).. Ops! - Jacque

Microsoft buying Apple..... - Roberto Bonini from iPhone

A big fish buying a little fish - Angelo John Lewis

Amazon buying Zappos - Mark Essel

A man buying a sweet pretty dress, guess he pay and will never wear it himself. (some spend money just to impress others). - abdellah

Real Madrid buying Cristiano Ronaldo? - Faraz Mullick

Sony buying Apple? - Tyson Key

Eric buying Sookie - Andrew Terry

Volkswagen buying Skoda? - Tyson Key

GM buying Ferrari - Ladybug Heather

MySpace buying Twitter - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

Macy's buying Gimble's - Thom Kennon

The Sun buying The Guardian - Patrick Jordan

Twitter buying the corpse of Pownce - Tyson Key

Bacon buying Memes. - imabonehead

IBM buying Seagate - Tyson Key

Me buying a FriendFeed t-shirt. It will soon become a dust rag. - jcunwired

Xzibit buying Chuck Norris (edit) - AJ Batac

Real Madrid buying Manchester City - Jan Mulder

Satan buying Heaven? - Tyson Key

I liked MySpace buying Twitter. - Aram Zucker-Scharff from twhirl

Samsung buying Motorola - Tyson Key

Microsoft buying Mozilla - Pete Delucchi from iPhone

The RIAA buying The Pirate Bay - Tyson Key

Home Depot buying Bob Villa - Pete Delucchi from iPhone

HomeBase buying B&Q - Tyson Key

Bed, Bath & Beyond buying Ethan Allen - Pete Delucchi from iPhone

BILLY MAYS buying cocaine. - jcunwired

Axe body spray buying Old Spice - Pete Delucchi from iPhone

Rupert Murdoch buying Huffington Post - Pete Delucchi from iPhone

Best Buy buying Amoeba's Records - Pete Delucchi from iPhone

WoW buying LOTRO - Pete Delucchi from iPhone

Huntingdon Life Sciences buying PETA - Tyson Key

Warez-pirate buying DRM'd music - Jemm from fftogo

McDonald's buying StarBucks - Tyson Key

Colleague here suggested "First blank FriendFeed, second blank...change that to Selling, and last blank...Out." Ouch? - abacab

Hugh Grant buying Divine Brown's services. - Jordi Soler

ITV buying the BBC - Tyson Key

Yahoo! buying Google - Tyson Key

Lycos buying Yahoo! - Tyson Key

Dogpile buying Google - Ladybug Heather

Me buying the kid who copied my work at school [edit] oops, I mean the kid who's work I copied at school, lol - Slappy Line

Google buying Jaiku / Dodgeball - Sidharth Dassani

Dolly Parton buying breast implants - April Russo (app103)

VW buying Porsche? - MVB (Grinch of FF)

lol except didnt porsche end up cornering the market on VW shares? That would be like friendfeed buying facebook ;) - Frankie Warren

a Hyundai owner buying a Ferrari for parts. - Kevin Pedraja

U of Mich Flint buying Kettering University... sorry, no one else will get that - Kevin L

Xing buying socialmedian - let's face it, they bought the talent! I've only heard good things about Xing though:) - Michael Fidler

Yahoo buying Delicious.... oh wait - Jeff (the メガマクダジ of FF)

Mephistopheles buying Dr Faust... - Laurent

Jon Gosselin buying Ed Hardy...Eew - Denise

Ted Turner buying Times-Warmer - Houseofmax

Dumb buying Ass - ‘-.-’ Tutivillus Grift

like a cheerleader buying a software engineering book .. WHY ?! .. who will read it on facebook! - fouad

AOL buying Facebook - Tyson Key

N. Korea buying the US :P - mjc

a nerd buying a condom. They'll never use it - Jim Goldstein

China buying Taiwan - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

lol yours was the best. - Tinu Abayomi-Paul

Ball Park buying Redondos - Ron Hagenhoff

I used a "Kia bought Cadillac." analogy yesterday. - Robert Miller

Hersheys buying Scharffen-Berger - Spidra Webster

A bigass mofo kicking the shit out of you and then buying out the cops so he won't go to jail!!!! - sofarsoShawn

Google buying Jaiku - Bryan Lee

Steve Rubel

Just confirmed that I will be speaking again at Blog World Expo this year http://www.blogworldexpo.com/

August 4 - Comment - Like - Share

Jim Turner, Steffan Antonas and Christopher Golda liked this

Guy Kawasaki

I love that someone with 18 followers just unfollowed me because she thinks I don't know how to use social media...

July 28 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Charlie Anzman, Nicholas James, Jim Turner and 69 other people liked this

That happens to me all the time. - Robert Scoble

109 more comments

Does anyone "really" know how to use social media? - David Damore

lol, that's hilarious! - Melissa Cherry

Looks like Scoble beat me on getting the first comment ;) - David Damore

It's the noobs like Guy who ruin it for the rest of us. :) - Chris Foley

David - That's probably because you don't know how to use social media! ;-) - Herb Hernandez

How do you even know that? You have almost 155K followers. How do you track who comes and goes, let alone their reason? - Chris Spizzirri

Chris: ever hear of @replies? I see everything you say about me. - Robert Scoble

Maybe you were really annoying and just posted link after link after link after link. Are YOU the example of what's correct in the world of social media? Is someone with 18 followers somehow wrong> - Tyler Hurst

@Herb Hernandez Ouch ;) ;) - David Damore

Scoble: Of course I've heard of @replies. Seems condescending for you to ask. Either way, Guy didn't say that's how he knew, so I asked rather than assumed. - Chris Spizzirri

I personally AM willing to assume that Guy knows about @replies. Just saying... - Chris Foley

Of course he does. We all do. But discounting someone with a limited number of followers smacks of condescension. Nice attitude. - Tyler Hurst

Tyler: sorry, but sometimes that attitude is correct. Why does everyone's opinion count equally? And here it didn't seem to be condescension, but rather a blowback. Anyone who says they are unfollowing is being a jerk. Just unfollow quietly. Someone who says they are unfollowing intends to injure and SHOULD be met with condescension. - Robert Scoble

Not only does Guy know how to use Social Media, so do the people who tweet for him! - Garin Kilpatrick

Garin: that actually was Guy. When his staff tweets for him they include their initials after the Tweet. - Robert Scoble

Here's an interesting argument: I agree mostly with Scoble here, but there is a communication issue in business today. Most people, when faced with a "bad" experience, they will simply discontinue patronizing that business. They will then tell all of their friends about the bad experience. This behavior creates a churn that's very difficult to track and understand. I personally love any... more... - Chris Foley

Robert - I agree with you in part. I hate people who announce they are unfollowing, but also can't stand people who then complain about that same thing. Guy did the near equivalent of what the first person did. Shouldn't we expect more from you popular kids? - Tyler Hurst

Tyler: no, we're human and we like lashing back just as much as anyone else does. - Robert Scoble

Robert - okay, but we still can and should hold people like you, guy, brogan and others to a higher standard. It's just part of leading the charge. - Tyler Hurst

Should we be thrusting the mantle of "role model" on these guys because they were here first, and caught fire? - Chris Foley

Chris - oh heck no. Not role model. I don't think we should aspire to BE them, but we should expect more from them. - Tyler Hurst

Chris: people with a big audience do have a bigger responsibility, yes. But then if we stop taking risks and stop being human we get boring and then we'll do no one any good. Personally Guy is making a point tonight. Those on Twitter are often full of crap and who said that people who are full of crap should be listened to, or engaged with, or even coddled? Anyway, I'm off to bed. - Robert Scoble

um, I just wanted to Tweet to Guy that we're all talking about him over on his FriendFeed account. See ya! - Robert Scoble

And that last statement is why most of us don't have to worry about Scoble fading out or becoming irrelevant. Nice. - Tyler Hurst

Scoble, I don't expect anything more from you because you have a larger audience, but I do recognize (as you obviously also do) that you have a bigger opportunity for positive (or negative) impact. I like my leaders as real as can be, and that includes the occasional barking. Keep taking risks, and thanks to you and Guy for having your necks out there. - Chris Foley

Thats amazing, saying that to guy with 154,953 Twitter followers - Luis Torres

Hmmm. interesting conversation here. So, what really is Guy' problem? someone unfollowing him, or someone with ONLY 18 followers unfollowing him? seems to be the latter! I like how @scobelizer just generalized everyone on twitter as full of crap. Amazing!!! - Ramesh Prabhu

Ramesh - I'm mostly full of crap. I have 2300ish followers. Does that make me important at all? - Tyler Hurst

Luis - who cares about followers? - Tyler Hurst

Scoble: I meant you were being condescending to me by asking if I knew about @replies. I expect Guys know about them also. Incidentally, your opinion (or the opinion of the other elites) is no better than anyone else's. Just because someone only has 18 followers doesn't mean they deserve your condescension, nor do they deserve it if they choose to announce the reason for their decision... more... - Chris Spizzirri

That'll teach ya ;) - Cookenstein

Chris Spizzirri, don't you think you're taking that comment a little bit personally? What Scoble said to you seemed a bit tongue in cheek to me. But to you it was condescending, which means he's an a-hole (your words.) That's a pretty big character judgement made from one 4 word sentence. - Chris Foley

and.... crickets from Scoble. Typical. - Chris Spizzirri

Chris: I am potty training my two year old and responding to other things than your condescension. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

I love how someone with a billion followers on twitter asks how to follow on FriendFeed :) - Robert Higgins

Spizzirri - Hey, thanks for taking over the biggest douchebag in the thread from me! Some ppl's opinions ARE less important than others. - Tyler Hurst

brush it off - you're the man! - shaun mclane

Chris Foley, no the character judgement was not made from a 4 word sentence, but from the entire thread, and who do you think is making the character judgment here? who's making the assumption that someone with only 18 followers knows nothing? who's making the assumption that no on on twitter knows diddly squat? Gimme a break! - Ramesh Prabhu

Scoble: Try paying attention to your kid and ignore the internets for a minute. OK? Also, try being less arrogant. - Chris Spizzirri

@Chris Foley: No I don't. He was being condescending. Read the whole thread. - Chris Spizzirri

It's so cute that Spizzirri gets so mad at Scoble. - Tyler Hurst

@Tyler: You're welcome, and you've proven your own point! Well done! - Chris Spizzirri

@Tyler: What's it like being a Scoble fanboy? - Chris Spizzirri

I did read the whole thread (Chris Spizzirri and Remesh Prabhu). I've been in since the 5th comment. I don't see people being condescending here. I see people airing their opinions. I also see you and Remesh putting words into the mouths of others. If I disagree with you, am I also condescending? Chris Spizzirri seems to me to be looking for a fight here, he's now lashing out and... more... - Chris Foley

@Chris - WTF are you talking about? Now you're going after me? Man, you're a dick! - Tyler Hurst

I don't like being condescended to, that's what's under my skin. How is Scoble asking me if I've ever "heard of @replies" not condescending? If I'm on FF, it's safe to assume I know about and understand Twitter. Moreover, as I pointed out, Guy never said he knew from an @reply--Scoble assumed that. I was just asking a question, but got his smarmy reply. - Chris Spizzirri

It takes arrogance to tell me to stop being arrogant. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

@Tyler - "It's so cute that Spizzirri gets so mad at Scoble" and "Spizzirri - Hey, thanks for taking over the biggest douchebag in the thread from me! Some ppl's opinions ARE less important than others." How again are you surprised that I don't like you? - Chris Spizzirri

Chris, we're clearly very different guys here. If Scoble ribs me, I'm going to rib him back. I'm not going to get all bent out of shape, and get angry, and in getting angry, become a bigger jerk in retaliation than he was being in the first place. When I see you getting all pissed of because of some opinion that a stranger has, I have to wonder what is wrong with you, not wrong with that stranger and his silly opinion. - Chris Foley

Stop being arrogant, Robert Scoble! No? Alright. You can stay as you are. - Jason Huebel

@Scoble: "It takes arrogance to tell me to stop being arrogant." I don't agree. How do you figure? - Chris Spizzirri

Um @Chris, hate to break it to you, but Scoble's first comment wasn't condescending toward you, he was trying to make a point. I never said I was surprised, I just said you were a dick. Thanks for helping degrade the conversation! - Tyler Hurst

people are people so why should it be you and i should get along so awfully - Robert Higgins

It takes arrogance to disagree with someone who is arrogant too. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

I disagree with that statement :) - Chris Saad

Chris Tyler is right. You are overreacting to my prod. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

Could be that the person with only 18 followers has a kind of native wisdom we all might learn something from, hey? ;-) - Kathy Fitch

Scoble seems to be in a bunch of flamewars and arguments lately, like, within the last month. I think it's all a big experiment. - Eric Florenzano

@Chris Foley: Fair enough, but things that Scoble says get under my skin more than someone else because of his stature. I think his comment was rude. If you had said that to me I likely wouldn't have paid any mind, but when Scoble treats people like that it's different. Whether he likes it or not, he's made himself an ambassador here, and wisecracks to newcomers aren't very diplomatic.... more... - Chris Spizzirri

Yawn. All this over someone unfollowing Guy. - Rick Cogley

You started it by not understanding how I could see everything said about me. That demonstrated you haven't learned about how @ replies work. That is all. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

@Scoble: "It takes arrogance to disagree with someone who is arrogant too." You've just restated what you said before, but you haven't explained. I understand what you are saying: I must be arrogant to say that you are. What's the basis for your claim: "It takes one to know one"? Do you have something more substantial? - Chris Spizzirri

@Chris Spizzirri. Thanks for your last explanation. I appreciate that kind of straight communication. I find that a lot more productive than when we resort to finger pointing and name calling. I also don't disagree with you there. - Chris Foley

Chris: don't you get I am just poking you? - Robert Scoble from iPhone

Why don't boy fights ever involve anything interesting, like jello or something. Sigh. - Kathy Fitch

2 X Chris UFFFFFFFF - Johni Fisher

@Tyler - Pretty sure the sentence "Now you're going after me?" indicates surprise, but thanks for calling me a dick without provocation. Boy, this is my first real foray into a FF conversation, and it sure seems like mob mentality dominates. - Chris Spizzirri

Kathy: those are on my pay-per-view channel. Chris: geesh, two people are now a mob? And +I+ am arrogant? - Robert Scoble from iPhone

Whipped cream could also work. - Kathy Fitch

No @Chris, you just don't understand how to participate in a threaded conversation with multiple people. It's not personal until you make it. Learn to banter. Learn to see beyond the literal definition. LIGHTEN UP. @kathy, how about something manly, like caramel? - Tyler Hurst

I dunno, Robert, some things just can't be purchased, but must emerge naturally. Or so I think. - Kathy Fitch

But I like red jello. Just FYI. - Kathy Fitch

As it happens, caramel could totally work. Is butterscotch manly? It does have "scotch" in it. - Kathy Fitch

Okay, the value of this thread has petered out for me. Thanks all for sticking with it. And Kathy, thanks for making me hungry. - Chris Foley

@Foley did you say you're UNFOLLOWING our conversation? The other @Chris might see that as condescending. Please apologize. - Tyler Hurst

@Scoble - again with the condescension. I know how @ replies work. I already said that. Guy didn't say that's how he knew, so I asked how he knew. You started it by assuming it was via @ reply. I sure hope this is an experiment of your's (as someone suggested above), and that you're not really this much of a jerk to people who disagree with you. I've had a boat load of fun here in FF... more... - Chris Spizzirri

Any time, Chris. Robert, I suggest posting a sample on B43. That would go viral, for sure. - Kathy Fitch

@Chris, if your friends are anything like you, we'll all be sure to ridicule them. - Tyler Hurst

Spizzirri: I looked again at this thread and all I see is YOUR condescension. Geesh. I have explained what I meant and you just turned up the heat hotter. Why? - Robert Scoble from iPhone

Alright, I'm at a disadvantage, because FF stops updating the thread and I miss out on replies while I'm typing. Replies that would be enlightening. @Scoble - maybe I was being too sensitive, but you should be more aware of how the things you write are interpreted. Sarcasm is the most difficult thing to convey in writing and is prone to misinterpretation. I didn't come here to get in a... more... - Chris Spizzirri

Chris: I have no idea whether you are a newbie or not. If you are met with an arrogant (to you) reply the RIGHT answer is to ask questions and explain yourself, not to start throwing bombs. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

Ryo: hint. Guy was making a bigger point than the number of followers. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

you are the leper of social media... mmmm (where's the savior?) - Jeffrey T. Sooey

It depends on your definition of 'use', I suppose. - Will Higgins™

@Scoble- I did ask questions and explain myself. How arrogant of you to tell me what the "RIGHT answer" is despite constantly saying 'no one is a social media expert.' I guess you've decide you are now, huh? I have a right to say I thought your reply was rude. What gives you the right to tell me how to interact with ppl here? This is no different than a conversation in person, and I can... more... - Chris Spizzirri

Spizzirri... When an argument flares up, the wise man quenches it with silence. @scoble is prodding you, and not going to be silent. How about you? I know I am ;) - Ramesh Prabhu

No jello, yet? (Drumming fingers and yawning.) - Kathy Fitch

Kathy I just blocked that dude so we can bring out the jello. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

@Ramesh - I'm evidently not very wise, but I'm going to take your advice. I think I'm guilty of assuming that Scoble would be better than an average person because he's in a position of prominence. That's my mistake. I apologize for my faulty assumption and for ruining this thread. Good night. - Chris Spizzirri

He blocked me. What a jerk. I hope this is a lesson to anyone as naive as I was 2 hours ago--Scoble, at least, feels entitled in this space to your deference. Be wary of questioning him or anything he says. - Chris Spizzirri

lolwut - Rodfather

Rodfather: what flavor of jello would you like to throw at me? I am throwing lime. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

Who are you exactly ? Are you familiar with Twitter, FF and other ICQ ? :-) - Pierre-Olivier Carles

Yay--no orange, that's all I ask. It's a childhood thing--long and painful story. Suffice it to say that it would utterly destroy the moment. Lime, though, is a good thing. - Kathy Fitch

If I had jello, I'd be nom'ing it right now. Mandarin orange jello sounds good right now. - Rodfather

Rodfather: that is why I picked lime. I don't like that flavor and would rather throw it. By the way, I have blocked that Chris dude to save him the pain of having to deal with me. - Robert Scoble from iPhone

Always someone who insists on orange. I'm wounded to the very core. - Kathy Fitch

Grinning and throwing orange jello at Rodfather. - Kathy Fitch

I question @Scoble's decision to waste perfectly good lime jello. @kathy, i have cherry. FIGHT! - Tyler Hurst

I just utterly approve of edible weaponry. - Kathy Fitch

Wow! This thread just became a microcosmic example of why there will always be social and political factions! One seemingly humorous (and innocent) comment is attributed with all sorts of vile motivations, and then those supposed motivations are constructed into a "villain" born of their own attitude, and then the "villain" manufactured by their own imagination is in turn attacked because they don't like the image they're projecting onto him/her/it ... amazing, just amazing! *shakes head and walks away* - Mark "DerBingle" J

I find it hilarious that Chris Spizzirri is an attorney. - Tyler Hurst

Tyler: throw some lime jello at him for me! - Robert Scoble from iPhone

At the ER with my wife. Glad I have something to entertain me for the 3+ hours it has been thusfar. - Herb Hernandez from iPhone

an attorney who studies Zen, no less. - Chris Foley

@herb, glad to have helped entertain, I hope you and your wife are okay? - Chris Foley

you guys - Paul Greer

Ha! - Charlie Anzman

# of followers has nothing to do with your understanding of social media. I think some people who claim they know how to use it think its just for spamming and promotion. - Thac0

I think there is some danger of flooding the zone with tweets. Think about it from a person following just a small handful of people on twitter. If one person is supplying 95% of the tweets they get, it's likely to be really frustrating. - Trent Hamm

Robert Scoble

Oh, oh, Teens in Tech was apparently hacked: http://netnewsdaily.com/2009... is this a way to get back at TechCrunch? (Teens in Tech's founder now works at TechCrunch).

July 22 - Comment - Like - Share

Jason Hargrove, Mitch Featherston, Lora Lufark and 15 other people liked this

Sounds like a script kiddy who made enemies with Daniel for some reason. - Jesse Stay

54 more comments

ouch Scoble what you saying :P directly linking a hack to TechCrunch, what next TechCrunch getting hacked now ;) - Keith Dsouza

Keith: nah, it just sounds like the same kind of thing that the hacker did to Twitter. - Robert Scoble

This is not Drew, I hacked his FriendFeed. Ok thats not true, it's me. - drew olanoff

This isn't at all what the hacker did to Twitter. He simply got auth to Wordpress, most likely a brute-force dictionary attack, very easy hack. He didn't get any other info from him - the kid who hacked in (and I say kid because it probably was) is inexperienced, I'm willing to bet. - Jesse Stay

That page doesn't even render right for me. Maybe it's an IE8 problem. Do you really think it was anti-TechCrunch? - RobinDotNet

I was just about to blame Drew's Cancer for this. - Jim Turner

Ouuch!! - Francisco Espinoza

Jim, is it *really* Drew's cancer though? - Jesse Stay

Okay bad joke, sorry Drew! I #blamedrewscancer for that. - Jesse Stay

I am so changing my password now. - Jim Turner

You could change your password to 'password'. Surely they wouldn't try that, because who would be that stupid now? (Only like 25% of system administrators I'd bet! ;-) ) - RobinDotNet

But I use 5's for the ss. Shhh don;t tell. - Jim Turner

Hey everyone - Daniel here. We just did a security audit, and no information, other then the screen shot posted. There is no way that the data could compromised in the future. We turned all registrations off until further notice as well. - Daniel Brusilovsky

My passwords are all in binary - Jesse Stay

script kiddies don't need a reason. - Eric @ CSTechcast.com

jesse stay -- I love that. Great idea, but lots of 1's and 0's. Hex would be shorter. - RobinDotNet

Robin, I'm referring more to Unicode, so I guess not binary. It's all binary in the end. :-) - Jesse Stay

Jesse Stay -- still love the idea. I feel the urge to write a translation program coming on... - RobinDotNet

It must be revenge! Nope, sounds like a regular hacker. Nothing REALLY serious. - Amir from iPod

This has nothing to do with TC and Twitter. It's a middle-school rivalry and very small scale indeed. - Louis Gray

Louis, there's nothing more evil than a middle school rivalry. Handling those with aplomb prepares one for all challenges that will come thereafter. (Middle school. Shudder.) - Kathy Fitch

Daniel has issued an official response: http://blog.teensintech.com/2009... - Louis Gray

I think Daniel's being too nice to NND - Jesse Stay

oh man, that sucks, sorry daniel! - sean percival

"accessory to the crime" comes to mind on this one... - Jesse Stay

isn't this a newsworthy story? **confused** - Allen Stern

NND are only in the interest of keeping the security of sensitive information up-tight and secure. That is why we published the story. - Nathan Adam

Allen, newsworthy stories are typically worthy of being properly researched and documented, and are not littered with "our anonymous source." If a source must be protected, at the very least there would be some discussion of why, and an attempt to explain the source's credibility. This was pretty mudslinging stuff, the tone of which was not at all dominated by concern for end-user... more... - Kathy Fitch

Kathy, we have spoken to Daniel Bru, and he has also written a blog post revealing the truth of this article. The Blog Herald and the Inquistr both picked up the story and sourced our article, we also have credible screenshots of the admin panel, how could we possibly have these screenshots, without the source. Please read some of the tweets made on the @danielbru and the @teensintech for more information on the security concern that we uncovered. - Nathan Adam

I watched the whole thing unfold last night, Nathan. I'm curious--when did being able to produce stolen goods ever count as making a source credible? I'll stand by my take on it: a fact isn't the same thing as a truth, and posting a fact gained by nefarious means isn't inherently ethical. - Kathy Fitch

Nefarious means? This was not gained by criminal means, we were sent this by a source. Stolen goods? This is exposing a very big security leak of Teens in Tech, Net News Daily is trying to uphold the security of Teens in Tech members, we have spoken with Daniel and he agrees with our stance that we are trying to uphold the security of his members. - Nathan Adam

Someone hacked into it, Nathan. Who? That isn't newsworthy? - Kathy Fitch

Yes, but your comment makes it out that we criminally obtained this information. Net News Daily did not obtain the information criminally, the way the hacker obtained the information was unethical, but highlighted how easy it was to access a site that is used by many people of the younger generation. That is what I am stuck at. - Nathan Adam

I read the initial NND post, Nathan. A big part of the story was that the site apparently claims more visitors than the theft indicates is warranted. What's with that? How you came into possession of the stolen evidence of a hole in the security interests me. Is that story in the offing? - Kathy Fitch

Sorry, Paul, I don't agree. Of course, the theft is newsworthy, but the path the evidence took to the outlet is, as well. That matters. - Kathy Fitch

Yes, we got information that he had said in an interview on YouTube that he was number juggling, this was something that we were asked to highlight in our article, and was exposed in screenshots that we were given showed this. We just added this to our article after watching the video and seeing the lying. We do not know if the person who got into the site has something against Daniel because we really don't know. We have just been given this information. - Nathan Adam

Guess we'll have to call this one a permanent disagreement. Whatever the motivations of the hacker/thief, those screenshots were obtained unlawfully. To me, that's not, "oh, well, that's life, and we got a helluva story out it" type deal. That Daniel has responded with such aplomb, under the circumstances, does not alter my gut take on it. - Kathy Fitch

Ok, Kathy you are entitled to your own opinion and we have to accept everyone's take on the situation. I hope this one story doesn't give you a casting decision over our careers, as we are are still very young and learn a lot every day. We only know that we published the details of someone getting into an admin panel. The source was adamant that he wanted the post published on our site. We unfortunately cannot do anything about the access by the hacker, as we cannot go back in time.. - Nathan Adam

At least I can say that the good thing that comes from this is that the security leak has been patched, and we can move on from this and make sure that the internet environment is safer in the future. - Nathan Adam

If a bank robber circulates evidence of his crime, and I come into possession of that evidence, I'm interested in tracking down the robber, and getting him caught. Part of the story will surely be that clients of the bank should exercise due caution, and that the bank will need to tighten security, but a huge part of the story is that there's a robber on the loose, who endangers us all. I'd do whatever I could to get him caught. Do you plan to turn your focus to identifying the hacker, now? I'd admire that. - Kathy Fitch

This has happened before and as you have seen by Paul's input, TechCrunch recently released the Twitter documents, by an anonymous source, and I don't see your opinion stretching to this topic. Just because we are younger doesn't mean that you need to target us rather than the big fishes. Sources have a legal right to be kept anonymous. - Nathan Adam

Why invoke age? In life so far, I've noticed no correlation at all between age and ethical development. But I take it that's a "no" on nailing the hacker. - Kathy Fitch

We published the Teens in Tech article in the interest of making sure that the Teens in Tech is as secure as possible. If it wasn't primarily about that we would have thought twice about publishing it. However, we did believe that this in the long run would help, even if you do not agree with the ethics behind our way of making the internet more secure. - Nathan Adam

Guys, I do hear you--I simply have a different take on it. "Who would do that, and will he/she be nabbed?" interests me as a consumer of your story. Paul, I can see you're ticked (I think it's quite impossible simultaneously to welcome feedback and to designate it as bitching), so I'll leave it at that for now. I'm not a devotee of TechCrunch, so "hey, *they* do this too" is immaterial... more... - Kathy Fitch

As I said before Kathy you are entitled to your take on the story, and I do respect that. Paul has reflected his take too! Haha. Hope this doesn't create an overcasting impression on Net News Daily, for the future. Bye. - Nathan Adam

No worries there, Nathan. The story did the job of getting you on lots of radar screens, I think, so there's that. - Kathy Fitch

Haha, thank you again for your take, it has certainly been interesting! In some ways, on the negative radar screens, unfortunately. However, hopefully the reason for publishing has been and will be implemented. - Nathan Adam

Apparently the Patriot Act has been extended to cover corporate ethics...? And can be executed by anyone with a news blog? Give me a break. - Jason Hargrove

NewsNetDaily have since removed the post....there's no point after everyone's read it ;) - Nicholas James

Incredible. I left a commentary on the original post a bit earlier. (I'll post it here for the record). In response, the original post was edited, with various information removed. A note was left stating that this action was in response to posted comments. I then left a third comment about how the original post should not have been edited, but perhaps updated. Minutes later, the entire post was removed. - Jason Hargrove

/////// For The Record /////// The following comments were addressed to Nathan Adam, Scott Campbell and Paul McEnhill at netnewsdaily.com. After comments 1 and 2 were posted, the information mentioned in my comments was removed and the original post edited. After comment 3 was posted, the entire post was removed. So much for transparency and accountability in "journalist" blogging.... more... - Jason Hargrove

Hi Jason, I have spoken with Daniel and I have taken the article down for re-creation. I am happy to speak with you on the matter over e-mail. - Nathan Adam

Hi Nathan, I'm glad that you are working to resolve it. As you see from the many comments above (and via Twitter Search), you've left a trail of damage across the internet. It's only fair that the entire trail be recorded. I have nothing left to say. It's not my beef. I hope you and Daniel are able to resolve your issue, and wish you luck. More than anything, I hope that this event results in a higher standard of integrity from tech bloggers. I don't like the precedent that has been set this week. Peace. - Jason Hargrove

Thak you Jason, there is a story behind the story, which is quite depressing upon me. However, I am glad that I have been able to resolve things with Daniel on behalf of Net News Daily and myself. Thanks again, bye. - Nathan Adam

Nathan--that is one smart rewrite. I'm impressed. - Kathy Fitch

tony felice

Social Media Infiltrates the Traditional Agency | Red Door Buzz - http://reddoorbuzz.com/2009...

July 21 from Facebook - Comment - Like - Share

Jim Turner liked this

Robert Scoble

There's one thing NO ONE is talking about in terms of #twittergate (the role of the SUL in pressure on @techcrunch). Will discuss here:

July 15 - Comment - Like - Share

Joe Dawson, thinkQuick, Gordon Saunders and 33 other people liked this

TechCrunch is on Twitter's Suggested User List. They have been gifted about 880,000 followers by being on that list, AKA "SUL". That's worth a lot of money. - Robert Scoble

166 more comments

SUL? - iconic88

SUL? Sulfuric acid? - Richard

So what are you saying? That they shouldn't leak the docs because they got a lot of followers from Twitter? - Dare Obasanjo

That they leaked the docs to become more popular on twitter? - Tyler Hurst

the point most people are missing is that TechCrunch states they have spoken with Twitter. I am sure Twitter execs know what's coming and are prepared - Kevin

brave new world... - Bill Kinney

Wouldn't you think the <800k SUL-generated followers would have made @arrington LESS likely to publish the docs? - Tom Guarriello

Dare: I bet that Twitter is threatening Mike with getting kicked off. - Robert Scoble

Here is a link to a post of a dozen screenshots of Twitters admin panels http://www.nowhereelse.fr/admin-t... "There are 187 featured SUL Uusers" - Mark

Tom: it's gotta be one consideration Mike is considering. - Robert Scoble

Techcrunch did mention in one of their posts that Twitter is generating a lot of traffic for them. So the SUL does work for them. And it works for twitter as they stop TC from posting the documents - Sidharth Dassani

Sure, Robert. But he's pushed it this far despite the SUL factor. - Tom Guarriello

SUL = Suggested User List - Manuel Arroyo

I bet that twitter prefers this to leak on techcrunch where Mike can spin some stories for them than to see the zip file with the docs appearing on a torrent site ! - Eschnou

wikileaks maybe? - Mark

So twitter kicks arrington off. does he publish the docs? does that help him? - Tyler Hurst

If Twitter kicks him off get ready for a big time firestorm! (Just mistyped: "firestory"!) - Tom Guarriello

Tom: Mike is a journalist. He also says that someone else will publish them, so might as well tell everyone that these things are knocking around in public. - Robert Scoble

Even without the suggested users list, TechCrunch must be weighing the cost of enmity with the most popular startup in the Valley right now. Don't they write like 3 Twitter stories a day? What happens if Twitter stops talking to them and takes all their press communications to Mashable (who are already beginning to kick TechCrunch's butt with their social media savviness? - Dare Obasanjo

Robert - Arrington is NOT a journalist. Journalists check sources. Process journalism is NOT real journalism. He's a writer. - Tyler Hurst

How did Arrington not check his sources? He confirmed they are real docs - Kevin

Yes, read all his rationale. Seems sincere in trying to separate juiciest from items he considers newsworthy. BTW, I do believe he is a journalist. - Tom Guarriello

Which would they kick? Him with ~8K followers? Not TC with ~1million followers. - Mike Shea

Kevin - not just this article. did you see his article on how the free google apps was gone when it was just a page layout change? - Tyler Hurst

Tyler: I've been in the hotel room watching as Arrington checked his sources on a story. You're wrong on that one. - Robert Scoble

Mike: almost all of TechCrunch's followers were gifted to him by TechCrunch (same with Mashable, by the way). Before the Suggested Users List came along both had fewer followers than me, Leo Laporte, and a couple of others. Being on the SUL is worth lots of money (I believe it's worth millions, if you stay on it for a few years). - Robert Scoble

Tom - these are stolen documents. What does his rationale matter at this point? - Tyler Hurst

Dare: yes, I'm sure Mike is considering all the consequences. Also, if these documents really do exist someone will publish them. When I quit Microsoft I told 15 people and I didn't even know the guy who leaked my story. - Robert Scoble

For the record, so far, I have not been given the Twitter documents. - Robert Scoble

Scoble - so why doesn't Twitter just publish them? Get ahead of any new site? - Tyler Hurst

Tyler: journalists have printed stolen stuff that's newsworthy in the past. - Robert Scoble

Tyler: I don't know, but I bet that Twitter does not want these released. - Robert Scoble

Tyler - So were the Pentagon Papers. - Tom Guarriello

Tyler: I wonder, if I did have them, and I talked with @ev, would he offer to put me on the SUL in return for not publishing the documents? - Robert Scoble

Scoble - are they newsworthy because they're stolen or newsworthy because they're juicy? What good does this do? - Tyler Hurst

Scoble - now that's a damn good question about SUL. - Tyler Hurst

No journalist should have accepted to be on the SUL and at least at this moment ask that they be taken off. - Stephen Pickering

Dare, to answer your original question, the SUL is a gift worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe even millions. Jason Calacanis has already set the price at $250,000. So, the SUL is, in effect, a bribe that can be used to keep journalists/bloggers/twitterers in line. If you had a gift in your hand worth hundreds of thousands of dollars you would think twice before turning that gift away. I know I would. - Robert Scoble

Robert: I'd say no to that, @ev knows that those docs are out there now anyway. If you were the only with them (hypothetically speaking), then he might have. But he'd probably equate it to extortion. Would you really want that? - Mike Shea

I think twitter could just delete the techcrunch account if it wants to make a point. SUL removal wouldn't do much as they already have a lot of followers from it. - Darren Stuart

Stephen: that is a very difficult ethical position to arrive at, especially if your competitors are also on the SUL (Mashable is on the SUL right now). - Robert Scoble

Darren: wrong. If you remove yourself from the SUL you immediately start losing followers and start falling behind your competitors. - Robert Scoble

Scoble - so you're saying that blackmail is okay as long as it benefits you? - Tyler Hurst

Darren: in the race for advertising and PR and all that being at the top of the follower list gets you all sorts of goodies. http://www.wefollow.com for instance displays people in order of the number of the followers. - Robert Scoble

How did the valuation for getting on the SUL end up being done? Is there a dollar value per follower based on link click throughs + ad clickthroughs? - Dare Obasanjo

No one in the TC office yet, according to CrunchCam. Probably all sleeping. Boy today is going to be a busy day for them. - Mark

Tyler: no. I'm not saying that. I'm hoping that if I am in any of these positions that I would take the high road. But living on the high road is very difficult. - Robert Scoble

Dare: I used to help run a magazine with 100,000 subscribers that made millions in revenue every year. - Robert Scoble

Scoble - That's the answer I'd expect from you. Journalists ALWAYS take the high road. - Tyler Hurst

Dare: you could use a CPM (advertising fee per 1000 viewers) of $5 and come up with some sort of valuation. - Robert Scoble

You can't objectively report on a company who is paying you directly and for that matter its impossible to also be a journalist and the owner of the news organization. In the past there's always suppossed to have been a firewall between content and the business side. But that's out the window. Notice all the puff pieces about bing on the NYtimes. Hmmmm, I wonder if that could be all the advertising dollars? Hmmmmmm - Stephen Pickering

Tyler: journalists don't always take the high road. There are several New York Times journalists on the SUL if I remember right. - Robert Scoble

Scoble - I wouldn't say the NYT is a leader in journalistic ethics anymore, either. - Tyler Hurst

Wise words from @arrington "News is stuff someone doesn’t want you to write. The rest is advertising." - Mark

Stephen: exactly. Money does cause news organizations to carefully consider their coverage, even those who say it doesn't and that have a "Chinese firewall" between editorial and advertising. - Robert Scoble

No one is in this tight economy its all about $$$$$$$$$$$$ - Stephen Pickering

Mark - BS. he publishes rumors too. - Tyler Hurst

Stephen: if I had the documents I'd have to consider its impact on my employer, Rackspace. That's why I disclose all my conflicts of interest. - Robert Scoble

Scoble - do you believe Arrington's claim that he just received these documents? - Tyler Hurst

Robert: Trick is to take the employer out of the equation. What would you do if you were on your own? - Mike Shea

Robert: good points, are techcrunch going to publish the stories is the question now? I think twitter is at a point now where it does not matter if techcrunch start a war with them if they were to just ban all techcrunch and employee accounts. - Darren Stuart

There's no better publicity than bad publicity. Just remember that. Remember the whole Ashton and CNN thing? That turned out to be backed by twitter and created HUGE publicity for them. Something doesn't smell right. Not saying all bad publicity is good for both parties, but in a situation like this, it's plausible that both Ev/twitter and Mike/TC are just laughing their asses off as the publicity pulls in more page views - Ⓐ ☠ slayerboy ☠ Ⓐ

Mike is not a journalist. He is a self-confessed showboater. - Mark Littlewood

Mike - so much for the honesty, transparency and authenticity we hoped social media and such would provide. A new ruling class has just replaced the old one. - Tyler Hurst

Tyler: yes, I do believe Arrington. - Robert Scoble

Does twitter go after the hacker? - Tyler Hurst

Tyler, especially with the whole mob thing and FF. Something is up here. Of course, I could be completely off my rocker and it's all just one big coincidence and Mike really is that much of a pompous ass. - Ⓐ ☠ slayerboy ☠ Ⓐ

The twit poll on the issue from TC http://twtpoll.com/2a1oiv showed an overwhelming stance from the community that posting the information is unethical. It might be better for TC to let someone else (Mashable) post the information, resulting in removal from a SUL and gaining both ethical rapport with the community and an edge over competition. This is one story that would be rough to break, why is that only TC has the information so far? That is the more alarming concern. - thestaticfrost

Well so far all he has posted about is the Twitter Reality TV pitch. So I suppose there is a chance Twitter convinces him to not post anything else. In my mind it would look bad if he backs down now given the perception of the SUL. - Kevin Whalen

Mark: Mashable won't publish these either. They have benefited from the SUL a lot more than Arrington has. - Robert Scoble

Robert, interesting POV, I would still personally stand down on the issue. - thestaticfrost

ethics a side I think its a case of - if SUL pageviews > estimated story pageviews then do not publish - Darren Stuart

Mark: on the SUL? Yeah, but the SUL is interesting and won't stop being interesting just because I stop writing about it. There are rafts of new journalistic text books being written because of it. - Robert Scoble

The more I think about this...the more it seems plausible that twitter has been doing stuff behind closed doors to generate publicity. Who's heard of twitter going after ANY hacker? Why is it only TC that this email was sent to? If a hacker REALLY had this info, wouldn't they do something a bit less obvious? Like I dunno...sell the stuff? Which brings up another question....how much did TC pay for this info? I guess if TC continues to be on the SUL we'll know the answer. - Ⓐ ☠ slayerboy ☠ Ⓐ

Mike: what would I do if I were on my own? I'm biased toward publishing, but I need to know the facts first before I really could say one way or the other. - Robert Scoble

To put it in reverse, maybe if you got the documents you could give them back to Twitter in exchange for getting on the SUL. :) - Louis Gray

Mike: it's possible that the hacker works for TechCrunch or has a business relationship with TechCrunch. Mike has built a good network of people who offer him news before anyone else. The thing is now Mike has access to internal info at Twitter that will be hard to avoid in interviews with Twitter. - Robert Scoble

Mike/Robert: If a less reputable blogger/company had this information, it would already have been posted and this conversation would be moving another direction. The pageviews would trump any SUL. - thestaticfrost

mark - what a crappy way to make a name for yourself. publishing stolen documents to serve the public good is one thing, publishing as a smear campaign is wrong. - Tyler Hurst

Mark: I don't believe that's true. Remember, TechCrunch only had about 50,000 followers on Twitter before being added to the SUL. I seriously doubt one story would get them more than 100,000, even if it was the most interesting, sexy story around. - Robert Scoble

Tyler, it would be an awful way to make a name for yourself, I agree but that is not the issue. - thestaticfrost

Louis: word gets around when you extort companies. It's not a good thing and almost always comes back on you eventually as the people involved move to other companies and spread the news around. - Robert Scoble

Louis: if I had the documents I wouldn't use them as extortion for that reason. I know one guy who extorted a company and I'll always remember that. - Robert Scoble

Tyler, if TechCrunch was doing it as a smear campaign they would publish a lot more of the documents and have started off with something other that a softball. - Matthew McCowan

Arrington is getting it both ways here. He writes about it to say they're not going to post the most juicy stuff but he still gets most of the benefits of posting everything. A lot of people are talking about it. He's a master hypeologist. - Justin Whittaker

Matthew - that was in reference to a small blogger grabbing the documents and throwing them all out there. - Tyler Hurst

Justin: that is accurate about Arrington. - Robert Scoble

Tyler, oh gotcha - sorry - Matthew McCowan

Freaking Kelso is on the suggested users list, Arrington has 800K subscribers, hooray how many tweets fall silent in the Twitter forest. Much ado about nothing and the SUL. - Patrick Boegel

Matthew - no, techcrunch is doing it for the page views, of course. - Tyler Hurst

Robert, interesting tie of numbers into the SUL growth of TC. Perhaps there is an exorbitant value of the SUL, this story would just be pennies in comparison. I see no feasible monetary gain available for TC to violate this ethical issue. - thestaticfrost

Patrick: even if you aren't on the SUL most of your followers aren't listening. :-) - Robert Scoble

I'm sick of being monetized into the services I use.. It's almost enough to make me stop it all altogether. - John Blanton

John - stuff has to get paid for. - Tyler Hurst

Says John as he drinks a $4 latte from Starbucks. - Robert Scoble

"I'm sick of being monetized into the services I use." - Then turn off the TV and radio, don't buy any newspapers or magazines, or look at any ad-supported web sites. It's the way of the world. - John Craft

Stupid posh coffee. Normal coffee, with milk, please. - Mark

I guess I'm not seeing how the SUL status of TC is factoring. TC is going ahead and publishing the information they deem to be part of their news mission. Is the insinuation that if SUL status were not a factor, that TC would publish the entirety of the documents without culling non-TC mission-related information? - Matthew DeVries

that is what I mean Robert, I follow you for interesting information, not because someone suggested it, sure there are people who sign on for Twitter and just follow a host of the suggested users I guess, but I just see zero value in that, there is nothing organic in it, so it does not bother me, I am pretty sure the likes of Tech Crunch and Mashable have each questioned whether being on there has hurt or helped. Followers and fans is pretty "loose" terminology, and a metric that gets dicey after some time. - Patrick Boegel

I fully agree with the premise that SUL-Status is a COI consideration. - Matthew DeVries

Patrick: Arrington tells me that being on the SUL has brought them audience and, therefore, money. - Robert Scoble

I don't have a problem with Techcrunch releasing the articles they are, however don't say they are doing in for public interest. They are doing it for Techcrunch interest, nothing wrong with that, but lets be honest. - Kim Landwehr

Right now the man with all the answers is fast asleep in his bed, dreaming of world domination - Mark

Kim - yep. - Tyler Hurst

Matthew: pat of the "Mission" of a business is never to shoot yourself in the foot. - thestaticfrost

Can we just ignore the people who claim SUL status is not of value? It's like arguing with flat-eatherers at this point. Just accept it as fact and let's discuss how this value is affecting TC's behavior here. - Matthew DeVries

Robert: This is what happened when the lovely Veronica Belmont finally responded to my questions regarding the number of 'bots' following those on the SUL :http://ff.im/57MjU - Jim Connolly

I'd like to see an estimate of the ROI of being on the SUL. Different for everyone, but it can be modeled. Would bring an interesting new perspective into the discussion. - Peter Kim

Matthew - the only debate of SUL value would be total worth, not if it has a worth. - Tyler Hurst

If I could offer you hundreds of thousands of extra hits on your website a year, for FREE, would you accept? - Mark

Mark: there is no such thing as a free lunch. - Robert Scoble

Nothing is ever free. - thestaticfrost

But that's a debate for a different thread. We're in the midst of a real time story right now, and we should be discussing how that thing of value is affecting TC's reporting of a story. I would contend it's not, as TC is going ahead and publishing the documents, without regard for loss of SUL-Status. - Matthew DeVries

hehe - Mark

What if Twitter is using their influence at TechCrunch, to manage the delivery of this 'story?' Better that, than someone publish the story, with a negative spin. - Jim Connolly

Matthew: how do you know it's not? Mike has already said he's talking with Twitter and he hasn't published the information. So, he gets best of both worlds. Gets credit for having the info, and now has inside access that no one else has. The SUL might never have even come up (I doubt it has, actually) but now we're wondering what kind of deal they made. - Robert Scoble

That would be a good point, Jim, but what I've read from Arrington is that they're publishing the documents that relate to their news mission. - Matthew DeVries

here is a link to a story that deals with Arringtons "wise words" http://ff.im/5g6LJ - Marco

Matthew: yes, which leads me to think that he made a deal with Twitter. - Robert Scoble

TC has not let the cat out yet, no reason to believe that it will. They made it past the first hour of having the information which is most crucial to it being fully released. - thestaticfrost

Robert - I agree that is a realistic concern, but I would reserve judgement until the story rolls. - Matthew DeVries

Good point Jim. That TC story was actually Incredibly measured. Not like arrington at all. Hmmmmm.... - Roberto Bonini from iPhone

Matthew: I'm not judging, just bringing up the potential conflicts of interest to discuss them. I don't see anyone judging here yet. - Robert Scoble

I agree with Arrington's assertion that publishing what kind of panties @ev's wife wears would not be within TC's news mission. - Matthew DeVries

Correct. You're not judging. Just trying to stem the mob till they have a true target. - Matthew DeVries

Robert: In your experience, would Michael Arrington NORMALLY be this careful about drip feeding a story, so as NOT to offend the person / company featured in the story? - Jim Connolly

And Robert: your points here SHOULD be in the front of everyone's mind when they do roll the story. - Matthew DeVries

I may be naive here, but I also think any Twitter-directed communication regarding the release should be disclosed by Arrington when the story rolls, else he's not a reporter, he's a shill. - Matthew DeVries

Jim: Twitter is the story of the year. So, yes, he's being more careful here than he otherwise would. And, if these documents were stolen, he's also a lawyer and is being careful to make sure he stays on the legal side of the line. I would be very careful with this story too. I have a different conflict of interest, though, which is that I'm an employee of Rackspace and would have to consider the impact of such a story on my company. - Robert Scoble

Let's be clear if Techcrunch has the information, so does someone else. The information is going to get out. Techcrunch maybe releasing the story slowly to maintain the interest. My guess is they are getting a lot more hits with this story then they would normally - Kim Landwehr

Matthew: I like to pretend I live in a dream world sometimes too, but I don't. I doubt we'll hear what was actually said back and forth in an off-the-record conversation. If i were Ev the first thing I would have said is "this is an off the record conversation, right?" And then if Arrington repeated it he would lose status too, because sources wouldn't trust him to talk openly. - Robert Scoble

Kim: if other people have the story they will publish it all at once. So doing a slow rollout would actually be stupid. I bet no one else has the story, yet. - Robert Scoble

I don't see them on the twitter SUL - Orli Yakuel

Ok, going too lunch. This will probably outpace me too far to catch up. Not ducking direct questions to me. - Matthew DeVries

Orli: see who? - Robert Scoble

Orli: if you are already following TechCrunch and Mashable they won't appear on the SUL, you've gotta check with an account that isn't following them. - Robert Scoble

oh, silly me. I remember that list before BTW, it's just got HUGE. who's checking there anyway? - Orli Yakuel

Orli: most new users of Twitter get shown the list and get the option to follow everyone on it. - Robert Scoble

It looks like some of the same information is being released on a French Web site per bizjournal - Kim Landwehr

Sorry if this is a repeat, I haven't managed to read every single comment... @techcrunch didn't even publish these docs first; why are they taking all the heat? This was the first place I saw it - http://bit.ly/10FySf - Kenton

um. - Orli Yakuel

Kenton: Because Arrington himself said he would publish them. Arrington is a joke and far from a true journalist. - John Fox

John: I disagree with you about Arrington. But so far nothing is that interesting in what the French site has published. So I'm wondering what the big deal is? Maybe Arrington knows that there's no real news value in what was gained, so he is making lemonade out of lemons? The real story here is that Google's security measures were overcome, so this is a cautionary tale about putting private info into the cloud. - Robert Scoble

I totally agree about your cloud comment Robert. This should be a lesson to everyone who's jumping on the bandwagon without thinking about the risks. - Kenton

Here's another post from Business Insider. Now that the docs have been published, everyone can link ethically, even though the info was stolen. Ahh, I love the journalism business sometimes. http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter... - Robert Scoble

Robert: I don't see where the educational part of the content is that he's going to publish. What will be gained except corporate secrets and Twitter's dirty laundry? If this was a major corporation, he'd an injunction would be in effect right now. Yes, shame on Twitter for putting that kind of information in the cloud without adequate security, but then again, Arrington doesn't need to take advantage of the situation for notariety alone. That's a poor ethical standard. - John Fox

John: Arrington gets the best of both worlds. He gets credit for thinking through the publishing of this info, while other people do the dirty work. See http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter... Why didn't Arrington just publish? Well, the SUL is one potential reason. Are there others? Did @ev give him an exclusive? Or some other reason not to publish? We'll never know. - Robert Scoble

Arrington is definitely doing some back dealing which quite frankly makes him lose credibility. - Kevin Whalen from email

I think by the time Arrington wakes up (lazy bastard) he will have been Scooped by other websites - Mark

Mark: already has been: http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter... - Robert Scoble

Robert: I don't doubt that Arrington walked a fine line, thinking through the publishing of the info. I don't fault him for that. As a tech writer myself, I know there are certain things that will get you sued in a heartbeat. However, I don't see what Arrington has to gain from this other than notariety and to get TC's name out there even more. This is a tainted story from the start.... more... - John Fox

Ok question, are we mad at Techcrunch ie Arrington, because he published only part of the information or that he publish the information at all or that he said he would publish it and didn't? - Kim Landwehr

I'm not saying it's okay to publish ill-gotten confidential material but people would be less tempted to do so if Twitter were more transparent and less secretive. For a social network, they have a real 1.0 social media philosophy. Even Facebook reveals information about their userbase and growth. But Twitter is like a black box as the #fixreplies disaster revealed. And since that hashtag dropped off the Trending Topics, we've never heard any more about their proposed solution. - Liz

The lack of democracy on the SUL is one of the most disturbing aspects of Twitter. It pushes Twitter towards an echo chamber since new people just follow the same old people. There needs to be some serious rotation. - Trent Hamm

Didn't Kevin Rose design an enhanced SUL for Twitter? Where people who identify themself with a tag tell you who they follow with that tag? - Matthew DeVries

Matthew: yes, Rose runs http://www.wefollow.com -- the problem is that most people on the home page and at the top of most lists are on Twitter's SUL. - Robert Scoble

Just logged into twitter and a big red box tells me my account is suspensed for strange activity. Hmm - Mark

But I can still post. Hmm - Mark

I am reading that thousands of twitter accounts have been wrongly suspended due to "human error". Has anyone heard anything? - Mark

he sees to have delisons of Grandure Murdoch gets away with hacking becasue of his power and the willingness of cronys to take the fall and the plod to turn a blind eye - he still needs to mak the public interest defence which he has not - Maurice Walshe

Twitter's response: http://blog.twitter.com - Liz

Judging by Liz's link, looks like Twitter chose to play cards in public and Twitter just won. Talking about "The underware drawer" analogy flat out says the documents are gossip and not a story. This makes TechCrunch look like a gossip rag. Twitter also focused on their users and their security- the Ace of Spades. Bravo. - E-Advocate Network

Calling TechCrunch a journalistic entity is an extreme stretch of the imagination, as the vast majority of their blogs are opinion totally devoid of fact. TechCrunch has found that "ethical line" Arrington mentioned, and tripped right over it, falling face first into the sewer. Indeed, TechCrunch's true colors have now revealed just how much of a gossip rag they are, totally lacking in... more... - jcunwired

I was wrongly suspended along with 9 others months ago. It was a terrible experience. - DaveDelaney.ME

my question for mr. scoble is, if the same documents landed in your inbox would you have done the same thing? - Tobias Lewsadder

poop - Jacob

Just curious about something. Earlier I tried following Techcrunch on Twitter and found I was blocked, supposedly "at the request of the user." Since I don't remember saying a bad word about Techcrunch or Michael (as Robert can attest from discussions in the past couple of months, I've usually defended Arrington on a few things), I'm wondering if the block was TechCrunch's doing or Twitter's. - George Hall (Australia)

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July 14 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

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Thomas Hawk

7 Ways FriendFeed Could Better Engage the Flickr Community - http://thomashawk.com/2009...

July 10 from Thomas Hawk Digital Connection - Comment - Like - Share

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My friend Robert Scoble has a blog post out talking about the reasons why FriendFeed is not seeing the sort of growth that Twitter and Facebook are. Personally I consider FriendFeed to be a vastly superior platform to both Facebook and Twitter, but it is interesting noting that it does not seem to be getting the traction of these other services. That said, I think that there is a huge opportunity for FriendFeed to better engage a very large existing community that is Flickr and to offer power user sort of tools for Flickr’s most active users. I’ve already written in the past about how I think the existing version of FriendFeed represents a superior way for people to browse Flickr than Flickr itself, but I think that FriendFeed could go a lot further and could definitely attract more (and super active) Flickr users if they improved things even more. So this list represents seven ways that I think FriendFeed could build a better way to engage with the Flickr Community. It should be... more... - Thomas Hawk

82 more comments

I gave up browsing Flickr when I found FriendFeed well over a year ago. I have many, many groups for browsing photography on FriendFeed. In particular my Flickr Photography group: http://friendfeed.com/flickr-... - Kol Tregaskes

Agree about importing your Flickr contacts, been asking for that for eons. Similar request for importing non-FF Twitter friends would be cool too. I've manually added my favourite Flickr photographers, a chore, so an automated feature would be most welcome. - Kol Tregaskes

Freind Feed is great at being Freind Feed and Flickr is great at being Flickr - Kevin J Hatton

Quick tip if you do import your Flickr streams as a custom RSS into FF, use Ivan's Feed-Buster: http://feed-buster.appspot.com/ to get larger thumbnails. - Kol Tregaskes

Kevin I disagree. Both are great services for what they are. But Flickr no longer innovates. They are a static service sort of on autopilot. There's a need for power users to grow beyond what Flickr currently offers and fortunately Flickr has a robust API where these users can flock to things like greasemonkey scripts and FriendFeed to improve their Flickr experience. People like Kol... more... - Thomas Hawk

Agree with point 6 too. That would be cool. Also the ability to separate Flickr user's favourites and their own photos would be most welcome. I like to have a group for each separately. - Kol Tregaskes

I actually wish FF would not import Flickr photos in batches. They wouldn't do that with any other kind of imported media, and I think it makes it difficult to have any sort of engaging discussion around photos on FriendFeed. - Michael Hocter

how would you suggest they import flickr photos instead Michael? - Thomas Hawk

Point 7 sounds interesting. The saved searches are OK but the Best of Day/Week/Month feature would be great for this if it worked on searches. - Kol Tregaskes

One at a time, just like they do any other feed item. I understand why this would be a pain for Flickr favorites and people who post in huge batches at a time, but most of us only post a few photos at a time. - Michael Hocter

I like being able to see the Flickr favorites of other FFers since I find new and interesting Flickr users that way, much more than I do through Flickr itself. I don't mind having them come in batches. A particularly interesting photograph can always be given its own post. - John (a.k.a. dendroica)

Michael, I'm OK with that, what annoys me though is when it imports a batch, you go fave more then it reimports them and removes the old import with all the comments and likes. I'd like to fave a batch of pics, force a redresh, then fave some more then force another refresh and have both these come in as separate batches. - Kol Tregaskes

I guess I think showing photos one at a time would be super noisy. For someone like me who imports about 300 photos into Flickr a week this would mean 300 separate entries on FriendFeed. I think that would detract from the overall FF user interface and experience. I think they are doing the batch posting fine now, but it's just that they are doing it backwards and opposite of how flickr shows photos on Flickr. - Thomas Hawk

Michael, use an RSS feed of your stream with he Feed-Buster service, that's exactly what you're after. - Kol Tregaskes

Having Flickr photos come one at a time would be really annoying, at least for me. It would crowd out everything else in my feeds. - John (a.k.a. dendroica)

Thomas, like my stream from vi.sualizue.us? ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Another feature I'd like: In search, I wish I could separate Flickr uploads from Flickr favorites. I prefer to talk to the people who actually take and upload the photos, but when you search, the majority of photos you see are from Flickr favorites. - Michael Hocter

Kol, your vi.sualizue.us stream rocks! - Thomas Hawk

Michael, agree. I've never been able to separate the two. - Kol Tregaskes

Hehe, thanks Thomas. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Michael I agree with that idea as well. I think maybe the two can be one by default, but give users an option to split them if they want. I'd much rather be able to view the two independently. - Thomas Hawk

As the open version of Facebook, Ff needs to develop these relationships and fast. Facebook wants you to use their picture storage, their blog engines, their music addons, keeping you inside the Facebook walls. Ff just as Thomas says, NEEDS to show that they can build something better by letting everyone decide which stand alone services serve their needs best, and all these can be... more... - Matthew DeVries

@Michael - yes! I prefer to know which are faves and which are posts. - JA Castillo

There are many ways FF could be improved to help us photo-happy people (and most features would benefit the community in general), such as the ability to search for entries with pictures *only* (on it's way I believe), search by date/time, be able to search by selective imported feeds, e.g. I cannot search for my vi.sualize.us images only, etc. - Kol Tregaskes

FF could even go further and let you sign into flickr and then you can like and comment and it flows back to flickr - Phill Price

hear hear Phill - Thomas Power

It would be pretty slick if I could hover over a photo on FF and fave it on flickr. I think that would take more than basic API stuff though. - Thomas Hawk

@Phill - that would be too much!! I would never leave FF! :) - JA Castillo

For me, FriendFeed needs to improve for new users. For instances the suggested users list is not the way to go and the lack of introduction to the service's features upon registration is virtually non-existent. When a new user has completed registration it needs a quick and simple Flash anim to demonstrate FF's basic features (an adapted version of one of Ross' videos would be cool),... more... - Kol Tregaskes

Faving a Flickr photo on FF would be super!! - Kol Tregaskes

JA, exactly. ;-) But that lies the problem, Flickr perhaps wouldn't want that? - Kol Tregaskes

The suggested users list on FF definitely needs to incorporate activity and not just popularity. That's a whole other subject though. - Thomas Hawk

Thomas, yep. Sorry going off in all directions. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

I suspect Flickr could be resistant to some of these ideas. After all, attention on the internet is a zero sum game and making FF that much better for hardcore flickr users could siphon off traffic from them. Still, I bet a bunch of this could be done through the API as it stands now. - Thomas Hawk

I prefer to see at least a medium-sized version of a photo before I fave it, so I doubt I would fave through FF if such an option existed. Agreed with most of Thomas's seven suggestions. - John (a.k.a. dendroica)

John, yep, bigger versions of the pics are needed, would that watch in the current batches? - Kol Tregaskes

bigger versions would indeed rock. It would be nice to have a user setting though to either see small thumbnail photos are larger photos. This way the people who are not as interested in the photos as some of us could still choose to see them small. In fact small should probably be the default with a user option to view them larger instead. - Thomas Hawk

I kind of like the thumbnail batches, and being able to choose which to click through. My comment was specifically about faves – it's hard to pick favorites from just thumbnails. - John (a.k.a. dendroica)

Another thing I'd like to see changed (or at least be toggleable) is the feature what hides entries under 'more form <service>' on lists. I have lots of photo-related groups in one friends list and having them hidden like this is annoying. Also the hiding of the Flickr photos in the batches is annoying too. Personally I'd like this expanded all the time but a toggle would be nice. I appreciate this might be set-up as it is because of performance. - Kol Tregaskes

Thomas, agree. - Kol Tregaskes

More user options for controlling the display of Flickr photos would be helpful. - John (a.k.a. dendroica)

I'm kind of disappointed in Friendfeed. Too much focus on competing with Twitter, and not enough on what was originally the core idea of aggregating services. And sadly they've de-emphasized service integration so much that I wonder if they'll even keep doing it, let alone improve the integration. And Flickr, for that matter, sucks too - Thomas hit the nail on the head above, Flickr has... more... - Eric P

Eric, I think you're right about Flickr. Flickr's mostly been laying people off these days. They laid off designer George Oates, Engineer Rev Dan Catt, and lots of the other original talent there has left, Cal Henderson, Stewart Butterfield, Eric Costello, Kakul Srivastava recently left the helm of the site as well to work on other things at Yahoo. The last innovative thing that they... more... - Thomas Hawk

Thomas, thanks for taking the time to write this up - Bret Taylor

Bret, you're welcome. I think you guys have the best opportunity to drive a lot more Flickr users over here. - Thomas Hawk

Love the new logo, lol - Zachary TG

Hey TH, as always, great ideas from you about improving FriendFeed. I've always felt it's a great adjunct to Flickr. Personally, my social community isn't here (can't get them to join), so FF isn't as useful for me as I'd like it to be (or as it is for people like you and Scoble, etc). Friendbinder is what I've been using to navigate my Flickr contacts (it auto-pulls them all in, and... more... - Criz

Hey Criz, thanks. I'd obviously love to see more innovation via flickr come through FF and especially directly at flickr. Good to know that you guys are working on more than just new buttons. In terms of hiring, the only hire that I'm aware of Flickr announcing in the last year or so (unless I missed it somewhere) was zycster in the "abuse" "customer care" "censorship" bureau vs. the... more... - Thomas Hawk

I still think Google Reader is the most convenient way of browsing Flickr photostreams. I'm testing Feedly for this at the moment and it's doing a quite good job as well. - Rutger Blom

Thomas, film was quite a big new feature on Flickr too. - Rutger Blom

Rutger, I suppose, adding video was a feature, unfortunately though I think that it was a feature at odds with the flickr community that many in the community saw as more of a negative than a positive. There was a pretty strong and vocal group opposing adding video on Flickr. I've only ever used video on Flickr once (ironically yesterday). Here again, videos are crippled to 90 seconds... more... - Thomas Hawk

I think FF on the other hand has offered us already fairly substantive improvements to the Flickr experience. Being able to see *all* of your flickr contact's photos vs. only the most recent 1 or 5 is huge. So is letting us see our contacts faves. Ideally though we'd get continued innovation from both Flickr AND outside developers like FF building on the Flickr API to best improve the... more... - Thomas Hawk

Yes, but the seeing *all* of your flickr contact's photos can be accomplished in any RSS feed reader really. Has little to do with FriendFeed. - Rutger Blom

Thomas, I am zyrcster, and I am not on abuse :) And I think you'll enjoy what's coming down the pike. I hope so, anyway. - Criz

Ah, ok, zyrcster. Hopefully it's something good. I thought you were part of the moderation/customer service / abuse/ censorship dept based on the thread in flickr help. I should re-read that thread. Hard to know who's who on the flickr staff when flickr codes the public "about flickr" staff page to purposely hide staff members from me personally. I hope that coding project didn't take much time away from all that innovation going on over there. - Thomas Hawk from iPhone

Rutger, Flickr RSS feeds only contain public, "safe" photos... definitely not all of my contacts' photos - Michael Hocter

Hmm, never knew that, there should be 2 versions of the feed then so we can choose. - Kol Tregaskes

In fact, I can't even get a decent RSS feed of my own photos out of Flickr because many of them are not "safe" - Michael Hocter

Or is there an issue from Flickr's point of perspective having such content go outside it's site? - Kol Tregaskes

Kol, I think it's because they can't authenticate who you are or what your preferences are through RSS - Michael Hocter

I see. They could have a password protection/authenticated feed but FF doesn't support such feeds. - Kol Tregaskes

LOL, Mrsth, that's over censoring stuff! - Kol Tregaskes

that is actually a problem on Flickr's end. They've been censoring your RSS feed now for years. They won't allow any content deemed "adult" to be sent out of Flickr via RSS. It's incredibly stupid in my opinion. I'd love to be able to subscribe to Merkely's nudes (which very much are fine art) for instance and even though I've checked on Flickr that I'm an adult and want adult content... more... - Thomas Hawk

haha, actually Kol that was me. I was accidentally logged in as my wife though, just got home and was using the home computer. - Thomas Hawk

What happened there? Posting from your wife's acount? ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Ah, hehe!! - Kol Tregaskes

Now the thread reads oddly. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Kol, I don't know about you, but I really wish vi.sualize.us would implement FF's SUP or FF spider those streams more often. I end up having to manually get FF to pull them in after I've favorited a bunch or it takes *forever* for them to finally be pulled into the FF stream. - Mark Philpot

I've not really checked my vi.sualize.us groups, is there a delay in importing? - Kol Tregaskes

you certainly can easily add a photo as a favourite through the api - all you need is the photo id and the user to have given ff a token by signing in... http://www.flickr.com/service... - Phill Price

Ah, I did have an issue with my watchlist from vi.sualize.us. I notified them and they checked it and it started working. Are you having problems, Mark? - Kol Tregaskes

How recent was this? I've just been in the habit of manually refreshing my vi.sualize.us feed. Next time I'll try letting FF get it on it's own and see how long it takes. - Mark Philpot

Mark, a few weeks ago. I'd buzz them on their site and let them know you are having problems too. Works fine for me atm but they said they are keeping an eye on it. - Kol Tregaskes

BTW, people on this thread might be interested in this group for vi.sualize.us most popular entries feed: http://friendfeed.com/visuali.... It seems to import dups a lot, which is a problem but it's not a huge issue. - Kol Tregaskes

So I can now check vi.sualize.us on FF too. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Thomas, could probably do something similar for your Zooomr too. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

I just added six to my vi.sualize.us favorites... I'll see how long it takes for them to get imported. -- And a note to any FF developers on this feed -- Please implement a "Comment" link at the bottom of the comments. Especially for long comment streams, it's a pain to have to scroll up to the top to add a new comment. - Mark Philpot

Mark, OK, any issue go to the vi.sualize.us, they'll help you out. It's their feed after all. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

If you authenticate with the Flickr API you can get at the "unsafe" photos, FYI. But that would require a deeper level of integration that Friendfeed offers today. - Eric P

Michael, I think that's quite logical and good actually. All hell would break loose if Flickr allowed access to porn via its feeds. The solution is authenticated RSS feeds in case things would stop working all together here at FriendFeed if you are not creating an imaginary friend for every Flickr contact that is. - Rutger Blom

+1 faving a Flickr photo on FriendFeed - Thierry R. Andriamirado

FF is not seeing the growth other services are seeing because it is not designed for the casual, non-technical user the way flickR, Twitter, and Facebook are. An average person can "walk up" to any of those three services and get them almost immediately. By "get them" I don't mean that they understand deeply/optimally how or why to use them but that they can readily get their heads... more... - Anthony Citrano

I think even for a lot of above average users FriendFeed is too obscure. - Rutger Blom from email

Chris Brogan

Since When Are Blogs Not Social Media? - http://www.copyblogger.com/blogs-s...

July 10 from Google Reader - Comment - Like - Share

Denise Aday, Rebecca Leaman, Jim Turner and 11 other people liked this

Keep worrying about labels, others. I'll be doing stuff. - Chris Brogan

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Agree Chris. Blogs are a part of social media IMHO. Blogs are a destination platform for 'socialising' (excuse the NZ English spelling) or environment for people to interact. See every 'comments' section at the end of a blog post. - iconic88

@iconic88 you can also socialize content among blogs and platforms. It's awesome to carry conversations across media and communities/networks. - Valeria Maltoni

Doing stuff like blogging! This just demonstrates how much education is still left to do about social media. We have a long way to go, and just when we get there, everything will change, again - Ken Burbary

Thanks Valeria. Yes you can indeed. - iconic88

if there are more than 1 person it's social. If it is communication it's media. - Roland Hesz

Allen Stern

are there really zero women on any of the panels at todays real time crunch event?

July 10 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Jim Turner, metalerik, Wayne Sutton and 2 other people liked this

Some of the presenters have been ladies. Claire of Lazyfeed was up there, for example. - Louis Gray

uhm - claire didnt say one word, tho the woman from meebo presented - Allen Stern

David Armano

@amandachapel did you read the entire article? He made an accurate point about what retains talent. It's not always cash.

July 10 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Jim Turner liked this

Sherman Hu

[SOCIAL MEDIA] Beware of the Self-Proclaimed Social Media Experts http://michaelhyatt.com/2009... {Agree/Not?}

July 9 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Jim Turner liked this

Amber Naslund

RT @benkunz: The Amazing Girlfriend Manager - an iPhone app for multiple lovers. I kid not. http://www.apptism.com/apps... (Shut UP! HA!)

July 8 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Jim Turner liked this

Oh wow.... - George Smith

Louis Gray

I wanted to welcome Tony Hung back to blogging. But Twitter suspended his account and says his site is malware.

July 8 - Comment - Like - Share

Jim Turner, chrisofspades, MG Siegler and 9 other people liked this

You can find Tony at http://www.deepjiveinterests.com - Louis Gray

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His Friendfeed account is here: http://friendfeed.com/tonyhung - Louis Gray

He just wrapped up his fellowship (following residency and med school), and is blogging up a storm. He was missed, and I am happy to see his return. Hopefully the Twitter mess can be resolved. I tried to link his way and Twitter blocked it. - Louis Gray

Thanks for the props -- Twitter suspended my account for reasons that I can't fathom. Vive la Friendfeed! :) - Tony Hung

FriendFeed Dominates Twitter any day of the week. PERIOD. - Matt Ruiz

@Louis -- actually, I finished my fellowship about 8 days ago, which was a year; my residency was 4 years prior, which was just after I finished medical school (another 4 years). Taking some time off to celebrate finishing 26 years of schooling. Huzzah :) - Tony Hung

Thanks, Tony. I changed the above comment. Welcome home. - Louis Gray

tony is the man - Allen Stern

Tony rocks. Tony, perhaps you should ask Twitter what's up. They've done that accidentally before. Let us know. - Tamar Weinberg

welcome back, Tony! I concur with the sentiment here. - Valeria Maltoni

Erika

She just looked up at me, gave me a toothy grin and said "Yummy!!" http://twitpic.com/9joh9

July 6 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Jim Turner liked this

Robert Scoble

Looking at Dave Winer's screen shot of his FriendFeed (http://images.scripting.com/archive... ) I notice two things:

July 3 - Comment - Like - Share

Dobromir Hadzhiev, Jose Luis Santos, Daniel Rowley and 20 other people liked this

1. That he uses Helvetica theme. Me too. Love it! - Robert Scoble

30 more comments

2. That he doesn't accept or ignore invites. I know he's not the only one. About 80% of the people I invited to my secret group on Twitter didn't accept my invites. - Robert Scoble

It's too bad that inviting people into things no longer works. We're getting bombarded with things around the edges of our content so we just ignore it all. - Robert Scoble

Anyone else finding this? - Robert Scoble

I have dozens of invites that need to be accepted... thanks for the reminder - LPH™ and his dog P™

I always accept or ignore invites. Dave's doing friendfeed wrong. - Alex Scoble

I had to create a spot in my schedule for socialweb invite handling - not that "i'm all that!" but just that with so many sources it starts to get rather busy and I go and review and research each one carefully so it's a rather long process. - bear (aka Mike Taylor)

I use my FF as I should use it and accept or Ignore requests as soon as they come in. Golden Rule. - CW™

Can't you only invite people who are subscribed to you? If so, the problem you are having is you are subscribed to the wrong people :) - Tim Hoeck

Tim: Dave Winer is subscribed to me. It wouldn't help with people like him. My request gets buried. - Robert Scoble

Robert, I do the same. Fortunately I follow your Tweets so I knew to check my invites for your secret group invites but I wouldn't have noticed them otherwise. - Jesse Stay

Haha. As soon as I saw the Helvetica theme, I thought of Dave. I use it because it is content centric. - Steven (optionshiftk)

I guess I'm weird for liking "Butterfly Corner." - Darren Landrum

I look at all my invites, but some of them are to rooms that I don't want to subscribe to, yet I'm mildly amused that they exist, so I just let the invites ride as a reminder. - Laura Norvig

I also use Helvetica, love it. - deakaz

I feel so left out. I've never received and invite. ): - Steven (optionshiftk)

Robert, my point was RE: "We're getting bombarded with things around the edges of our content so we just ignore it all".. if you are getting bombarded with invites, rethink your subscriptions.. and it was sort of a joke, because you are screwed :P - Tim Hoeck

For 2), the problem is that people know how to report spam, but very know how to deal with bacn http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki.... Still waiting for smart robots to take care of them :) - Jérôme Flipo

Tim, I'm not sure about the "then rethink your subs". You too probably have friends who send emails with Comic San or pictures in the signature (etc.); but is it enough to block them? - Jérôme Flipo

sometimes :) - Tim Hoeck

Robert: Just a side thought, but have you considered the potential impact of telling 99% of those who follow you on Twitter / FriendFeed that they are not invited into your various groups? - Jim Connolly

Jim: yes. I'm interested to see what happens. - Robert Scoble

Me too! - Jim Connolly

Helvetica theme is kewl - fijidaddy from iPhone

Most people (at least to a limited survey :)) seem to prefer the Helvetica theme. http://friendfeed.com/friendf... - Diego Barros 

I wonder if it's not so much ignoring it as not seeing it due to too many other inbound requests. For instance, with your secret group on Twitter, unless you sent along a separate note, some people might not have seen it due to having notifications turned off and auto-follow on. - Justin Levy

Helvetica is like eating a taco without hot sauce. - Todd Hoff

@Jim: +1 for savvy marketing idea and understanding of consumer psychology. - AJ Kohn

LOL AJ - Todd Hoff

There's just so much spam going on so people decided not to look at it at all. Similar to followers on Twitter, so many new followers every day but majority of them are spam users, and people see it as unproductive to go through each new follower and decide if they are real or not. - Marko Saric

Robert: what Tim was saying is that if Dave Winer gets overwhelmed with the number of invitations, then he may be subscribed to too many people - Mike Chelen

I am in Michigan, I can't afford to ignore invites! Could be the Next Big Thing, ya know? - ZuDfunck

Marcus Nelson

marcusnelson: Quotable Wife: If I'm going to live in the city, Im going to live in the city! None of this hippy $h!t!!! - http://twitter.com/marcusn...

June 29 from Tumblr - Comment - Like - Share

Jim Turner liked this

Louis Gray

louisgray.com: Blogging Is Still the Foundation In A World of Streams - http://www.louisgray.com/live...

June 28 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Daniel Rowley, Derrick, Landor Associates and 36 other people liked this

So blogs really aren't dead? :P (I just had to say that cuz it's just so annoyingly funny!) - Susan Beebe

7 more comments

Oh yeah, I remember blogs! - Josh Haley

Soooo... it's like hundreds of tweets smashed together to form..... *goes off to look up the dictionary*... errrr.... it says here 'paragraphs' and 'articles'... You crazy web guys. You and your fancy-pants 'blogs'. - Johnny Worthington

All I'm going to say is that I like coherent thoughts and I can't see why anyone wishing for some insight would ever turn to a paraphrased half-thought filled with @'s and #'s and tinyURLs. - Mitch

And yes, I shared my "blog" post here with "you guys" despite the fact the comments won't get streamed back. *SACRIFICES* - Louis Gray

Louis if I give you my phone number can you text me a summary of your article? - Mitch

Just a "status update" of your thoughts please. I can fill in the rest with my imagination until I get distracted by the next thing in my FF stream. - Mitch

Louis, have you tried the "social media comments" function of Disqus? It should pull tweets and friendfeed comments like these to your blog. It doesn't really work for me (don't know why) but it works pretty well at Mashable. - TobiasVerhoog.com

Tobias, I have not turned that on. I am not sure if it's all set for "old Blogger" installs, but I will take a peek. Thanks. - Louis Gray

Robert Scoble

Mobs will now be a fact of life. Here are the two choices we all must make online: - http://ourdoings.com/roberts...

June 28 from Robert Scoble - Comment - Like - Share

Yant, Jessica Wilzig Gottlieb, John Furrier and 42 other people liked this

Hurt. Or help. A mob that is helping is a good thing. I am donating $100 to #blamedrewscancer. That is good. What about if 1,000 did that? But some just want to hurt. They call names. Say people have zero value, or worse. I am sorry I have been part of mobs that do that. It is easy to become part of a cheering mob against other people. Too easy maybe, but I would rather have free speech than not. Go ahead and say I have zero value or that I, or my friends, are douchebags or should be dead. I will defend your right to say that. But we all do have a choice: are we hurting or helping other people? I do find that lately I haven't been on the right side of that choice. How about you? - Robert Scoble

83 more comments

I'm gonna call you a name right now Robert. Cool. - Tyler Gillies from email

So it sums down to with great power comes great responsibility. - Usman Bashir

It's easy to be in a mob doing good, just think of the actions of the mob from someone not in it. Trouble is, it's easier to be in a mob doing bad because it is easier not to think. - ɹןʇnqן

Drew: what is the best use of the $100? #blamedrewscancer - Robert Scoble

We used to call these Groundswells - why the "mob" mentality all of the sudden? - Jesse Stay

I like the concept but I think you should choose a different name for a group doing positive work. Mob has negative connotations and dilutes the good message. - Martha

Jesse: words that have fewer characters are better for Twitter. - Robert Scoble

Robert, I think the word "mob" brings more traffic :-) - Jesse Stay

Very good point, Jesse. Hit 'em with the sensational headline! - Martha

Jesse: yes. Pageviews rule our language. - Robert Scoble

I'm donating $25/mo to the American Cancer Society on behalf of #blamedrewscancer btw - I think it's a simple, cheap cause to participate in. (and so many of us are affected!) - Jesse Stay

I called out some people who do mostly hurt other people online. - Robert Scoble

I wonder if they will join the helpful movement? - Robert Scoble

Hey Robert - (not for my benefit), you should see if Rackspace can offer a discount per month on those that set up monthly payments to American Cancer Society on behalf of #blamedrewscancer. Might be a great way to evangelize your brand and help out a good cause at the same time. - Jesse Stay

Got my answers from http://twitter.com/dahowle... - Robert Scoble

@dahowlett's comment is ridiculous - so I have to stick to Twitter to not be beaten up by the much larger mob? What is this - mob wars? The Twitter mob vs. the FriendFeed mob? Silly us - we're in the wrong mob! - Jesse Stay

Jesse: dahowlett earlier said I have zero value. Really hurtful. - Robert Scoble

Social networking is about building communities. A mob is just a community without responsible leadership. Keeping a community from becoming a mob requires leadership. Without that, anything can happen. - Jack (a.k.a. Jeber)

mobs have always been a fact of life - through thousands of years of history. using mob mentality to do good is interesting; and beneficial. but is it a good idea? here's another idea. don't just try to use mobs for good, try to leave mobs that are bad. starve out mob mentality. mobs don't start as a group - they start as an individual. someone who usually understands mobs; how they... more... - MikeAmundsen

has all this come from the fact that Arringtons feelings were hurt the other week when everyone bashed him on FF and loved up to Leo ? - Mark

I would rather not make this thread about Arrington. There are others who say FriendFeed isn't a helpful community. - Robert Scoble

Please define 'mob.' Do you mean a violent, riotous leaderless group? "the mob overturned cars and smashed storefronts" Or a massive celebration of an exciting event? "the streets were filled with mobs of joyous supporters chanting 'Yes, we did!' as the final election results poured in" - Andrew Feinberg

Ah, well Loren and Dennis answered on twitter - Mark

Robert: you have extreme value. every single friendfeed post you make goes straight to my email inbox - Tyler Gillies

"How am I serving the other person" is another way to phrase it ;) - Nicholas Orr

Andrew: mobs online can be both helpful and hurtful, yes. - Robert Scoble

I think twitterers get carrried away with all the "good" they are doing the planet with a $100 here or there. What is needed is CIVIC involvement. Electing people to SERVE that are not beholden or totally in the pocket of BigPharm, BigAg, Insurance companies and banks. Then--just maybe--if it is not too late, we will build a civil and engaged democracy where money is going into... more... - Meryl Steinberg

I saw another FF post earlier today from someone complaining of negative comments. I say screw them. Don't let the "mob" of negativity affect your own good work. If someone is complaining about you, there usually are other issue underneath that truly have nothing to do with you. You know you do good and that you have value. Leave the "mob" behind and the "group" of do-gooders will follow your call. - Martha

Mark: yup. They are building their brands on top of being hurtful. Me? I am going the other way. Funny dahowlett just keeps running his mouth about things he knows nothing about. - Robert Scoble

Quite frankly I'm getting tired of all the hurt. Maybe it's hypocritical of me to say so being that I'm part of the "Washington Establishment Journalism" scene. But then again I'm going to be evicted in a few months anyway because I can't find a paying outlet for positive, fair discussion or examination of things that people should find important. Maybe I should be in the hurt business...because pulling punches isn't paying right now (any exceptions?) - Andrew Feinberg

Still going to blog about this Robert? http://friendfeed.com/scoblei... - Mark

Mark: yup I am working on that. - Robert Scoble

I am slowly learning to comment on FF, and not worry about the 'troll' or mob who will shoot down my comment. FF is a helpful community. I like it here. - Mike Nencetti

mike: gtfo. just kidding ;) - Tyler Gillies

I guess I'm missing something here. There seems to be an argument going around that FriendFeed breeds mobs because it's too good at bringing people together and getting them engaged - i.e. it's a very effective communications platform and the solution to the problems that stem from it is to move back to a less effective communications platform. - Edward Coffey

edward: yep pretty much - Tyler Gillies

Best way to control or destroy a mob is to cut off it's head. - Stuart Tracte

Just getting caught up and saw this rucus - tyergillies...That's what it's about - Wow - PXLated

Perhaps part of FriendFeed's power is that people -- for the most part -- aren't anonymous. It's hard to even hide behind a handle. And so contributors have an interest in building a reputation. The fastest way to build a reputation is to throw bombs. - Andrew Feinberg

@Andrew if you want the reputation of being a firestarter, then yes, you're correct. I prefer to take the high road. - Stuart Tracte

the fastest way to earn a block is by throwing bombs - Tyler Gillies

Interesting one of the definitions of mob is the mass of common people or populace (edited for sp) - Kim Landwehr

tylergillies: Glad I've got that more-or-less right. Now, call me crazy, but if just giving people a good way to communicate makes them form into a mob, then I think the problem lies with the people, not the platform. - Edward Coffey

edward: reminds me of the tower of babel - Tyler Gillies

The word mob has a negative connotation. How about the word bloc? There are plenty of likeminded people joining together for a positive, common cause. - Stuart Tracte

I think FriendFeed is probably the best example to date of a platform that gets out of the way and lets a huge number of people communicate in a very direct and immediate manner with friends and strangers alike. My impression is that a lot of people struggle with that initially, and fail to understand that the basic consideration that you give to a real solid meat-person you're talking... more... - Edward Coffey

I mean obviously people, especially newbies, fail to understand that in all kinds of online fora, but FriendFeed allows a huge number of people to fail in a very direct, immediate and personal way, all at once. - Edward Coffey

Arrington called me a cult leader now. Hah! - Robert Scoble

robert: look who's talking - Tyler Gillies

There are trolls on any forum, I've learned. I've seen them on Facebook, on Twitter, here on FF. And before that, I saw them in class, I've heard them on the radio, etc. Bottom line: there will always be trolls. The key is how you deal with them (or not deal with them.) - Curt Mercadante

If I lead a cult it is one where very few listen to me. Oh, can you pass the Koolaide? - Robert Scoble

define "very few" - Tyler Gillies

Tyler: out of 97,000 how many take any action? Not many. - Robert Scoble

it helps scoble to thank you on providing me the inspiration on who i wanted to be in my real life your presence helps scoble - @runb@laj!

Nah: to have a cult you have to have followers who will drink the Kool Aide. I am far far from that. - Robert Scoble

You actually meet some of the criteria for a cult leader:p one of the most important is to be "charasmatic"!! - Mark

but robert isnt kool aide what the riddle is? - @runb@laj!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - Mark

I gotta read Mikes tweets, this is hilarious. - Mark

Mark: http://www.twitter.com/arringt... - Robert Scoble

RT Arrington "FF is actually getting scary. And scoble is sounding like a cult leader." - Welcome to the FriendFeed - donations accepted. - Mark

do you guys take blood? ;) - Tyler Gillies

mark that is the plan - @runb@laj!

What a day. Time will tell if FF will descend into an open mob which society will rise up against. Time will tell if Arrington ever comes back to FF (his site is supposed to cover the hottest start-ups after all). And time will tell if Robert writes that blog post he promised tomorrow. - Mark

Robert et al: Why must there be only bad connotations with the term 'mob'? Why is it assumed that if there is a mob they can only wreak havoc? I think largely because those sorts of mobs are the ones we get to see evidence of via media.Why don't we create a different sort of mob. One that provides value and doesn't tear down others? That is how you started this thread, right? - Sheryl

Sheryl: right. - Robert Scoble

mob n. # a disorderly crowd of people # syndicate: a loose affiliation of gangsters in charge of organized criminal activities # throng: press tightly together or cram; "The crowd packed the auditorium" # gang: an association of criminals; "police tried to break up the gang"; "a pack of thieves" wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn - xero

@Sheryl: i think @Robert is saying just what you suggest. my question to him and to you is this: "Is mob mentality, no matter the motives or outcomes, a good thing?" is that what we want to build, promote, and use to get things done? - MikeAmundsen

The most powerful tool against trolls, and those who like to stir the pot (thereby inciting mobs), is silence. it will drive them crazy. goodnight everyone. great conversation. Thanks Robert! you rock. - Mike Nencetti

It is extremely rare that mob mentality produces something useful. Generally, the actions of the mob are that of whoever speaks first or loudest, not the one that makes the most sense. - xero

@xero: good point. i'd also point out that one of the key advantages of mob mentality is an anonymity that helps mask critical thinking and provide an absolution for any terrible outcomes from the action of the mob. i understand that @Robert and @Sheryl are not trying to create this kind of situation; that the word "mob" has been overloaded into something positive. but it's not clear to me that many of the aspects of mobs are being considered here. - MikeAmundsen

I provided the definition of mob earlier, there are NO positive connotations to it. If they want to call it a mob, they're going to get mobbed. ;) - xero

Mobs have always been a fact of life. They are an artifact of human social behavior, and the online world is no different at its root. Whether you walk to the city square to join the mob, or join it online, you make a choice. The digital world facilitates mob creation around different topics more rapidly, allows for mobs not constrained by geography, and supports anonymity where... more... - Ryan McCormack

Years ago I had an amazing professor of American history who gave a lecture "The importance of Mob Violence in Early American History." It was chock-full of interesting examples of wise and clever mob actions, from torching excess tobacco in Virginia colony the year of a surplus to the careful disassembly, transport, and rebuilding of a hospital that townsfolk believed had been built too close to a settlement for comfort. Mobs can be constructive, but are also indicative of a power or process vacuum. - Richard W. DeVaul

@scoble as far as i'm concerned, your followers (myself included) are not a mob. We are a group of people looking to broaden our knowledge and interact with one another in a reasonable fashion. Those who disagree may call us a mob, but they are deeply mistaken. - Stuart Tracte

@Richard: interesting perspective. i wonder if, by today's lexicon, these actions against the established authority might be considered asymmetric warfare or even acts of terrorism. - MikeAmundsen

I've never seen any of these threads started by Scoble turn ugly. Look at this one. It seems like a pretty intelligent discussion, and I've read and participated in a lot of threads on FF - Stephen Pickering

@Stephen: another good point. for the most part, i find FF an excellent place to carry on conversations. - MikeAmundsen

online - maybe mobs (good or bad) will rule, but offline ? Under 30's seem to be able to 'mob up' quite effectively via SMS, but most activism (which may be illegal in the place where its occurring) requires face-to-face to establish bona-fides. - martin english

xero: thanks for the reminder of the definition. I would like to remind, however, that words and their definitions can change over time. Many words in the English language have evolved their meanings. Slang is a good example. Think of 'Bad' and 'Dope' But there are so many others. They are case specific, occasionally, but there are other instances as well. We have the power to change... more... - Sheryl

friendfeed is a good place for conversations? oh.. i wonder if they designed it that way - Tyler Gillies

like the picture - wowfreeze.blogspot.com

Mobs, hysterias, and bubbles have been around forever. As Ryan (and others) noted, it's part of human nature. "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... is a great 19th century book on the subject: (obviously) pre-Depression, dot-com bubble, etc., but includes the South Sea bubble, the tulip bubble, witch mania, and lots of other fun historical examples. Good for perspective. - Ken Kennedy

A great quote from the author of "Extraordinary Popular Delusions...", Charles Mackay: "Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one." - Ken Kennedy