What is the best way to become popular on... - Ginger Makela Riker

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What is the best way to become popular on FriendFeed?

Thierry R. Andriamirado, Ms_Krista, Katie: Whelmed Overly and 68 other people liked this

i don't know about "popular," but just be active. post up all kinds of things that that YOU'RE interested in. involve yourself in conversations. try out different rooms and seek out people who you might have something in common with. if that doesn't work, there's always lolcats - Cee Bee

Interact - Johnny Worthington

Be Ginger Makela. - Mark Trapp

1. Subscribe to people - RAPatton

2. Comment on their threads - RAPatton

3. Post open ended questions that anyone can relate to or answer - RAPatton

4. Produce content people have an interest in - RAPatton

^^ What RAP said/is saying/will presumably continue to say. - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

5. Develop a cadre of people you like and enjoy; they will like and comment on your items which will bring them to other people's attention - RAPatton

I got to produce stuff? - I didn't read that in my contract. - Brent Smorgen Bleg

Engage - Rahsheen ™, Coach of FF

6. Be Ginger - RAPatton

Uhm ... move like water? - jojo, adventurer

ha mark and RAP -- it's that kind of like being John Malkovich? I hope no one's selling access to my subconscious. ;-) - Ginger Makela Riker

7. Get popular people to like you and follow your thread - RAPatton

Unfortunately, I'm stuck being the Professor. - Michael R. Bernstein

Send every one coupons for free McDonalds food. - Brent Smorgen Bleg

Ginger, I think so: I mean, do you know what a metaphysical can of worms this FriendFeed is? - Mark Trapp

...is being 'popular' what FriendFeed's all about? i'm perplexed. - .LAG liked that

Still, that's better than being Gilligan. - Michael R. Bernstein

8. Be Patient, people will find you in time. - RAPatton

No .Lag, I don't think friendfeed is about popularity. I'm curious about how people become well-known in different circles. I think friendfeed has a particular culture which is very interesting. - Ginger Makela Riker

9. Be Nice. People aren't trying to pick fights for the most part, and even if they are, be the bigger person and walk away. Fights might gain you attention in the short term and allies, but in time it will wear you down. - RAPatton

Exactly be nice, have interesting things to say, have fun, have Louis Gray put you on the FF folks to follow later on when you have been consistently nice and interesting. - Dan Morrill AKA Techwag

Humor works wonders in this arena...just ask Akiva and Steven Perez. - Alex Scoble

I have noticed on FriendFeed that there are people who manage to get dozens of likes and comments on anything they write, from "eating a sandwich" to "brb:" it's almost like the Julia Allison effect. Clearly they must be doing something differently or have a certain je ne sais quois that would prevent most people from emulating that "success." I think sometimes, people come at an opportune time in FriendFeed's community, providing something different than what most other people are doing, which gives them immediate awesome points. Eventually, a lot of people shift towards emulating that person's behavior, so anyone new doing the same thing won't experience the same level of FriendFeed superstardom. So my serious answer to the question is probably "be novel." - Mark Trapp

Be witty. If that doesn't work, try buying your way in. J/K - Sharon McPherson

Ginger: well said. I get your question now...i'm a little slow on the uptake. O_o - .LAG liked that

Sincerity. If you can fake that, you've got it made. - Michael R. Bernstein

"SOMETHING CONTROVERSIAL. HERE'S WHY:" posts? - mjc

Give everyone cookies - Glen Campbell, B.A.

Ginger has always been popular. But she would be more popular if she was more active. - Louis Gray

+10 Mark's insight (and "je ne sais quois" used at the appropriate time is worth +5 on its own, so make that +15) - Micah Wittman

show your boobs - BEX

Tried that, BEX. Got me nowhere, except people yelling for me to put my shirt back on. - Mark Traphagen

Being as good looking as Ginger can't hurt lol - Jason Williams

RAP has a good list. #5, #6 and #8 are good ones. Louis- What can Ginger do to be more active? - Amani

I have no idea which one way is best but you need to participate in the discussions so to be seen by other users. I tend to sub to people who regularly comment on my posts for example. - Kol Tregaskes

Groups might become more important (and certainly easy to post to now) and is a good place to share and be seen by fellow users who follow you same interest. - Kol Tregaskes

Simply subscrbing to people is good too as a lot will subscribe back pretty much without question (though if you're a marketing company streaming PR/marketing feeds into your page then you're going to get ignored). - Kol Tregaskes

If you are a blogger, pump your blog entries into FF and promote FF from your blog to bring in your readers from there to here. Also use the various ways to integrate FF into your blog, for example you can now embed real-time posts into your blog pages (be it in a frame). - Kol Tregaskes

For me posts with images get noticed more, so if you can attach a picture to your posts. Make it relevant or you'll get get shot down. - Kol Tregaskes

Contribute and Engage: Post really cool content on FF; Engage in conversations all over FriendFeed, not just replies to your profile. FF is still heavily techie centric. Post items pertaining to hot tech news, startups, iPhone apps, geeky gadgets, and blogging related topics. Those item types seem to grab attention fast and generate "buzz" which will get you "noticed" and followed, raising your popularity fast - Susan Beebe

its the comments, stupid - Jamie

Be respectful. It's one thing to voice your opinion, it's another to put it across in a way that is not upsetting or rude. Think before broadcasting views of the best way to word it. - Kol Tregaskes

Feeding a load of RSS imports is not going to get you too far, post natively to FF to get better responses from the users. FriendFeed has moved slightly away from aggregation and aiming the service more at the discussions (hence why, for one reason, the service icons have gone) so if you find something interesting post it with the share box or bookmarklet to your feed and any relevant groups. - Kol Tregaskes

You can't be everything to everybody. Popularity here is no different to popularity in real life - be yourself and you will attract like minded people who think you are fun to be around. Or pretend to be somebody else and attract a crowd who will eventually move somewhere else. What is different is that it is much easier to find those like-minded people, and keep tabs on what they are up to. - Andy Bold

Posting questions is good as it encourages answering and thus comments and interaction. Make it open-ended and interesting. - Kol Tregaskes

Post something fun, at least once in a way. We all need a bit of a laugh most of the time and a fun pic or article will always find an audience. - Kol Tregaskes

Fill in your bio at least then when we find you we have a little bit of background to read on you. - Kol Tregaskes

Perhaps it more of what you *shouldn't* do. Definitely don't spam! FF gives us too many options (hide, filters, lists, blocks) for us to unwilling accept spam on the service. We control what we see and spamming will just be blocked or hidden. - Kol Tregaskes

like first comment - Lu Tao

Be conversational. Be yourself. Bring a respectful point of view. Be articulate. Be outgoing not bashful. - Russ Jackson

@Kol Tregaskes (new to FF and Twit) what do you mean I sub people who tend to comment on my posts? Is that like follow them back? - moon_shadow70

moon, yep so if you put your mouse over my user name at the end of any my posts here for example, give it a few seconds and you'll get a pop-up with my name, avatar and the ability to subscribe to me. When you subscribe to people their feed will appear on your home feed here: http://friendfeed.com/. So, yes basically you'll be following whatever I post. - Kol Tregaskes

good question. I look at my own feed and the stuff I've posted with no comments on it or likes and wonder what I am doing wrong. Of course I've been here less than a month so I don't feel TOO bad. - Gunny Just Gunny

Gunny, it will take a while. So don't be disheartened if you're not getting much attention atm. It took me months to get anyone to comment or like any of my stuff. - Kol Tregaskes

But basically you get out what you put in with FriendFeed. The more participation you put in the more interaction you'll get back in return. - Kol Tregaskes

I'm new to ff, a couple of weeks, and have 15 subscribers. I think that is pretty good. I just plug away and post what I like and hope others do too. - Chris Gardner

Spoke too soon. 16 subscribers now. :) - Chris Gardner

Chris, yep very good. They will come just be patience and interact as much as you can. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Participate. - Richard A.

Kol, you're a great role model. Lots of good posts, comments all over the place. Generally, a good person to interact with. 18 subscribers and counting. Thanks all. - Chris Gardner

After reading through the comments, I've realized that I don't care if I'm popular. Sure, it's nice to have subscribers and to see comments/likes on my posts. FF for me is just as much about getting as giving. I pass on things that I find interesting and subscribe to people who post/comment/like things I find interesting. It's about the information/conversation. :) - CAJ, somewhere else

Chris, very kind thank you. Well I interact as much as I can and post things that I like or would like to read FFers reactions about. I'm quite noisy though. ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Alan, exactly, it's not important, use FF as you wish. - Kol Tregaskes

I did it the prison way. On my first day I searched out the biggest, meanest, most popular FF'er I could and I shivved him. - Joe Pierce

I can give one example of what _not_ to do. Do not simply add your twitter feed or blog feed and expect people to be subscribers. This works for the top people because they made a name for themselves on other services but will not work for you. As others have already stated - engage. Read other people's posts and comment on them. - LPH™ and his dog P™

Alan, I like the way you look at it. - Chris Gardner

Chris, thanks. As a testament to what I typed, I checked your feed and am now subscribed to you. (No pressure! :P) - CAJ, somewhere else

Honestly? Do something other than FriendFeed. All of the most popular users developed their reputations through other channels. They brought their popularity here: http://www.ffholic.com/Users... - Sprague D

What Sprague said. But there are exceptions. Those who are all over the place, involving themselves with FF, commenting all over and being active in groups. - Vijayendra (V-Mo) Mohanty

Talk about cilantro. A lot. No, wait, that's how to make lifelong enemies on FriendFeed. Ummmmm, comment a lot and post a lot of stuff, the more different the stuff you post, the better, cuz variety is always welcome. - Steven Perez

Don't think that likes = entries. Share new content, don't promote existing one. Tip from a liker, not a sharer ;) - Jérôme Flipo

Be realtime in this reatime world. Sharing a new pic days after it has already spread is quite annoying (i.e don't bring old stuff at the top, over and over). - Jérôme Flipo

I haven't figured this out myself but I am more interested in finding cool stuff so I just try to find interesting people to follow. - Martha

Be persistent! - Dimitar Vesselinov

Popularity is the same all across the board and if you concern yourselves with "being popular", you'll drive yourselves crazy since more often times than not, when focused on popularity, people end up trying too hard, not trying hard enough, being too nice, being too mean, etc., etc. See where I'm going with this? There is no way you can please everyone. Be yourself. If people like you they do, if they don't, they don't. - Mona Nomura

I agree with Mark Trapp's comment. It seems that, if there is a formula for "hitting," it is novelty + timing. The timing part is a hard-to-control variable. Perhaps it helps to be an early adopter. - Dane Findley

What's all this about cilantro? Is cilantro the new bacon? My advice: Don't try to be popular. Be active (both sharing interesting stuff, preferably with pictures, and commenting on active items), and be yourself. If you are those things, you'll have a fair shot of getting popular as well. - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

Make Threats and Continuously Harass. - Lokei Atikus™®

"Like" EVERYTHING just for the sake of "Liking" things. Wait... nevermind... that's not cool. - Brad Williamson

Mark likes Brad Williamson's comment. - Mark Traphagen

Sleep around with a Scoble. Failing that you can go with subscribe to the whole world theory and you'll get subscriptions back or go with RAPATTON's suggestions mainly be interesting, be nice, be funny, be yourself. And don't worry about being popular. - Steve C

I'm disappointed so few have mentioned BEX's comment. Things like that make you popular too. Just not in the way you'd like. :) (Which makes me wonder...what exactly is the "rating" for this site? PG-13? R?) - CAJ, somewhere else

Just be active in the topics that interest you. The rest will take care of itself. - Geoff Schultz

Participate, comment on threads that you think are interesting and like them. This post already made you very popular. :) - Diego Espinoza V.

Get Alex Scoble to talk about you. - Robert Scoble

Post semi-nude pics of yourself - Rahsheen ™, Coach of FF

Rahsheen: Guess you haven't seen things like this http://friendfeed.com/alejand... in your feed - Nicholas James

Participate. - Mo Kargas

Notice I said "of yourself". Also, I don't think most of the popular users here actually brought a following with them...and by popular I don't mean simply the most subscribers because that is an invalid metric on FriendFeed. - Rahsheen ™, Coach of FF

BTW a good way to get popular on FriendFeed is to meet Robert Scoble. You're chances of getting a like off him will increase as well as he'll probably link to your profile on FriendFeed (and Twitter but who cares about that take them cupcakes and you'll get on the default list ;)) so you'll get alot of new subscribers and participation in your feed ;) - Nicholas James

I think Robert has a good point. Also get Louis Gray to talk about you :) (but he only notices if you participate a lot....so...) And I totally agree with Rahsheens comment that the most subscribers doesn't equate to the most popular, certainly not on FriendFeed. There are much better measures. - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

I think your post did it all for you.....95 comments already and 695 Subscribers. - Clifford Kennedy

change your last name to scoble :) - (jeff)isageek

Friendfeed doesn't notify folks of new follows like Twitter does, following lots of peeps create interest in your feed. Popularity on friendfeed is going to be more like traditional media, because it's more difficult to get peeps attention. Likely, many will find you through other media. The best way to develop relationships is to contribute to others' conversations. "Like" sparingly but good content when you find it. Make some popular friends. - Jason Nunnelley

I get notified of all new followers via email. That is in your settings somewhere. - Brian Sullivan

Well, there's the topless meme, but consensus has it to be guys-only. j/k :D - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

I have about 1400 ppl following me on Twitter (whom I've subscribed to in ff), not following me in friendfeed. I guess I turned that notifier off, but I can tell you folks don't reciprocate in ff the same. - Jason Nunnelley

Jason, I follow back most who subscribe to me on FF, but I am more selective. On Twitter, I follow back almost all because I'm more about the quantity of info in short bursts. On FF, I'm a little more selective, looking for quality. I click through to the profile, look for profile info (not having any is major minus), and scan a page or two of the feed. - Mark Traphagen

What's really funny about this thread is you've got a little of each Friendfeed 'space' here. ... New and old. Tech, Early Adopter, Search, Mega-Bloggers, OffBeat Posters, True Life-Online-ers, Photographers, a few drunks?? .... Ginger ... it's easy. Just pick what you want to be (or be with) and, as Louis (who else?) said, get a little more active. Watch out for the topless ones on Saturday night though. That's outa control :) - Charlie Anzman

NEW IDEA: All you need to do is post drunk. And make it clear you are posting drunk. That's it. Instant popularity. - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

Jandy: It's been done. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Damn. So it's an old idea that still works. Whatever. - Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF

Being a fan of bacon, tomatoes, and cilantro will ALWAYS gain you followers. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Ginger ... Try this. Maybe YOU can give it some traction ?? http://friendfeed.com/ff-subs... - Charlie Anzman

Cool Charlie, I'll check it out. - Ginger Makela Riker

Thanks for bumping the link., Charlie. :-) - Kol Tregaskes

I've just found a very apt quote here: http://ff.im/2xEN1 ;-) - Kol Tregaskes

Pretty good one, Kol. - Kamilah Gill

I know this is shameless self-promotion but I actually wrote a post about this a few days ago: http://bit.ly/wFtPa. Best advice from that is 1) Point your twitter followers to ff by posting your updates from friendfeed and have them synced to twitter. 2) Subscribe to your twitter followers on friendfeed and make you @replies from within friendfeed. 3) Paricipate in groups (rooms) post to different rooms and not just to your own feed. - Kasper Sorensen

I actually don't care about any of that. I use FriendFeed to keep up with the people I care about. That's the only focus for me on here. - Damien Basile

That was my solely purpose of friendfeed until they launched their beta (now regular) design - Kasper Sorensen from IM

Kasper: Unless we're friends I don't need to know every single thing about what a person is doing. I already get overload on Twitter. I don't need it elsewhere. I DO like the 'Best Of' feature. It trusts that the crowd can decide what is the best so then I get the best without having to sort. I do add people i'm not so close with into a separate non-homepage category. Will i look at it? sometimes but not often. - Damien Basile

I use ff in a similar way. The saved searches feature is a very neat way to ensure that you don't get overwhelmed. I read about a filter earlier where you can show all your friends entries, except their twitter posts. For me that cuts down a significantly amount of noise. I always like to have filters where you can show entries that have x-numbers of likes or comments. - That will also cut noise significantly and only give me the most popular posts from my friends. - Kasper Sorensen from IM