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Ben Metcalfe posted a message on Twitter

“The "social media" profession seems to be full of prety anti-social people at the moment. Perhaps it's why we're so out of touch.”

June 29 at 12:03 pm - Link

Schlomo Rabinowitz, Bob Bichler, Siobhan O'Neill and 28 other people liked this

I think the social media field could use more agnostics and skeptics. There's way too much cheerleading going on. - J T. Ramsay

17 more comments

Wow, that is a great observation. I count myself among that number... - BISQ

I'd agree with that. I've stopped Liking anything about social media. And I'm even trying to hold myself back from Liking or commenting on things about FriendFeed. - Robert Scoble

I've resorted to hiding 90% of what happens in FF about Social Media. You do that, and you start to see people using social media in a productive and engaging manner. No anti-socials here. - Mark Trapp

what makes you think that social media pros are out of touch? I question your assumption, actually. - Dave Taylor

@Robert Scoble: I like that! - Benedikt Koehler

Dave: just saying you're a social media pro probably makes you out of touch with 99.9999% of people out there. Most "normal" people I meet have no clue what Twitter is, or why you'd want to use it, not to mention about FriendFeed. Which is probably why I like both of them. But I don't try to be a social media pro. I just want to hang around with early adopters and influencers. - Robert Scoble

anti-social is a broad term, so I'm not sure exactly what you mean, but it does not necessarily mean out-of-touch. - rambn

Scoble: I completely agree--even my relatively "tech savvy" friends don't know about Twitter...much less FF. The very nature of early adopters is going against the grain, doing things that others are not, and accepting change, rather than avoiding it. - BISQ

If by out of touch you mean spending lots of time trying to explain FriendFeed/Twitter to friends who don't work on the Internet then I totally agree. - Toby Graham

Life is full of anti-social people and social people. Much like "Social media". Note "social" came before "media", right? It's how we use it? - Gi Fernando

It is just that your feed is too narrow that perhaps leads to that sort of conclusion. I have no clue how many labels that could be placed on me. I have to agree with Mark Trapp. - Mathew A. Koeneker

I would like to see a wider range of users on these services to create diversity in content. - rambn

Could be. Social networks provide a very different social context. Just like you might be a raging shark via email, you might be a mouse when confronted on the phone or in person. I think our ability to socialize is changing and may take some time for folks to work out. - AJ Kohn

Robert: I have to admit that I am digging your approach to things. :) - Mathew A. Koeneker

I don't think it's a case of getting other users on existing services but more a case of identifying what services those users could actually benefit from. In the first instance, we should perhaps be taking the lessons we learn from social media and using the ideas in other real world applications to improve existing tools rather than try to thrust new ones in peoples faces. Once we see a shift in culture we may then be able to migrate people but they will not want to use "social media" just because we say they should - it generally goes against what people currently accept as the way to do things. - Colin Walker via fftogo

AJ: Spot on. We are seeing the growing pangs. - Mathew A. Koeneker

Rambn/Colin: the problem isn't systemic; you guys are merely following the wrong people. People who aren't invested in the social media sphere are using Friendfeed and Twitter productively: http://friendfeed.com/e/3359b3... People gravitate into cliques, even in socnets. The more you follow social media people, the more you're going to think that's the only thing going on on Friendfeed. And it couldn't be further from the truth. - Mark Trapp

Well, just because the media is "social" doesn't mean the early adopters attracted to it are known for their social skills, lol! - Tony

Before Twitter or the social media revolution, there were socials and anti-socials among us. That said, some scrutiny and skepticism are important to apply to social media. So many rah-rah-rahs (cheerleaders) promoting social media, but not enough respectful dissenting voices. Let's find a balance to improve the whole social media space. Yes, I've probably gotten off topic. Poor social skills. - David

Robert Scoble posted a message

“I didn't realize how much I missed Google Reader. Reading items there I feel a lot smarter than after just reading headlines in FriendFeed. I definitely need to rebalance my reading between the two. Anyone else feel that way?”

June 30 at 9:29 am - Link

tinu, Josh, Patrick Jordan and 80 other people liked this

Love Google Reader. I end up with both news and insights that I never would have gotten anywhere else. - BISQ

78 more comments

I can't seem to get away from Google Reader. There's so much interesting stuff in it that haven't been shared to Friendfeed yet. With Toluu, I'm finding more and more things that I like, and just haven't made their rounds on Friendfeed. - Mark Trapp

I had been neglecting my Google Reader, lots of actual reading to catch up on. - Kevin Cuneo

Google Reader is my everyday start. - Håkan Dahlström

I feel like if I don't listen to NPR in the monring I miss the news all together. If I just read the things i see on FF or Twitter I get a whole lot of random web news but not much whole world news. - Whit Scott via twhirl

I always read through Google reader before coming to FriendFeed in the morning. - Louis Gray

I read everything through Google Reader. - Josue Sanchez

Back and forth between the two. - Andrew Smith

Google Reader seems to offer me more control over what I see. Also -- much more variety. FriendFeed offers a wider range of subjects. (Content developers don't need to subscribe to FriendFeed.) Plus -- anything Google I am a fan of. - Charles Barthold

Absolutely. FriendFeed has a bit of a swiss army knife feel to it at the moment, with lots of folks trying to using it to replace a bunch of specialized tools like feed readers, forums/threaded comment systems, IM, etc. - Ken Sheppardson

FF has really cut into my feed reading time. I need to rebalance, too. - ha3rvey

yeah FF is just grabbing more and more of my attention - Stefan Hayden

Exactly. Feedfeed is great catching trends but I learn more from my regular readings in Google Reader. - Leon Ho

I used to hit FeedDemon in the morning after email, but now Snackr and Netvibes (thanks to Marshall Kirkpatrick's suggestion) let me get the quick hits and news. I glance at FriendFeed via Twhirl as it ticks by just to see what's up. - Tris Hussey via NoiseRiver

Yeah, but I don't necessarily agree that it is Google Reader as much as it's an RSS reader of your choice, with my choice being NetNewsWire. - Andru Edwards

There's something about seeing the full text of an item that makes reading feeds much more satisfying (and more efficient, because here in FF I have to click on interesting headlines and wait for the item to load to read it). - Robert Scoble

Google Reader all the way. - Andrew Ruess

Actually, at this point I prefer SocialMedian - it gives me a fast view w/ summaries - Lucretia Pruitt

What is it about FF that makes it addictive - that (1) people like it (2) but they still think they are using it too much? Maybe other social media startups need to figure out what the FriendFeed-juice is? - Mitchell Tsai

The key to Google Reader is balancing volume with quality. I'd rather follow many feeds that have only a few entries per day than those that have dozens. - Georg

I am using a mixture of FF/Google Reader and Netvibes - riaz

Feedly is quite nice when I can get it to work through my corp proxy. - Greg

Yes, this is why I really like the practice of using the "Share with a note" feature in Google Reader to quote a relevant part from the original content so that it can appear as a summary comment here on FF - Vlado Handziski

I moved all my RSS reads to Feedly. It's foundation is Google Reader, but served up in a magazine format. I can get through it in less than half the time as directly through GR. - Bob Finch

Google reader, for sure. I like FF for the random stuff it throws at me that I can follow up on somewhere else, but I need Google to feel caught up on the things I need. - K Welch

Good lord, Robert -- I never left Google Reader. GR is vastly more efficient for processing news feeds than Friendfeed. With a few tweaks, FF could bring itself up the level of GR, but so far we haven't seen much feedback from FF developers regarding these suggestions. My lead folder in GR is a stream of pure gold with no dross or distracting trivia. - Sean McBride

FriendFeed is more about specific people. Google Reader is more about feeds in general. We all need to balance the specific and the general. - Mike Abundo

Would you rather have a sandwich or a snickers bar for lunch? I love the snickers bar, but most days I will definitely choose the sandwich, if I must choose. - Phil Glockner

I'm a netvibes man, it enables me to peruse 90+ article titles on one page/tab and I have 7 tabs. The sharing option on Google Reader makes me jealous though. - Toby Graham

For me, FF is good for tech geek stuff, but my GReader is much more science focused so I balance the two probably more in favour of GReader atm - Sally Church

At one time, I tried reading all my feeds through FriendFeed, but quickly returned to Google Reader...they serve different purposes. - Chris Rossini

Feedly is quite nice - LPH™

I've never stopped reading in my RSS reader (spoonfeedr.com). FriendFeed is much more manageable there than on their website. - Sam Pullara

I second BSCQ - Martin Liechti via fftogo

Starting to use Feedly rather than GReader - it's perfect, stops me reading so many articles without being boring. I looooove it! - Richard Bradshaw

I find that I read articles on FF that don't show up in Google Reader and everything else in Reader. - Roberto Bonini

Totally. Plus I have full text and robust filing systems. - Steve Rubel via fftogo

Pretty surprised that you even considered ditching a newsreader to begin with. Sure you're feeling ok? - David Chartier

Google reader is my main RSS feed reader. I'm totally addicted. I just added Feedly and now I get recommeded feeds which add another dimension of social news aggregation. - Larry Kless via twhirl

I spend quality time in Google Reader. Try Feedly. It displays your Google subscriptions nicely. - Michael Tefft

Feedly & FriendFeed are the ticket, gReader alone seems like a one sided conversation. - Roger Penguino

I'm all about the netvibes: www.netvibes.com/kdoohan - Kevin Doohan

I honestly don't know what I did before Reader. It is the best thing out there for me, for sure. Plus I can use it on my phone! - Ann Coleman

I can't stand gReader's inability to start FF-style "conversations" around shared items. And I can't convince my gReader buddies to move over to FF :( - Jake

I've abandoned Google Reader and all RSS Readers at this point. Traditional RSS readers are dead as far as I'm concerned. Social filters are much better at delivering content than RSS readers. Every second spent in an RSS reader is a second spent away from a socially filtered news and information experience. - Thomas Hawk

Thomas Hawk: I think that you are right. This is why all RSS readers have evolved towards social filters. Let's not forget that Google Reader invented the concept of shared feeds. - Edwin Khodabakchian

If you subscribe to the right feeds and blogs, you get a better perspective on the topics you care about. That's something that these services can quite do it as good as a feed reader. - Jay Cruz

did You try Feedly? It works with GReader, great! - Luca Conti

Its like reading a newspaper and talking about it. One won't replace the other, so I'm happy with the serious Google Reader _and_ the friendly cosy FF. Thanks to "best of day" I can balance the time spent with both. Not sure I want one app to rule them all :) for now, a mix of GR and FF is quite ok. - Dani Radu

I'll have to give feedly another look, but lately I've been subscribing to my FF RSS feed in gReader, so almost best of both worlds in one - nick carrasco

Hey now that you're reading feeds again, how about doing a shared item feed just for new tech products, or features of tech products, or reviews of tech products, even ones that aren't new. I promise I'll use the feed and give you credit of course. I'm going to ask Marshall to do one too (I bet he already does). - Dave Winer

I jump between the two anyway, I wouldn't abandon one over the other as they both have many plus points!! - Joe Dawson (beta)

yes, deep breath. as awesome as friendfeed is, it's not going to replace google reader, it's not going to replace twitter, it's not going to replace _______ . it makes all these services more useful, but you need a starting point. google reader is one of them. - MG Siegler

Google reader, never leave home without it! Friendfeed is definitely not a replacement. I see feeds on my reader that don't make it to the Friendfeed universe. - Alexander van Elsas

Although, I use GR less, I could never do away with it. FriendFeed does help a lot because I find myself marking a lot of stuff read (wish there was an easier way to do that) and being able to move on to to other content. - Shey

None of these services are an either or thing. They joy is in how they all work together. - m.0

can't get enough of Google Reader especially when I can find more exciting, techy blogs in the "Discover" section which I cannot live without. In respects to reading Friendfeed headlines, I don't really see this site as a news site. More as a conversation ABOUT the news! - Josh Chandler

I suffered your pain. Then, as some kind of experiment, I spent some time creating imaginary friends and tweeking feeds and the list of people and rooms I subscribe here. Awsome, now I cannot think about swapping FriendFeed by something else like an RSS reader. I still have to better manage my FF, specially trying to reduce the noise, but this is definitively better than the "old way"... - ☂Marcos Marado via fftogo

I just found 44 items from you on your Google Reader shared items feed. I guess you're back. :) Google Reader allows me to more easily see things from a particular person; if I had to rely on finding them in their FriendFeeds, I'd probably miss them. - Ontario Emperor

Here's my balance: http://friendfeed.com/e/6250a4... - Bwana

I don't know if I feel smarter when reading google's reader, but I feel like I am smart when reading it. - Mike

@Robert start using feedly with Firefox 3. Now that feedly has integrated Friendfeed into their plugin, I'll never leave Google Reader. - Chris Rodgers

yes - rambn

Robert - a combination of http://mionews.com + creating a private room with your RSS feeds in it may get you best of both worlds. Though I know you don't like that mioNews isn't a river-of-news, but we're working on that :) - Patrick Lightbody

I feel the same and I like it even if you did not like me saying thanks to friends saying that they liked my roadmap video - Loic Le Meur

Yes, I'm reading both. I read a lot more than I have time to share, but it helps to have both Google & FF formats available. - Cathryn Hrudicka

I'm using both, but for different purposes. Add Feedly, which is getting some of my casual browsing. - Chris Baskind

I agree but the issue is if I find something there and want to then ind the conversation here about that post I can not easily do so. I can post my own link but it would be nice to find the relevant posts here for any given item in my Google Reader. - Joel Ordesky

I've been wandering away from Reader for a while. See too many headlines that don't interest me. - shelisrael1

I've always felt that Reader did a fantastic job of presenting the content I want to read. - Trevor Carpenter

I tried giving up reader for a day - FF just doesn't replace what an rss reader can provide - Jesse Stay

They serve two totally different functions in my workflow. Google Reader gives me the news from the outlets I value while FriendFeed gives the news (and other stuff) of the people I value (I wouldn't consider all you internet celebs friends, sorry!). FriendFeed complements Google Reader. - Dennis Laumen

Yes. In fact, I read my Friendfeed through GoogleReader. For me, FF is a subset of Google Reader. Just another "Outlet." - Francine Hardaway

FF is great for finding things you may have missed in GReader, but it's no replacement. - Sarah Perez

Adding my 2 cents to the many comments here - I read both - Google Reader is a must for me and I don't see anything replacing it. FF is the conversation for me. - Kevin Cearns

GR is news, FF is conversation. They serve different purposes for me. - brian junyor via twhirl

GR is daily homework, FF is hanging around with friends - Nikos Anagnostou

get the cream from Friendfeed and then go on with gReader - Dobromir Hadzhiev

Absolutely, I get my best ideas from some of the great feeds I subscribe to. I realize too that I tweet and share much less when I don't go through my reader. - Sonciary Honnoll

First of all,FriendFeed & Twitter - Igor Poltavskiy

Friendfeed needs j + k shortcut keys like Google Reader. It'd make scanning through things much easier. - Martin Bryant