Left to right, as if you didn't know already: Dan Hsiao, Casey Muller, Ana Yang, Jim Norris, Tudor Bosman, Bret Taylor, Paul Buchheit (with Camilla), Sanjeev Singh, Kevin Fox.
- Tudor Bosman
That's why I love today's web : you can talk with the people that build the next web, and see those who build your current web. Congrats guys!
- Zackatoustra
FriendFeed Team, I love you !!!! Thanks to you all, I'm very happy everyday!!!
- Renchin(Reina)
So that was the TGIFF ("Thank Goodness It's FriendFeed") party? Perhaps slightly off-topic, but if Camiila hasn't been betrothed yet, have I got a grandson for her ;-))
- ianf ⌘
TGIFF was excellent. Great event and great people.Thanks for the invite and hospitality.
- AJ Kohn
Louis, thank you and thank you to the FriendFeed team for making a killer product and hosting a great open house!
- Brian Solis
(bump) Ana and Casey are now married. Here's a pic of them on the left, between Ross and Jim. Congratulations to Ana and Casey! (per http://friendfeed.com/jessica...)
- Louis Gray
علی حجوانی تو روحت، ای واسه چه موقعیه؟ :)))
- Mehran
:))))))))) مال بعد از عیده. اواخر فروردین فک کنم
- Aly
Louis how is it too soon? It's entirely possible right now.
- Jesse Stay
Look at what HuffingtonPost is doing. Look at what Digg is doing. Watch the presentation JibJab did for Facebook at TC50. There are firm stats behind this, and when it's on your own site you can actually measure it.
- Jesse Stay
The tools are all there, and some are already embracing them and seeing great results.
- Jesse Stay
I should add I also have a few clients, big names, all implementing similar.
- Jesse Stay
Kate, no, it's let your customers come to you, but use the environments they're familiar with to participate right on your own brand. Check out my latest blog post for a good explanation of what I'm referring to. It's a merging of the old and new marketing - I think we're entering an even newer era of marketing.
- Jesse Stay
My latest little art project. I've started making daily sketches of what comes up as Best of Day for myself and for my FF friends. Today I had my banana ketchup and Johnny's beard (?-2009), RIP. Seems as fitting a juxtaposition as any...
Can we also see the one titled "Lindsay, her birthday, a cake"? :-)
- Jason Huebel
Jason, how did you know that I sketched that the other day? I'm doing larger drawings for best of week and best of month. I hope Friendfeed sticks around long enough for me to get a good-sized body of work. Wish I'd thought of this sooner... where will I go to do this if FF goes away??
- Kamilah Gill
@Kamilah, the title of the one I requested is peaking out from the bottom of the stack in that picture. I obsess over small things. ;-)
- Jason Huebel
I was wondering about that! Good eye! That sketch was really light and incomplete. I was just getting started. Today's sketch was my most complete and nicest-looking one so far, so it's the first one I posted.
- Kamilah Gill
Katy, I definitely have thought about that problem... I might have to just skip over them and do the next most popular. It just depends.
- Kamilah Gill
These are great!! I hope I reach this level in sketching someday. :)
- Andrizzle Gizzle
They're actually very nice. They tell me stories. I find it easier and easier to do the tasks they set for me. KILL. Haha! I don't know why I typed that! KILL. Hahaha! Haha! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!1!!
- James (!?)
Here in West Hollywood, my best friend of 18 years and his boyfriend are getting married. So yes, I get to be a groomsman at a gay wedding - prop 8 or not. Should be awesome.
- Louis Gray
It was a fantastic ceremony. One of the best weddings I have ever seen. It was traditional Jewish themed, so I am wearing a yarmulke to match the vest and tie. Lots of great friends from my teenage years.
- Louis Gray
from iPhone
Louis, I own a yarmulke as well - my wife brought it for me when she visited Israel
- Jesse Stay
Recently my cousin's head was run over by a car. This is what's left of her helmet. My cousin completely survived because of this helmet. Please think of this before riding a bike without a helmet next time!
This happened to a friend of mine at the beginning of the month. He didn't do so good in the accident, but the helmet obviously saved his life. Thankfully is on his way home tomorrow: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit...
- Steve Lacey
I used to ride my bike without the helmet even though it is mandatory in Chennai, India. But after reading this I am not even going to the next street in my bike without helmet.
- Sudar
I never wear a helmet. When hearing things like this, I always think of this article.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1.... In the Netherlands no one wears a helmet. It seems safe to me.
- Peter Stuifzand
I was hit while riding to work in summer 2006 & did not want anyone to touch my helmet at all costs. If my brain was scrambled, I did not want anyone to touch my egg:) I highly recommend a helmet especially if you think you will not need one! Mine was almost the same color too & manufacturer, but there is no conspiracy there:)
- Roney Smith
Bicyclists/motorcyclists that don't wear helmets are better called future organ donors
- Brian Sullivan
Thanks for sharing. I ride often at traffic time between cars. always wear my helmet...itsg good to know that It does work :)
- jonathan
from twhirl
Wow, glad to hear your friend is doing well after that. I agree, helmets save lives. Regardless, I've many intentional close-calls by drivers who don't want to share the road. Unfortunately, this is the common attitude where I live (southern US).
- pete
we wear helmets for everything: mtb, snowboarding, wakeboarding, skateboarding & even surfing - skulls are fragile why not put a protective layer around it (i also try real hard to not ride on streets - a high percentage of drivers are oblivious to bike riders)...
- mike "glemak" dunn
I always ride in my helmet and stay to bike lanes as much as possible. Nice to know the safety tools work. Now, if I can just avoid that NYPD cop with a penchant for knocking people off their bikes. Hopefully, he won't transfer to LAPD.
- Jason Toney
Peter Stuifzand, my cousin would be dead if she did not wear her helmet. That article is BS. Wear your helmet!
- Jesse Stay
from twhirl
Point blank. You are a moron if you ride without a helmet. Sorry, but that's true and you're just going to play into Darwinian theory should you continue to ride without one. Any 'real' cyclist (e.g - you've been hit by a car - and yes, I have been) will tell you this without reservation. Helmets work without a doubt.
- AJ Kohn
I survived a nasty motorcycle crash in my youth and would also be dead without that helmet - which cracked in 2 like an egg (that would have been my head, as the nurse aptly put it!).
- Susan Beebe
A friend who's a cop refers to motorcycles as donorcycles whenever she sees someone riding without a helmet. I figure that applies for bicycles, too.
- ha3rvey (Ho)^3
I was on the way to work Monday morning while it was raining, when the third car in front of me spun out of control and flipped twice into a ditch. When I pulled over to help her out she was just fine. She only had a scratch on her left shoulder from the broken window and was not hurt anywhere else. THE REASON: She was wearing her seat belt. It's nice to hear that these devices are actually helping us!
- David Cook
Awesome. I ride my bike to work everyday and I see a lot of people with no helmets on. I don't know how they do it.
- Clint Ecker
Wow! I wear mine! Didn't for years - I was lucky I guess. Thanks for posting that!
- matthew hunt
OMG... Jesse, do you have a link other than here on FF? I have friends whose kids refuse to wear theirs, and seeing this may help.
- Cyndy
If it's nice enough to ride, I probably won't be bothering with the human-powered bike any longer. I always wear a helmet on my gas-powered bike.
- MiniMage TKDteacher of FF
As long as we won't have mountains, we Dutch will not wear those things. Otherwise we won't be able to recognise the tourists on bikes.
- Ton Zijp
Thanks for sharing - I had a mishap with a car, wasn't wearing a helmet at the time, was lucky. If they don't see you, it doesn't matter either way. Wear the helmet!
- Rick Bucich
This isn't as extreme as this but when I fell off my bike onto a sidewalk and broke my arm, I thought I was fine for a while. Later, my dad noticed that the whole front of my helmet was all scratched up and the visor in front was torn off! I realized that if I wasn't wearing my helmet on the 2 minute trip down the road, I probably wouldn't be typing this comment right now! Not that I'd be dead but I would have suffered some head damage, limiting my ability to do most things.
- Kevin Lyons
Helmets for cyclists are mandatory in Australia. Still gives me the shudders when I'm travelling and see bareheaded bicyclists on the roads.
- Kate Foy
ummmmm, this confuses me. I want to choose a Chinese Buffet, that would be right? But i feel there is something far more complex behind it that i dont get.. :'( - Me and Maths were never friends.
- Simon Wicks
Simon, if you want a Chinese buffet, it cannot also be good. If you want a good buffet, it cannot be Chinese. If you want good Chinese, it won't be a buffet.
- Rochelle
Im ok with it not being good, i only really eat the rice and chips when i go to them anyway. Cant really go wrong with those!
- Simon Wicks
LOL Simon. I like "bad" food too sometimes
- Josh Haley
Thank goodness I live near cities where all 3 are possible. *makes goo-goo eyes at Alhambra and Rosemead*
- Admiral Anika
I need to show this to my kids. Note: the quality of the food is inversely proportional to the number of words in the buffet restaurant's name. i.e.: Double Super Extra Mega Jade Garden Palace Buffet is gonna be truly awful.
- ha3rvey (Ho)^3
Ahh, but there is a fourth option: Good Chinese Dian Xin/Dim Sum, which is a sort of semi-buffet where you have to pay for each dish (but they're much cheaper than Tapas with larger portions), but you get lots of variety.
- Ray Cromwell
Go on everyone...let it out. I'm more than happy to have all my FF friends have a chuckle at my expense. It's the least I could hope for today.
- Mark Krynsky
"Black mission figs with Serrano ham. Tiny beef meatballs with pine nuts and sweet yellow peaches. Tender braised rabbit with moscatel, cinnamon, and fresh cherries. And rich chocolate roulade cake shot through with rum. That was only a small portion of my incredible Spanish lunch last week at the Palo Alto headquarters of Facebook. After all, social networking — and creating the tools to do it — sure does work up a hefty appetite. No one knows that better than Josef Desimone, Facebook’s “culinary overlord.” And yes, that is his real title."
- Dan Hsiao
from Bookmarklet
It's the same kitchen staff as far as I can tell (a subset, obviously).
- Paul Buchheit
That's much better than the FriendFeed cafeteria!
- Gabe
La Fiesta is awesome too Gabe. I miss mexican mondays, however I really like the added variety of a cafe where the menu changes every day. For example, the ox tail stew that they served yesterday was very good (as was the chicken).
- Paul Buchheit
The shrimp I had my first day in the office was great but this menu sounds much better.
- Benjamin Golub
What if you just have a serious jonesing for a cheezburger?
- Ladybug Heather
I was thinking about this today - I don't remember 4 or 5 entire tech conferences devoted to just Facebook in a single year. That makes me think something's different about Twitter. Maybe you're right on the reasons - I'm not sure what it is, but Twitter has the celebrity appeal that is drawing more people percentage-wise than Facebook. Interesting to see if Facebook can turn things around (I have faith they will).
- Jesse Stay
Jesse: I've talked with dozens of businesses and they all say Facebook isn't working as well for them.
- Robert Scoble
Facebook needs to fix the fundamental issues I laid out in that post before businesses will get excited. Hopefully the FriendFeed team can help them there.
- Robert Scoble
Robert yeah - that's why I was one of the few excited about the FriendFeed acquisition. I think it has the chance to fix those problems. I agree completely. In the meantime I'm going to make Facebook better for business on SocialToo. :-)
- Jesse Stay
i think robert's hit it on the head. FB is simply too cumbersome and too information-poor to be of value to businesses; twitter's extreme simplicity ("just" a stream) and ability to be mined make it easy and valuable for businesses to use. i'm on a trip to nyc right now and am amazed at how much local businesses have picked up using Twitter.
- empireofno
Sigh, Posterous is still not working for me. Not good.
- Robert Scoble
Gus, it's now working again, thanks!
- Robert Scoble
Twitter is open to the world. Facebook content is only really fully open if you subscribe. Facebook has an image problem where business is concerned, basically it's perceived to be full of kids wittering on about drunken nights out. Similar opinions could be held about Twitter but successes are easy to see and the 140 character limit also limits the bullshit. Twitter is an old fashioned...
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- Gilbert Harding
It so baffling how such a mess of a site that is USELESS w/out a 3rd party app has such a HUGE adoption rate. On second thought, I blame you guys, Robert & co., for bringing the masses over. Now, no one wants to leave! ;)
- Mona Nomura
it's not the site itself that is really the useful part, it's the platform it has become. Actually, I'd venture to say that, since most people still use the web interface, it explains why most people still don't see the power of Twitter. I've always disliked it, but it's success in penetrating...uh...everything cannot be denied.
- Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah
Maybe power is a little strong, LOL. I've never noticed the search being broken, though.
- Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah
@rasheen @mona - it's irrelevant whether the useful part is the site or a third party app. No third party would exists without Twitter. How smart is to let others do the hard work at your place (if you'll be able to make money from this)? ;-)
- Markingegno - Donato
Maybe it's the tools I use (or don't use) - pre Gnomedex I had two people monitoring on Tweet Deck, two on Co-Tweet, and Chris would monitor via web...and whatever he uses. We'd STILL have discrepancies. Baffling.
- Mona Nomura
:) Meant to comment here..copying text from above. I am a total geek w/ my hands on my keyboard 71% of a 24 hr. day, yet I frequently find myself frustrated w/ FB's extremely non intuitive web interface...Now....that being said ~ today I found myself conversing fast, fluid & furious very Tweet-Like from the new FB iPhone App while lounging at the Pool...Who knows what I'm talking about?...
more...
- Zaneology
Facebook's design is definitely crap and makes the site a PITA to use for me. Too much going on.
- Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah
I think Twitter is super over-hyped. Five to 10 billion? That's way too much, comparing to traditional industries. Take for example Israeli company Iscar (www.iscar.com) that is considered a world leading supplier of precision carbide metal working tools (cutting tools), has billions of dollars in revenues, employs thousands of workers all around the world and reports an average of 15%...
more...
- Nir Ben Yona
O_O 5-10 BILLION? noooo way.. maybe 550 million at MAX, but no billion dollar ranges.
- Kevin Nunez
I agree w/ billion - the entire market is shifting because of social media, led by Twitter.
- Mona Nomura
Scobleizer: I could not disagree with you more about "Facebook needs to fix the fundamental issues I laid out in that post before businesses will get excited". Look at companies like Zynga who are making high double digit to low triple digit millions on top of the Facebook platform. Also Playfish, Slide, Playdom, etc. You're just wrong on this one--businesses are already there, and making lots of money.
- Eric Florenzano
after years of avoiding it, I broke down and registered for a FB account. the inability for me to choose whatever user name I want is close to a deal breaker for me. But I went ahead and registered anyway. After 30 minutes I got tired of all of the customization and quit.
- jbrotherlove
So far, facebook and twitter have the same problem: monetization (I read your post about Sushi restaurants paying to list coupons next to their mentions in search results which could have some legs but it still needs to be proven). The other problem for twitter is the sign up process: it is still way too hard to find the right people based on your interests and as a result a lot of...
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- Edwin Khodabakchian
Just as AIM was adopted by the masses in the late 90's, Twitter is being adopted now. I think, in the next decade, competing services will arise making Twitter just one service among several status/comment services feeding into a more broad (more robust) platform that has yet to be defined. Just as you can now chat between AIM and Yahoo IM, you'll be able to interact between Twitter and...
more...
- Gus
I not sure that you're right, Robert. But I'm not sure that you're wrong either. Twitter going for that price would kick off another tech bubble.
- Roberto Bonini
I don't think I could ever engage with Twitter in its current form. The reason why businesses and celebrities like it is that it's so simple. The can post updates from their mobile phones and look at their follower count and feel good about themselves being popular. But I doubt that most people see more than 1% of the tweets from the people they follow. I also don't think that they can be worth anything like $5B because they have no assets.
- James Myatt
From posterous: Wow.. I completely disagree!! Yes it is good for the duration of a tweet and maybe even the duration of it's search (two weeks), but the entire world doesn't think/work within such a limited window. Yes the twitter environment is successful, but where would twitter be without all the layers and add-ons that actually make it easy to use? You can't (fully) figure that into...
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- Chris Myles
Did anyone else experience this? When I read the title I had this image of Scoble with a Dr. Evil (Austin Powers) voice over.. "Twitter is worth ... 5 BILLION dollars"!!
- Chris Myles
we need to wait for the Facebook/FF/Linkedin $1bn revenue IPO before we place that value on Twitter. An FB/FF/LI combination could justify a $10bn IPO in 2010. Twitter can't (yet).
- Thomas Power
Robert, this looks way off dude. 'Underhyped', what else is more hyped than Twitter these days? And how did you figure the $5-10 B valuation? It may end up being worth something, but wonder if any businesses actually quantified their ROI of using Twitter. Most seem to be on the bandwagon but fumbling in the dark trying to figure out if it means anything or not.
- Nalin Perera
Facebook got a jewel with the FriendFeed acquisition. The ability to create publicly available informaiton and track the social web is there for the taking, if they pursue it.
- Hutch Carpenter
@edwk / Edwin, totally agree with you that Twitter has huge issues in the user discovery department without the use of third party tools. It is pretty much inexcusable that they, instead of pushing the foolish "Suggested Users" thing, haven't simply INDEXED THE BIOS to allow (new) users to search over those with a simple searchbox: "What are you interested in? [type a keyword]"...
more...
- Alex Schleber
Great post Robert, Arrington and Gillmor were already preaching something similar and we definitely need strong Twitter competition now.
- Alberto Saavedra
This is retarded. How on earth is Twitter worth $5-$10 billion? I see absolutely no evidence of any revenue generating opportunities produced by Twitter. This guy needs to stop drinking the Kool-Aid.
- Scott Carmichael
Whether Twitter is worth $5+ billion today is an unfortunate focus here. I pay attention to how attractive Twitter is becoming to small and LOCAL businesses, small organizations, and small events--particularly in these tough economic times. It reminds me a lot of how small scale customers saw Google AdWords when it first became available. It was a breath of fresh air compared to the...
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- Loren Heiny
I think Twitter was stupid to turn down the $500 million offer from facebook. I doubt if Twitter will ever earn that kind of revenue in my lifetime.
- Garin Kilpatrick
I've felt the same way since day one, but have been going along with the fad. I'm with you.
- motownmutt
Can somebody humor me and explain why the negative reaction to "tweet" to a describe a post on Twitter?
- Andre P. Siregar
It's just too damn cutesy-pie. Plus Twitter wants to trademark it, I've heard, which means we'd also have to capitalize it. Why create a word when English has perfectly adequate ones already?
- Patrick LaForge
Andre, my reasoning: It ties you to one network. Most of my posts are sent to multiple networks. I own my content, not Twitter. "Tweet" is a culture specific to Twitter.
- Jesse Stay
Not really so much a negative, but it's site-specific. Every where else I can think of on the internet, an update is a post, or a comment. Not that big a deal, really. Just a realistic eye to the future when twitter isn't the belle of the ball any more.
- motownmutt
I'm interested in Patrick's take, given his New York Times position. I've got no problem with "tweet". Language changes all the time. And "tweet" carries with it the connotations of the Twitter experience, something "post" does not.
- Hutch Carpenter
Archiviare sotto: guru della domenica, i social, mondivirtualihiphiphurrà.
- Nicola D'Agostino (nda)
Hai proprio ragione, Nicola. Tra l'altro non condivido previsioni tipo la prima: come dissi a Dicembre a Nicola Mattina, più che nuovi player mi aspetto un'aggregazione tra quelli esistenti e l'acquisizione FF-FB lo conferma
- Roberto
from fftogo
Congratulations! I imagine you got to watch a recorded "welcome" video message from President Obama. I became a US citizen in 2007, so I was welcomed by GWB :)
- Tudor Bosman
Congratulations! My day was April 21, 1999. A big event for me.
- Dimitrios Diamantaras
Aww congrats!!! I've spoken to people who after NINE years are still working on becoming citizens
- Becca
Becca: it took me 9 1/4 years from the time I first set foot on US soil (as a student on a F-1 visa) until I got my US citizenship. It was a long process but not very difficult in my case: work visa (H-1B) after I graduated and got a job offer from Oracle, then they applied for my green card (thankfully before 9/11). Once I got my permanent residency (green card), all I had to do was wait for 5 years (the law requires you to be a permanent resident for 5 years before being eligible for citizenship).
- Tudor Bosman
from email
Thanks ! I waited 10 years from my eligibility, 19 years from my first entry to the US :) It really was special A
- Aydin Senkut
from email
And what would happen if you were a member of the communist party?
- Paul Grav
Congratulations! Don't forget to give blood! I say that because a) it's good to do it, and b) it will further undermine the crazy nationalists. ;-)
- James (!?)
Terms I hate: "Thinking outside the box" - You can't think outside the box. It's the fucking box. Every thought you had was inside it, every thought you'll ever have is inside it, and every thought that can be had is inside it.
Now, you can perhaps explore the assumed boundaries of the box, and find that maybe that wall of the box is farther out than you were told or you thought, but what you find between the assumed wall, and the actual wall, is STILL IN THE FUCKING BOX!
- Matthew DeVries
That was a good comeback though. Bet you had to think :) (Of course, "fucking box" shouldn´t be taken that literally, heh). Seriously, this is a philosophically interesting (academic) subject but I haven´t heard it explained like you did before. Refreshing :)
- Thomas Bøhm
You seem angry today. Hope everything is ok
- Uncle CW™
Self explanatory really. Thinking outside the box can improve your life.
- Eric Logan
Most people stick themselves in boxes that are significantly smaller than the universe though. Maybe the trite saying should be "Think outside YOUR box"
- Victor Ganata
Mathew, I think I am in love with your friend's wife. Just sayin. [Also, Victor is totally, completely, 100% right.]
- Ladybug Heather
You can think outside the box. As long as you choose the right box to think outside of.
- Scott of Two Countries
I think this does not mean what you think it means.
- Mistletoe Glen
..... at a cubicle, you filthy-minded swine!
- Ladybug Heather
The term comes from a test given in interviews somewhere, sometime. I don't remember the details but a grid of dots is laid out and the candidate is instructed to connect the dots in some specific way. Anyway, the gist is that the only way to do it is to draw your lines beyond the boundaries of the grid - the results were divided into two groups - those that couldn't and those that could "think" outside the box.
- Slappy Line
I hate "think outside the box" and, even more, "synergy." Gag me.
- Joey Gibson
Heh, I need an example of an offensive use of "synergy." It's a useful word in a narrow context in pharmacology.
- Victor Ganata
Are you a pharm/tox student Victor? (non-recreationally)
- Matthew DeVries
Not a student of pharmacology or toxicology per se, but I do find the subject matter useful in my work. Non-recreationally speaking, as you say :)
- Victor Ganata
Goes into the list of corporate speak (given in motivational sessions by people who earn more than you do), everytime you hear or come across another motivational poster, I think to myself, 'yeah sure'
- TrafficBug
You really cant think outside a box, for all you ever thought was inside the box, and so are all the other people who are thinking inside their boxes. Nothing to beat it.
- TrafficBug
I always thought the box metaphor came from the 4 line riddle in which you have to draw 4 lines through 9 dots in the shape of a square, 3 rows x 3 columns. The trick to complete the riddle is to think about going oustide-the-box. http://ff.im/7hzGf
- Jimminy Fuller
Shit! Now I am going to have to find out the derivation of this Jimminy! ps - I hate this phrase!
- Matt G
Well done for pushing the envelope. I hope you can work out how to leverage it.
- James Myatt
Matt, I've updated my post to add a link to the solution of this puzzle, and just to let you know Wikipedia, is showing it as the original idea that created the metaphor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...
- Jimminy Fuller
Thanks Jimminy. Very good. I love trivia!
- Matt G
Matt, If I wouldn't have shown up you all would still be bitching about how stupid the term is and making jokes about the other kind of "box".
- Jimminy Fuller
I never joke about the other kind! ;-0. I will still bitch about it though because it is so poorly used! Now I have ammo to use (actually understanding what it is supposed to mean).
- Matt G
Jimminy - yup, that's the one I tried to explain in my half-arsed way earlier in the comments. Thanks for clarifying
- Slappy Line
But the solution is still in the box, just the boundaries of the box aren't where many people think they are, the edges of the paper are the box.
- Matthew DeVries
The phrase should be something like "find where the true boundaries are"
- Matthew DeVries
I am a fan of lateral thinking although its probably just as much of a wank it has some thought behind it.
- Matt G
My box is the universe, so I can't possibly think outside it.
- Nathaniel Thurston
There's a possibility that there are other universes if M-theory is correct ;)
- Victor Ganata
There HAS to be an outside, Nathaniel. Your box may be the universe, but your box also has to have somewhere to exist in. Unless you're talking about the box from futurama of course :-)
- Slappy Line
So you live in a box? All the more reason to try and think outside it. Bring some zen with you and instead of thinking outside the box, you will start BEing outside the box.
- Slappy Line
There is no box. Just like there is no spoon :)
- Victor Ganata
Yes I love this thread. I hate "outside the box" because nobody ever defines "the box" it is just a lazy thoughtless cliche. Not the case here though.
- Matt G
Matthew, perhaps the term should read "Thinking outside of the defined grid whilst demonstrating an awareness of undefined boundaries"
- Slappy Line
Hell yeah - as soon as somebody says that, it's time for me to reach into my Random Box of Stupid Ideas. "Hey, /you/ said think outside the box!" But my usual reply is "What box? Your box or my box? Or some other venn box where our own assumptions meet?"
- Andy Bold
How the hell are we expected to proactively synergise our dynamic if we don't think outside the box?
- Slappy Line
Excuse me, just heading off to swim in the lake of me and spend some time free thinking my way to identify a clear path to synergistic low hanging fruit solutions.
- Andy Bold
from email
am I the only one that got Josh's joke? I'm still chuckling over here.
- chrisofspades
No I got it Chris. 2) Put your dick in the box.
- Jimminy Fuller
Calm down, My Friend - you're about to spiral outside the cyberspace box. For the record, a "box" is a set of assumptions, ideas are accepted knowledge and not your imagination, which is limitless. This definition is "my box" until you enlighten me further.
- Houseofmax
There is a box, how did we get back to a philosophical statement and saying there is no box? And Mr. DeVries, the dot's don't have to exist on physical media. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...
- Jimminy Fuller
The puzzle people keep throwing up, is not a box, it's square. "Think outside the square" You're being douchey and inaccurate at the same time.
- Matthew DeVries
Squares are boxlike or boxy, thusly they are boxes by geometric quality, when a website tells you to place your information in the box, it's not really a box but a rectangle. Or check the box, that's a square. Square = Box. So I maybe coming off a bit douchey, but I'm not a bit inaccurate. I don't understand why you hate the metaphor still, I've provided you the origins and why it exists.
- Jimminy Fuller
Yes, but you're not being douchey when you use those. Find me examples where we call something a box that isn't a box and is douchey?
- Matthew DeVries
Well now I'm lost, you call me douchey for sharing the origin of the metaphor(which explains why it's called a box, peoples perception of square(box) creates a mental barrier that they can't escape from, break out of). Then ask me to find something we call a box that isn't a box but is douchey. So by process of elimination I guess you want me to say the puzzle is called a box but isn't a box, and I'm douchey? Am I correct?
- Jimminy Fuller
Come on, now. The word "box" is commonly used to describe both hollow cubes used for storage as well as squares on a flat surface.
- Victor Ganata
Well, we certainly all started out in the box. Unless they got you out by C-section before you started your descent.
- Victor Ganata
Thinking outside the box is exactly like realizing there is no spoon. Of course it seems ridiculous at first but, once you figure it out, you won't know any other way to think and you'll no longer have to dodge bullets
- Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah
Also, thinking outside the box frees up room inside the box for, er, cake. Or possibly penguins.
- Slappy Line
I'm not going to announce it - see who picks it up first heh
- Chris Saad
Nice hint, Ben, in terms of those showing up as native FF posts. (vs. bookmark)
- Louis Gray
Oooo, ok, now this is interesting. gonna force me to switch yet.
- SolidSmack
@SolidSmack if there was a beginning and an end, this would be way before the beginning of what we have planned for you :) - Love your site btw - awesome designs
- Chris Saad
Robert - you post on the race for real time web is amazing - I really want to know where you see real time TV fitting into this?
- James Stewart
Don't pull an Arrington, man. Be cool.
- Daniel Fath
Nice going Robert, we all are looking forward to knowing when the time comes.
- courtney benson
Damn... I got excited for a second that I may be among the first to know what he's up to. I guess I'll wait to find out along with everyone else!
- Jodi Echakowitz
Daniel: it could be "JeremiahGate!" :-)
- Robert Scoble
FF is pretty cool for these kinds of flash news teasers. :)
- Dave "Freedom 35"
I think you guys are already breaking the ground by using Kyte etc and I tune in, but as a business channel in NZ I believe we need to be out there every day interviewing amazing people, streaming it live, enabling real time chats via FF and the Ustream intergration with facebook - I see facebook as the new TV platform that most people spend their time hanging out on and if they see an...
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- James Stewart
James: FriendFeed's real time search engine has a lot of cool features that never were explored. I really hope that's what they are going to do for Facebook.
- Robert Scoble
The problem is that most people that use the internet are still just getting on facebook, I am 25 and I only have a handful of people friends my age that twitter as they don't have a community on there they can identify with - I like what you said about Facebook Public - that is definitely where I see them going with some serious live streaming intergration. Facebook will win because...
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- James Stewart
Robert: True man, since I saw this partnership happen my head has been whizzing with ideas for the implications of it. >> Most of the people in my age group watch videos that have been shared on facebook by their friends and favourite groups. Definitely some new stuff with video on it's way - keep us posted! Thanks for the replies :)
- James Stewart
Jesse: no and not Facebook either. :-)
- Robert Scoble
Either your going to be a big tease or a tattle tale either of which will get you beaten up on the playground, so stop it (:
- Kim Landwehr
from BuddyFeed
Robert. You're a friend, but you've a habit of breaking news --sometimes when folks aren't ready. It's not personal, but I just know your traits. I'm going to brief you in detail on Wed. We can do a video if you'd like --I'll come to you. Hugs?
- Jeremiah Owyang
Robert - hug Jeremiah, do the video - but insist he brings that little dog with him. IT is cute :)
- Rob La Gesse
Will Robert put away his (fake) wounded pride and interview Jeremiah on Wednesday? Oh yes, he will - and now we have a deadline. Good work Robert!
- Kami Huyse
OK, can we flashmob to celebrate Jeremiah's new gig right after the interview?
- Elliott Ng
Jeremiah: here is the deal. I am not under embargo but already know the news. So I think I will call Arrington because you didn't embargo me. Oh, and I +do+ keep embargoes. I am even keeping a secret about two things you will learn in the morning.
- Robert Scoble
from iPhone
I still struggle with my 7 year old son to not steal his siblings' thunder in matters important to them. It's not easy for him.
- Josh Haley
I know a lot of things, not even just two, but maybe not the two you are thinking of
- Jesse Stay
Kami, I saw Robert yesterday, and I asked him if I'd hurt his feelings, he said "yes". Robert and I go back, there was a time (ustream launch) where we well, didn't coordinate on news. He's truly a friend, and someone I respect as a media trailblazer --but I need to get everything coordinated. To be clear, he was on the list of folks I'd brief in detail --others just got cursory info.
- Jeremiah Owyang
Here's a long discussion on where Jeremiah Owyang will be going next. Interesting discussion developing on embargoes and 'bloggers'
- Drew B
Lets figure out where he is going. Who is in most need of Jeremiahs incredible intelligence on social media?
- Nisse
Drew, is it interesting that Robert is threatening me that I didn't tell him? Should bloggers assert themselves to get news? (it's a bit fun watching him get antsy)
- Jeremiah Owyang
Jeremiah, I find the continual embargo deiscussions fascinating. I hope your trust is respected here.
- Drew B
from email
Jeremiah: my feelings were hurt because you told pretty much everyone else in the industry other than me. Here's a hint: they can't keep their mouths shut either. But I will. You will know tomorrow that I actually do know the news. But the other deal is that you're wrong. I've kept hundreds of embargoes over the past year and haven't leaked them to anyone. If you weren't a friend and...
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- Robert Scoble
So they want the publicity you can bring but want to control the timing and message. I would be inclined to not agree as well. Sounds like you are being used.
- Brian Sullivan
I hear news all the time about people who aren't necessarily friends but would generally want the news quiet - does this mean I should start leaking those details? I'm not sure the right answer to that. The problem though is often the way I hear about that information is through other friends who were trusted to keep the info private. Is it worth betraying the trust of those friends as well?
- Jesse Stay
The problem comes maybe when you are "friends" with everybody but also are trying to be a legitimate reporter at the same time. We criticize television and newspaper reporters for this all the time but tech reportage seems to get a pass.
- Brian Sullivan
Jesse, yeah your situations seem tough because if you leak, you're a jackass because someone else can't keep their mouth shut.
- Chris Heath
Brian: everyone uses me, I'm used to it, it's part of the role I play in life. :-)
- Robert Scoble
Robert, I was planning on telling you before the announcement --and the offer still stands. I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, that wasn't my intent.
- Jeremiah Owyang
nothing really andru, I say we just move along and let Robert and I handle this offline. Clearly, we need to work this out.
- Jeremiah Owyang
Talking to Scoble now, I apologized. I take back what I said above, he's not broken any embargos in a while and I take that charge back. I also briefed him, as a friend, and more. Sorry Robert, I crossed the line.
- Jeremiah Owyang
I'm going to guess Jeremiah will join Dave Armano and Peter Kim and work for Dachis.
- Ari Herzog
Dude, why would you do that? I knew where you were going both times, and I kept it to myself. I coulda broken it, but why violate trust.
- Jeremy Pepper
Jeremy: who you talking to? No one has violated any trust. We're all cool now anyway.
- Robert Scoble
Jeremy: and when I left Microsoft someone DID violate my trust and leaked it within hours. So what? It all works out. Coordination is overrated.
- Robert Scoble
LOL Jason. But Robert is right, co-ordination can be overrated.
- Ian Betteridge
Jeremiah - your recognition and classifications/categorizations of trends and strategies is truly unique. Thank you for all you've done at Forrester. Whatever your new role is, I hope you'll continue to share your thoughts.
- A Mitchell
Depends on the organization. The company I work for is very accommodating to the individual; other jobs in the past were not. When the organization is not accommodating most individuals either bent to their will or left the organization.
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
If it's a good fit, a little of both, and the resulting organization is more effective. If one or the other is inflexible, it's a bad match and both need to recognize it ASAP.
- Ken Sheppardson
Paul - Random thought or FB needs to re-think your workspace ??
- Charlie Anzman
I guess a lot of folks here are concerned about how one organization accommodates another organization. ;)
- Mahendra (SkepticGeek)
Both must adapt - if the organization is not enriched, and if the individual is not benefited, the relationship withers
- Aaman (Clone of FF)
This is more of a thinking question than an answering question...
- Paul Buchheit
Hahaha!! Maybe FF should let posters turn comments "off" :)
- Carter Rabasa
Comments are good Carter -- I just wanted to point out that this is not a question that has a general answer.
- Paul Buchheit
Having doubts already, eh ? :-) Only joking...
- Andy C
I think FB is ok with taking pets to work.... Initially, the individual accommodates the organization; If the individual is influential and supported, the individual can change behaviors of folks, leading to changed attitudes, leading to changed culture, leading to an organization that is accommodating to needs to all individuals.
- Dickey Singh
Funny coincidence, talking about organizations. I actually wrote a thesis paper for my MBA program about "Facebook as a Complex Adaptive System". I'll have to post that on the blog at some point. Anyway, it's a really interesting way to think about companies like Google and Facebook.
- Carter Rabasa
Organizations are made of people aren't they?
- Todd Hoff
Ideally both, as in any successful relatioship. However, in practice it is usually the individual who is more accomodating, by choice or perhaps based on fear of job loss.
- Janice
from fftogo
I was just composing a lengthy, comprehensive, considered reply to answer this fully but my boss saw me and now I've been DOOC'ED.
- Andy C
It depends on whether m1v1 is greater than m2v2. (i.e. the size of the company and its relatively complacency versus the will and energy of the individual).
- DGentry
Personally dun think there is a simple answer to this. Depends on the stage of life of the individuals and his/her needs. Single or family, etc.
- Lim, Kok Kim
if you own the organisation it is a trivial question.
- abdellah
its the organization accomodate the individual. nothing is absolutely 100% of course but it's more this way than other way around. this way you maintain change and adaptability as well.. it's like a key IE philosphy, you design the work for the worker, not the worker for the work.
- ugurarcan
Often, it depends on the percentage equity you hold.
- Louis Gray
Accomodation is dependant on being a big fish in a little pond or a little fish in a big pond. I think you know the answer. Not trying to suggest one is better than the other
- Mark Essel
from iPhone
abdellah, I would argue that it is most, not least, critical to you if you "own" the organization. Although I guess it depends on what you mean by critical.
- Clare Dibble
This topic is deeply fascinating to me personally. In my thesis I introduced ENTs (Emergent Node Tree structures) to model groups in noncooperative game theory, as I thought the cooperative game theory model didn't capture the full range of possibilities. I recently started reading _Genetic and Cultural Evolution of Cooperation_ http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog... which I'm finding very interesting.
- Ruchira S. Datta
Big global organizations and states enable social networks and individual freedom... And, structures of state and big organizations have originated from client relationships..
- Vlad Hrouda
The Organization depend on the Individual to a certain extent. Some individuals can easily be replaced ;) The Individual depends heavily on the Organization if they want to be able to make a contribution toward success. Am i wrong? I guess my point is that Individuals are more vulnerable than the Organization as a whole. I guess for some true innovation to take place you need to connect the two. Isn't that the role of the Manager ;)
- Jan Friman
Depends on several factors i.e. how important you are to each other?, equity held, position etc.
- Nicholas James
Why are you asking? :) Things work best when an individual and organization are compatible with each other. An organization is going to attract certain types of individuals, and an individual is going to be attracted to certain types of organizations. I've been involved in two situations (so far) in which my company was bought by another company. While I've had to learn new things because of the way the acquiring organization operated, in the end it all worked out for the best.
- John E. Bredehoft
The organization changes the individual and vice versa.
- Steve Lynch
from twhirl
All depends. I unfortunately witnessed a situation where each accommodated the other, and then the organization reneged. When it's both accommodating willingly, anything is possible.
- Rob Schieber
In terms of "toeing the line", I think the individual accommodates the business; "you will submit your timesheets by date X", "you will use Microsoft Office", etc.
- Andrew Terry
Definitely depends upon the relative value. The keepers of rules like that, mostly middle managers, love to emphasize the importance of the organization and its requirements over personal ones. Execs generally think a little differently.
- Rick Cogley
You may not be as "popular" but you've been a guest on FFundercats, which puts you in very elite company.
- Laura Norvig
You survived the first day? I'd have thought that the FriendFeed team would have been eaten by a grue, after moving to Facebook. ;)
- Tyson Key
I think Benjamin is popular because he's one of the engineers that makes things great on FF. I wouldn't take too many points away from him for being a guest on FFundercats. Everyone has indiscretions.. ;)
- Cristo
Congrats on the new job! Hope you enjoy it as much as FF!
- Anne Bouey
Congrats Benjamin! So did you have to move to Cali or are you allowed to work remotely and occasionally make visits to the office for meetings still?
- LonelyBob
OK answer the really important questions- how's the cubicle situation? Good coffee? Access to bathrooms? What's the noise level like? Commute?
- anna sauce
Anna: I don't work at Fb, but the new offices are really nice. I really like them. And the random chess boards, ping pong tables, and random war rooms.
- Ben Parr
Ben is The Man. No amount of non-English comments will change that. :)
- Josh Haley
You've come a long way, Benjamin. Want me to go find the first time we ever talked about RSSmeme or your other projects? It'll be like the first dollar bill on the wall. :)
- Louis Gray
I enjoyed following that trek as well. Best of luck Benjamin!
- Charlie Anzman
There's this open source initiative that could really use your input... Best of luck in your new role and challenges Benjamin. Really appreciate the time you spent dealing with my innane GAE questions kind sir
- Mark Essel
from iPhone
wow, that was fast! Do you get facebook schwag now? :)
- Susan Beebe
Let me just play devil's advocate here as a speaker and as an organizer. How do you code this in your budget. I consider it marketing my business as a consultant. You have to get out and be seen as an expert. I don't expect organizers to pay me to market my own business.
- Jim Turner
Jim, I agree with you there, but after you get so many of these, it stops becoming marketing and begins to hurt your overall benefit from the engagement. I'm sure Laura's in that boat. There have been times during the year I have too - some times time can be better spent elsewhere in marketing your business than just speaking for free. I see both points, but I think that's Laura's...
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- Jesse Stay
Jim, there's also the bias side of things. If you're not getting paid to speak, you're more likely to spend your time speaking in promoting your business so you do make the money you need. A paid speaker generally should have no bias.
- Jesse Stay
Sean, care to explain? (or have a link?)
- Jesse Stay
At the point it begins to hurt, just say "No". It's tough i know. I am still paying a credit card off that I use to pay for tickets and hotels. I sell myself not from the stage but in the hall at at the networking events. Many times it is a loss for me to do this, but overall it is a branding experience as well. You never know when something like this is going to pay off. I had someone...
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- Jim Turner
"Yeah its not actually free, but there are 100 people standing in line to be in your spot." - great point, Jim.
- Jesse Stay
This is a great conversation - would love to see Laura in here, too.
- Jesse Stay
If there are 100 people who can give an audience what I give them, in the way I give it to them, I shouldn't get paid.
- Jeff "RESPRES" Turner
Türkçe bir global dildir kusura bakmasın da Bret öğrensin :P
- Cem Şahin
Bak görüyor musun Bret? ne varsa bizde var yine! Hani nerede Amerikalı kullanıcılar, hepsi senden yüz çevirdiler, ahh ahhh :)
- Murat Can Demir
o zaman kim soruyor simdi bret'e? "do you know turkish raki?" diye. adettendir.
- Emre Yılmaz
@emre bu videodaki bret'ten davet falan alırsa sebebi sen olursun biliyorsun dimi :)
- halit altunterim
Türkçe yakın zamanda dünya dili olacak diyorlardı, o zaman geldi demek :)
- İhsan Çandır
"burda herkes türkçe konuşuyor ben anlamıyorum ki kim türk kim değil" cem yılmaz olmadan olmaz :D
- Ali Bahşişoğlu
Hope you have a great first week! You know you're starting your new job just as the kids are going back to school. Just think of your first day at work like your first day at a new school.
- Pete Delucchi
from iPhone
Merak ettim şimdi, adam merak edip birisine ricayla ya da parayla bunları çevirttiriyor mudur ki?
- İhsan Çandır
bence google translate den çözmeye çalışıyor yazdıklarımızı!
- Betül
o zaman yandık :) farklı anlamlar çıkartabilir
- Ali Bahşişoğlu
google ile uğraşıyorsa işi zordur ama facebook bünyesinde çevirmenler olacağını tahmin ediyorum :)
- Cem Şahin
Ama bize de ayıp, adam heyecanlı, paylaşıyor, facebookda ilk günü yahu. :D Way to go mann! I am sure you ll be doing a great job there. Good luck :)
- Murat Can Demir
bu anlamlarında yeterince yakıcı olduğunu düşünüyorum
- aydın
facebook ofisi pür dikkat toplanmış, türk kullanıcı profilini şaşkınlıkla izliyorlar şu an.
- Emre Yılmaz
Belki çok canlarını sıkarsak adamlar hırs yapar, Türkçe kursuna gider, varsa tabi :)
- İhsan Çandır
hepsi ıslak bergeni izleyip bayılmış da olabilir :D
- Cem Şahin
oktay sinanoğlunun bir kitabı vardı bye bye türkçe bir newyork rüyası diye...orda herkes türkçe konuşuodu vs. filan o rüyayı dolaylı da olsa burda gerçekleştirdik.emeği geçen tüm arkadaşlara yürekten sevgiler ve saygılar!
- Betül
Does anyone who speaks Turkish mind explaining what everyone is saying? Short of a real explanation, I will just assume they all say "Bret, you are amazing, and what a wonderful profile picture you have." ;)
- Bret Taylor
adam bloklayacak Turkiye'yi sakin olun. :P @Bret, don't care these guys. :)))
- Oğuz Serdar
burdaki herkes breti facebooktan eklesin yazıktır ilk günü daha 10 tane arkadaşı var syemizde 5000mi bulur daha da kimseyi ekleyemez sonra da facebooktan çıkar gider!
- Betül
lan var ya Türkleri hiç bi yere almamalı :D
- delininbiri
@Louis, Google won't help Bret. @Ahmet, sana api kullandirmazsa gorursun bak. :P
- Oğuz Serdar
ooo süper olmuş burası :D @Bret, most of the people here doesn't support the fb. decision. Well, I do. So I'm waiting for the first day pics.
- Onur Baykal
türk olmak hiç bu kadar utandırmamıştı!!!!!!
- Şenay Şen
puhahahh.. of, yarıldım ya.. süperiz yaa.. gurur duydum ff türkiye ahalisi ile :))
- Mustafa Öztürk
"tüüü" can mean, let's make more comments like an endless loop :p
- alper*
hugs from lilith not all Turkey. we don't hug men. that's cultural thing. but if you have any girl "msn", share with us. after that maybe we hug you. (with lilith.)
- Emre Yılmaz
uçan sabriden sonra bretden ses alınamadı.
- Ali Bahşişoğlu
Google Translate anlamaz ü,ş,ç etc değersiz
- sofarsoShawn
Ben dedim Uçan Sabri'yi kaldıramaz diye:)
- İhsan Çandır
почему-то русских не видно. а мы есть! )) спросите Скобла
- massagin
adaşım soydaşım sen ne başlattın böyle ne hale gelmiş buralar. yarısına kadar ancak okuyabildim. harbiden Turkish Power yane :P
- Emre YILMAZ
isim vermeden konuş, "geyik yapıp gülen insanlar" olduğunu anlayamayan çok duyarlı ve duygusal *türk* vatandaşlarımız var, sabah işe giderken "pis türk, güldün eğlendin" şeklinde topuklarıma sıkacaklar diye korkuyorum. ok tşk.
- Emre Yılmaz
Bret sana makamit mo ang hanap mo, hangad ko ang iyong tagumpay. Mabuhay!!!!
- Raymundo Roxas
topuğuna sıkanın kafasına sıkarım sana kimse bişey yapamaz. iyi yaptın hoş yaptın :) hep destek tam destek.
- Emre YILMAZ
good luck at facebook bret. how was your first day ?
- goutham
tempus porta velit nec rutrum. Ut dapibus, arcu nec lobortis porttitor, lectus sapien tincidunt lorem, convallis ultrices elit orci nec diam. Duis tempus, felis eu vestibulum ultrices, dolor nibh congue justo
- sofarsoShawn
Whoa. Who knew you were so big in Turkey? :-)
- Adam Lasnik
Senin hiç fikirin var ne kadar popüler.
- sofarsoShawn
some folks are big in Japan, Bret's big in Turkey
- anna sauce
turkish is a global language? really?
- Chris Heath
LOL we are amazing :D Bret, have a goodtime at Facebook...
- Hüseyin Mert
@Bret, have a nice first day at FB. As you see you have huge fan group in Turkey, trying to celebrate your first day there :) Congrats (tebrikler in Turkish)
- Goktug Okan Oguz
You should better leave Facebook, boring people and boring stuff. OK, not so sure about people :)
- Burcu Dogan
kararı facebook verir. bret'in kişisel problemleri facebook'u ilgilendirmez. bence :)
- Ömer Enis
sene 1915 aylardan temmuz güneş enseyi yakıyor,kar dizboyu.Yürüyorum bi yolda o zamanlar otomobil daha gelmemiş türkiye'ye uçaklarda yer bulmak çok zor. Neyse eve geldim ev karanlık,elektrikte gelmemiş daha yaktım mumu,açtım bilgisayarı.Derken bir arkadaşım MSN'den şu anda bu yorumu yazdığım sayfanın linkini gönderdi.Sonra,sonrasıda işte bu yazı ( =
- YUCEL Ugur
Ha bu arada Madem Türksün Göster Ürkün elin ejnebisi kardeşim
- YUCEL Ugur
sunipeyk, hakkında kırmızı bülten çıkartmış interpol!
- Cihan (ch) KALOĞLU
Most of these pictures were tiny, so the resolution is pretty poor. All the black and white ones my mom developed herself in our closet, er, darkroom.
- Ana
from Bookmarklet
"At this point, often in part due to favorable feedback from the service's authors, the early adopter feels a sense of entitlement, that the product absolutely must be architected in the way they say so, even if to move in that direction wouldn't serve the larger installed base. Now, instead of suggesting quick ways the service could update, the calls are more like ultimatums, and if not quickly seeing a response, the early adopter can get extremely frustrated, at times, seeing this annoyance bubble up to the same degree their first comments on the product reeked of praise."
- Louis Gray
from Bookmarklet
I get the feeling the Robert has jumped the shark a little bit here. I hope he apologizes to Kevin for his uncalled for ad hominem.
- Brian Sullivan
This is great, but I think it ALSO applies to less than diplomatic responses from early adopters that I go back to Twitter, ha. I don't take it personally, but your point is a nice reminder that it is not about me.
- Liza
Ever since I posted this, I'm self-aware about potentially slipping from a 3 to a 4, so I think twice about posting criticism without knowing the deciding factors.
- Louis Gray
I for one am appreciative of evangelists especially ones that are willing to reevaluate their perspective, tech or otherwise.
- Eric Logan
I feel entitled to type in this box and push the button named "comment." Sorry, I thought that was what FriendFeed was designed for.
- Robert Scoble
from iPhone
I don't know that entitlement is the right word. For me, at least, it's more frustration. Here you have this great product. I want more people to know about it, but I'm having issues, be it my tech, user error or just loss of features, it's frustrating. If I'm having these issues, then there's no way I'll be able to explain to my friends and family why things are why they are. When you...
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- Admiral Anika
One point to the one above. I know that many companies who offer free service will or should charge for use at some point. I'm okay with that, but when they mess with functionality it's hard to justify paying for it. When your users are asking for the same thing over and over again, especially when you're in beta, don't give them a useless feature that offers nothing much to usability. At that point, it's hard to justify the ongoing use of something, let alone paying for it in the future.
- Admiral Anika
Is it entitlement or ownership? People support what they help build, right? So maybe it is partly a sense of ownership...
- Liza
Great conversation thread... Rule #1 if you do not own it, then do not falsely allow yourself to believe your vote will ever - or should ever - count. Sometimes the developers listen to your sound words of device, but in my humble findings often this waxes and wanes. Rule #2 is that step 5 is your alternative. Rule #3 is always see Rule #1 when you begin to think your opinion matters ;-)
- Ken Stewart | ChangeForge
Robert. No harm, no foul. :) I'm just glad I wrote this one already last year, so I don't have to do it again.
- Louis Gray
its a pretty graph and perhaps it is true, i have experienced it myself through mmos, beta testing, but did you actually have numbers or is this just instinct?
- Robert Higgins
By the way, I'm ACTIVELY still in the promotion phase. I'm showing FriendFeed to EVERYONE as everyone I met in Boulder last week can attest to. That's one thing that Louis' graph doesn't understand. I go through all of these phases IN PARALLEL. Not serially. So, deal with it. :-)
- Robert Scoble
The graph is simple. People are not simple. :) The downside to acting like a #4 is dorks looking for an excuse tend to use it as an excuse. Just wait. (Not even Scoble likes FriendFeed any more... he says... "x") So don't give the bastards any ammo. :)
- Louis Gray
Louis what is the oldest service that you still use that you didn't migrate from and why?
- Robert Higgins
Interestingly, those seeking to distill life into simplistic terms can be dangerous. Like those dorks who spout off non-sensical rules ;-)
- Ken Stewart | ChangeForge
I do think it is used as ammo, which stinks, b/c a discussion we should have (UI on FF) becomes a territorial battle. There were great points made, but also a lot of juvenile comments which I hope are ignored. As I learned in my first online attack, "don't feed the trolls". They are everywhere and not unique to specific networks.
- Liza
for me the oldest service i still use is hotmail.
- Robert Higgins
Robert: you didn't ask me, but I'll answer anyway: Outlook/Exchange. Although that has changed a lot over the years but I first started using whatever Microsoft called it (MSMail?) back in 1993. Regarding newer web services? Flickr. Wordpress. Google Reader are probably the ones that have had the longest staying power.
- Robert Scoble
Louis: yeah, but if I worried about what dorks think I would just stay off the Internet. :-)
- Robert Scoble
thought about why and the stages of the graph. while i still use hotmail, for family and things i have migrated to gmail mostly. I personally never did step 4 with hotmail, but i did get buddies on it a long time ago before they even had their own computers. It was cool to promote hotmail and messenger in the 90's felt hip to chat with people in China when I lived in USA. I still like sky-drive for the free 25 gigabytes of online storage, so will probably never migrate.
- Robert Higgins
Robert, I still use .Mac mail, and have for a very long time. (Some day I may move to GMail, but not yet). I have stuck with Mac OS through all its iterations from System 6 or so, so I assume that counts. I've been on FriendFeed longer than Twitter, and Facebook longer than FriendFeed and Google Reader longer than Facebook.
- Louis Gray
thats interesting, but in term of early adopter and stages where are you now with Mac OS for example.
- Robert Higgins
I would say Stage 3 with Mac OS. I don't feel like they need to change anything to reward me for my loyalty. I've never been a Stage 2 user for Twitter, so I hang out in Stage 3 or 4, it's just a utility, as is Facebook. I am Stage 2 and 3 with FriendFeed and Google Reader. I will always push FriendFeed and Google Reader, even if I know they could improve, because I get great value from both and trust the teams.
- Louis Gray
Louis: I was through all five stages with the MacOS by 1993. Started over again in 2003. Heheh. I forgot that I still use Hotmail and have for a long time (I remember waiting in line for StarWars #4 overnight with the Hotmail founders and thinking they were pretty cool).
- Robert Scoble
you are such a geek scoble waiting in line overnight for Star Wars #4 with hotmail founder
- Robert Higgins
Robert: that is true, but, as waiting overnight for the iPhone proved, the line itself was more fun than seeing the movie or getting the phone. In Silicon Valley these things turn into impromptu barcamps. Several companies had tents and it was an all-night party. My son did both with us and they were among the best things I've ever done with him. Good bonding time. :-)
- Robert Scoble
Higgins: if I remember right one company even paid for a T-1 line so they could provide wifi to everyone. In Silicon Valley we take these things seriously! :-)
- Robert Scoble
Nice bell curve, this typically represents most things - I can be in different stages at different times! - for example - different features of the product (ie I can discover a feature, then promote, etc). Not sure about Migration phase, I would prefer to call it Withdrawal
- Geer
I think this post was bad form. I have experienced the same problems with admiring the power and brilliance of the features and simultaneously being confused by their counter intuitiveness. In any case if the graph is accurate Robert's activity would have already slowed and will continue to slow down until migration. The bad form is explicitly referencing Robert.
- Ru Viljoen
Ru: thank you. Truth is in just the past week I was in all five phases of FriendFeed and even Twitter. I never liked this post by Louis' even though there's some truth to it and I'm still trying to figure out why.
- Robert Scoble
It's a post more human behavior centric than tech focused. Of course i'm interested in HB and how the brain works. I object to the generalization. We all have unique patterns of usage. There are probably hundreds of tools I use a day and am unaware of
- Mark Essel
from iPhone
Ru, I know FriendFeed is not perfect. But pound for pound, they have the best talent in the business. I also read and enjoyed the exchange in Robert's piece, but didn't "like" it, as he says he didn't this one. Robert and I have a long history of agreeing 95% of the time, and have a mutual respect that lets us exchange ideas this way. I personally would not have approached the issues in the way he did, explicitly referencing Kevin, for example.
- Louis Gray
Louis: Kevin runs design at FriendFeed and he's a guy I've judged that is able to take a huge amount of criticism (earned or unearned) and keep his cool and tell you why he's doing what he's doing. Like you said, they have the best talent in the business. Kevin proved it again yesterday.
- Robert Scoble
My 2 cents about FriendFeed interface design: Overloading/hiding of controls is often used to present a simpler UI. It's difficult to find a balance, and often testing things on novice users is better than on veteran users to get a fresh response. One difficult example (which I don't know if I could improve) is Canon's cameras (of which I've used 4 cameras). Canon had a standard way of...
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- Mitchell Tsai
Sometimes interface design can be complicated with people at various stages of behavior. Yahoo! tried to change their interface after a few years and got a "New Coke" response (e.g. focus groups, testing, etc... before release). The new interface worked better & made more sense, but they got 1,000s of e-mail complaints from older experienced users - ended up staying with the old...
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- Mitchell Tsai
Oldest services I still use: MS-DOS (1981), Unix (1982), Mac OS (1984), MS Word (1984), MS Excel (1985), MS Powerpoint (1987), MS Windows (1987), HTML (1993), Yahoo! (1995), PriceWatch (1995), Post.Harvard.edu (1995), Slashdot (1996), MapQuest (1996), Google (1997), Amazon (1998), MS Outlook (1998), Internet Explorer (1998), PriceGrabber (1999), SECInfo (2000), Network Solutions (2000),...
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- Mitchell Tsai
Thomas - It's interesting to see what "stands the test of time". Used HotBot for search 1996-2000, but Google's cache won me. MS Multiplan was my 1st spreadsheet (not a Lotus 1-2-3 fan), but Excel beat out many better spreadsheets. MS Outlook won me with color e-mails, shared calendars, & event coordination. Google Maps still hasn't beat MapQuest IMO. I'm still resistant to using GMail...
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- Mitchell Tsai
Considering I'm on stage 4 right now, I wonder how much I stand to make from the sale of Friendfeed?
- Andrew Smith
Louis, Robert: It makes sense to me that a service would be forced to field speculative criticism and that the criticism should be answered on the merits of the argument. In this instance I thought that Robert insightfully pointed out the problem with the UI and then must have been totally side swiped by an unrelated personal criticism from someone who is well regarded. I hate to see...
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- Ru Viljoen
It's Interesting that you posted this last night, before the friendfeed/FaceBook announcement! Good intuition!
- Michael Fidler