What is up with the topless meme. That's the... - Jeremiah Owyang

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What is up with the topless meme. That's the stuff I didn't want to see in my 'best of day' but yet it shows. If I was at work (fortunately it's sunday) and I was showing this to clients, I would be slightly red faced. This is not the FF I was hoping to use. Oh well, carry on

May 3 - Comment - Like - Share

Mitchell Tsai, Sara Maternini, Luca Conti and 35 other people liked this

To be clear, I'm not a prude. But I focus on how brands can use social tools to reach customers --wasn't expecting this. - Jeremiah Owyang

That's why we need best of for lists. - Jérôme Flipo

There's too much noise in social media. This again proves why RSS still matters (sorry for going off on a tangent) - Andre P. Siregar

Andre, don't you think that RSS matters because a feed is about a topic, while a subscription is about a user? Scoble & Co like tech entries and family/community-related posts (photos, jokes...). Lists can help by separating serious bloggers from the not-so-serious ones, but they still miss exceptions (only tag-based filters work, which can't be implemented as comments play the role of tags here). Another solutions is to create multiple feeds per user - at least for the most popular and voluble ones. - Jérôme Flipo

But if the "best of" feature is extended to lists, it should solve half the problem. - Jérôme Flipo

Yes Jerome. I keep hearing advice on FF to create lists to manage the feed. But like you said, lists don't always work as they are about the users and not the content. FF is still useful for me for the conversation and for discovering something new (or something unexpected, like what happened to Jeremiah), but not when I want to focus on a specific topic. - Andre P. Siregar

Jeremiah -- you weren't expecting silliness on a Saturday night in a place where people gather? Seems a bit naive on your part ? - Brian Sullivan

What part of the name "Friendfeed" gave you the impression that this was a medium where only professional content was presented? As the saying goes, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. - jcunwired

Andre, lists helps a lot. A clean home feed has a high SNR, and you can still go to http://friendfeed.com/dregar... to watch your "full Friendfeed". Then, even if lists don't filter content by topics, it has significantly decreased the noise in my home feed. My most efficient lists are: stuff, real life friends, community, family, important, news, and bloggers. - Jérôme Flipo

I'm still traumatized from Chris' picture:-) - Michael Fidler

jcunwired, I disagree: Friendfeed is a community AND a service. I think it's even a service to build communities. And we should be able to build strong walls to keep the noise from one community to another. For sure, if Jeremiah doesn't create its own filters and lists, it won't help, but Friendfeed should make sure that we can tailor the service to our very personal needs. You shouldn't have to stand the heat if you want a cool place. - Jérôme Flipo

Jerome, I agree completely, though I don't see anything in your message that disagrees with what I said. FF provides the ability to filter and create lists - its not pretty, but it exists if you take the time to learn it and categorize information. But to expect to hit Best of Day and see only professional content is indicative of a complete misunderstanding of friendfeed altogether. - jcunwired

While I don't find the meme that engaging for my tastes, this is demonstrating the same social issue that was discussed with Twitter came out. Where does it say that these platforms are designed for only professional use? They are not. They can be used for one or the other, or both depending on the needs of each individual user. The need to a clearly defined professional area may open up doors to new business initiatives. - Lou Paglia

Jeremiah, if you think you'd be embarrassed, how do you think I'd feel? Some of those pics were of my chest! :D - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Rebuttal: http://friendfeed.com/silas21... - Steven Perez

I think this is exactly what makes friendfeed interesting. Having some goofiness causes the marketers to be confused about participating here, which actually improves the community here. There's a lot of goofy stuff over on YouTube too, especially in the comments, but that hasn't seemed to keep brands away. I don't know about other companies, but Rackspace wants to help real people and real people (including me) are goofy and do things that brands don't always like to associate themselves with. - Robert Scoble

Oh well carry on? Huh. So Twitter can be dumped on for being filled with marketers and inane chatter, but we have a couple of people take a picture of themselves without their shirts on here on FF and it gets a pass? Really? - Brandon Mendelson

I miss all the fun. - Chuck Baggett

Brandon: I don't think this is getting a pass, do you? We're discussing it. That is FAR from "getting a pass." - Robert Scoble

Brandon: what's more vile? This http://www.scripting.com/stories... or seeing a few topless guys? Personally I'll take the topless guys every time. - Robert Scoble

@Robert, I agree ... for now. But Friendfeed is very young and I'm afraid it won't be any different in time. Plus, that's (the twitter profile) is a pretty limited assessment don't you think? You don't HAVE to follow people on the suggested user list. - Brandon Mendelson

Brandon: it is very easy to build a display here on friendfeed that has all topless memes removed. Here's a display of all items from my friends with topless and meme removed: http://friendfeed.com/search... - Robert Scoble

God, if this thing is for 'professional' use only, I think it's time I was leaving.. - Andy Connell

Thank you for sharing that Robert. This is certainly a strength FF has over Twitter and I appreciate you sharing this. - Brandon Mendelson

Ok, what if FF starts showing porn? Corporate web filters would surely block FF from view from brands. - Jeremiah Owyang

This is behavior found on any social network. Corporations still come to them if the numbers and engagement is there. - Brandon Mendelson

actually, my school hasn't blocked FF yet - but it'll happen some day. If in doubt - use your iPhone for FF. - LPH™ and his dog P™

I must admit that every time someone starts posting stuff on the public feed that isn't G-rated, I wonder how the creators of FF might feel. - MiniMage, sheeple of FF

MiniMage: if I created a conversation platform like friendfeed I'd probably cringe, but I would work hard to give my users tools to refactor and refilter their displays. The tools are sorta there, but not really. So, if they have an impulse it should be to fix the filtering here so that we can add things like -meme and have all memes removed from our display. That will be how this problem solves itself. - Robert Scoble

You obviously have the wrong clients, Jeremiah. - Glen Campbell

Think of the "topless meme" as human behavior. As a marketer it is important to know about humans. No, I am not sure exactly how to use the "topless meme" as a way of understanding, creating and serving customers. Serving the needs of people is the name of the game. Find known and unknown needs and fill them. - David Damore

Glen, my clients are the largest brands in the world.... - Jeremiah Owyang

meh - Andy Connell

I'm remembering an interview (I think it was an interview) with the creators of Spore. Before it was released, one guy said to another, "You're know they're going to be making penises with this, don't you?" The othe responded, "Yeah, I know." I probably don't have the exact wording right, but I think I have the gist. I guess that's just backing up the "factor human misbehavior into your plans," theme. - MiniMage, sheeple of FF

Seems like potential clients should be seeing everything that goes on on FF. They're going to find out sooner or later. Any client who expects a social network to be wholly professional needs to learn more about social networks. How can they make an informed decision about what they want to do without knowing all the facts? - Lindsey is Fierce!

If you take your clients to the online equivalent of a public bar on a Saturday, you shouldn't be surprised or embarrassed with what you see. In fact, some of the largest brands in the world spend good money marketing to silly people in bars on Saturday nights. But you shouldn't complain because there's no chamber music and technology demonstrations going on. - Glen Campbell

Jeremiah - a couple of your most recent posts are concerned with whether you should buy a PS3 or XBox, and the relationship of Battlestar Galactica to the Human Condition. Doesn't strike me as the most 'professional' of profiles, given that your clients are, yknow, the largest brands in the world.. I'm just sayin' - let's have a little fun on here once in a while.. - Andy Connell

Glen: I have found some of my coolest iPhone apps inside public bars on Saturday nights. :-) I just talked with the woman who bought Urban Spoon, too. A large part of that is finding fun things. Who would have known that an app that can help you find a bar is worth a lot of money? - Robert Scoble

Without the topless meme we wouldn't be having this conversation about propriety in the social media space. If brands are going to go one on one with people, they are going to have to deal with at least a modicum of impropriety. In fact a modicum of impropriety and/or humility could go a long way to help many brands communicate better with prospective customers. - Jesse Newhart

If you want to demonstrate FriendFeed to clients, I recommend creating a test account that only is subscribed to "safe" people. - Rishabh Mishra (p248)

hasnt appeared on my network here yet, thank goodness - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

Andy no f ing fun allowed, period. - Jeremiah Owyang

Are we sure these brands aren't at least partly responsible? Anyone remember the Carl Jr's ad with the heiress washing the car? How about the Hanes commercials with half-naked women (including Jennifer Love Hewitt) running around? On second thought, those big brands might just be all for it! Well, as long as it's female toplessness, anyway. :( [edit: Ok, so Hanes is about underwear, but what's a leather swimsuit got to do with a frikkin' sandwich? And anyway, the Hanes guys NEVER have to try to be sexy!] - MiniMage, sheeple of FF

Jeremiah - haha! - Andy Connell

Like many companies, Sony, Aprilia, Apple, Volvo and Puma [edit: ok, apparently the Puma one is a fake; good!] have no room for squirming: http://friendfeed.com/minimag... - MiniMage, sheeple of FF

True this is not the place for a topless meme. Everyone has access and it can create an embarrassment. It is not about being a prude. It is common sense! - Jose Luis Santos

Don't tell me how to use my FriendFeed. I will show my tits if I want. THis is the place for whatever I say it's for :) - Rahsheen ™, Coach of FF

Eh. Though I'm not participating in it, doesn't mean everyone else shouldn't. This is a social platform. This isn't linkedin. People will be funny, serious, whatever. They'll be social! What would a brand do? Participate. - Violet Mae Lim from fftogo

I wish FriendFeed would allow for persona's, like a "professional" and "personal" persona. Some people might want more than two. Persona''s could be implemented by allowing multiple public feeds for each user. Some people might want to subscribe to all persona's of a particular user, some only to one. This would also allow for keeping your "personal" feed private, while making your "professional" feed public. - Meryn Stol

Meryn, one of the things that makes the new social web so exciting for me is that we don't have to so strictly separate our personal life from our professional life. We get to just live our lives and be happy. Giving us that persona abstraction would drag us back by years. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Anyway, any client who is too stodgy to accept human nature and propensity for fooling around probably doesn't have all that much time left before said client disappears. If they don't like how people behave online, well, that's their loss. I say scrap 'em and find someone else who is willing to step up to the plate and play ball with us real people. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

damn. I gotta spend more time on FriendFeed on the weekends. - Thomas Hawk

LOL @ Thomas - Roberto Bonini

+100 Rahsheen! I just don't get it. If you took one of your all-important brands to lunch, would you take a route that avoids a city park in summer because, god forbid, people may be playing soccer or frisbee without their shirts on? I will repeat, if you use "Best of" for corporate demos - with content of all shapes and sizes at any given time - then you really don't understand FF. Demo plaxo instead. - jcunwired

if you are going to demo something to clients shouldn't you show them what it really is and not what a sanitized version would be? - Christian Crumlish

Wow. I only have two things to contribute, and Robert Scoble already said one of them. 1) Yes, craziness will scare marketdroids away and we all want that. 2) @Jeremiah I haven't seen a single topless photo. This whole meme totally passed me by except for some oblique mentions. Don't tell me a little nobody like me actually has a better network than you! - Mr. Gunn

Any example of Social Media that is solely professional won't have the users that the brands want to interact with. On one level or another, we are their customers and, as Robert said, we are goofy. They have to cater to us not the other way around. - Andrew

...you know, Skittles got in trouble in social media because they failed to realize that, sometimes, humans do silly things when left to their own devices. Are you sure you're giving your clients an accurate survey of the terrain, a terrian that very few of them understand to begin with, when you only take them down the "sanitized" streets and power-washed boulevards, but not also some of the more questionable back alleys and side streets? The topless meme was silly, but it's about people. It's social. - .LAG liked that

Life is a party. Wewt! - Danny Minick

i heard on adultfriendfeeder.com they have a pantless meme - sean percival

Brian Sullivan is totally right -- it was Saturday night. Late Saturday night. I can't imagine people doing the same thing when at work Monday morning. - Ginger Makela Riker

Lol at sean percival - Jeremiah Owyang

That meme is exactly what I'd expect to see here. =) - Beau "Slick Foot" Liening

KtecK: Can't stick pics in a Twitter post. Closest you can do is provide a URL to one, and that's no fun. - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

Be careful what you ask for you just might get it. The same filtering, demonstrated by Robert, that allows people to avoid memes can also be used to filter out brand-related messaging which could be used, say, to stop a viral campaign in its tracks. Social media will always be a risk for marketers. - Sprague D

The much bigger risk is not to use it at all. - Alex Scoble

Jeremiah - Now it appears you'll have to look before you show. Those tops will scare the customers! - John A. Taylor

+1 SpragueD... in fact, FF has ideal tools for filtering messages out, brand-related or not. that said, i'm not sure this tool, FriendFeed, is even valuable for brands... consumer brands that is. - .LAG liked that

There was really nothing much naughty at all in our "topless" meme. Nothing that you couldn't see just walking outside. It was certainly not professional, but it was Saturday night and we were having a bit of fun. As Rah said, FF is ours to do with as we see fit. Also, please remember this is FRIEND FEED, not marketer feed or professional feed. This is where I hang out with my friends. Sometimes we share intelligent conversations and sometimes Chris shows his moobs. - Internet's Tad

Uh, yeah. That's why these are called "Text forms" and not "fully artificial intelligence scatter gather heuristic weighted content sieves with secondary mechanical turk policy adherence review forms". They don't moderate content. You do by following or not following or just piping everything through a "-[term]" filter. Hint: you'll never keep up with it all. But I'd be fascinated if you could interview Marshal 8e6, Websense, and other "cloud" secure web gateway vendors on their attack for this "problem" - Jay Cuthrell

I hope you'll like the ROCK OUT WITH YOUR COCK OUT meme that I'll be starting tonight. - Mark Wilson

Dammit Wilson...I'm gonna have to buy a bigger webcam for this one...or just stand WELL back - Threepwood

If you were showing FriendFeed to a client, I would hope you would have prepared a few lists to demonstrate functionality. If you're following folks you're ashamed of, I'd have to fault you. Best of day reflects who you follow. - Bwana ☠

Seriously Jeremiah, if I were utilizing FriendFeed from your point of view, I would carefully choose who I follow - Bwana ☠

If your clients don't live under a stone, they should know what's hot on every social network... - Ryo / Fuck Facebook

memes should be posted to a meme room ... hmmm - Susan Beebe

"The loss of control you fear is already in the past." --Clay Shirky at #09NTC - Laura Norvig

topless meme? Darn. I wasn't paying attention. I missed that. Seriously, though, I am the most unprudish person in the world, but there is a time and a place for everything - Ian May

so, um, let me get this straight. Skin used for selling = good, skin used for goofing around on FF = bad? Doesn't ring too right, here. (Here, being someone with a few years in advertising under his belt, by the way). OH WAIT did I say "under my belt"? Ick. - dario

Well, we don't know for sure if any of Jeremiah's clients have peddled their wares via flesh, but I'd have to bet that the largest brands in the world certainly would be guilty of such. - MiniMage, sheeple of FF