Krishna

Hey Robert broke twitter ... no wait, it's just twitter's way of saying, "Welcome Home"~!! - Susan Beebe

What's Alex done to Twitter? Alex? Robert is saying you broke twitter..... - WorldofHiglet

I really don't think it's your fault..... this time. :) - JCLeftie

http://friendfeed.com/e/4df2dc... - Tanju Yıldız (mavisland)

Awesome blog title -> "Twitter went down as soon as Robert Scoble landed in SF" - AJ Batac

Yeah. Nice work Scoble ;) I bet you brought some Chinese twitter virus back home - Dennis Bjørn Petersen via twhirl

And, being that you're Scoble, you're still able to Tweet about it. - DocileWalnut

Another Blame Scoble meme? - Roberto Bonini

It went down right as I ran my auto-follow script for SocialToo - it's probably my fault ;-) - Jesse Stay

Googel reader having problems as well... you must not have read all your feeds and now they have an out of memory error - Ian D. Nock via twhirl

Half of it was right. And I'm not posting this from Twitter. ;) - Chris White

Time will tell, but I think it was correct decision. - imran

It's made you one of my favorite bloggers, if that makes you feel any better about it. If you weren't heavy on the social exploration I probably wouldn't read. - Daniel J. Pritchett

what outcome were you going for? - zach

From my perspective, yes. It's a much more interactive and broader experience for all. - Kevin C. Tofel

The right decision from which perspective, Robert? Did you increase "eyeballs?" Revenue? Both? Other? - Mark VandenBerg

I like FriendFeed and Twitter, but don't see how they compare to developing thoughtful, deeper blog posts. Really, I think FF and Twitter have their place, and I love them as well, but that place is certainly not a replacement to blogging. - Michael Krigsman

I think yes. Most folks can read twitter 100% of the time -- blogs are scanned. You tend to link to good stuff from twitter and have good headlines. - Ted Simpson

No question about that. In the past, websites were static compared to blogs. Now blogs are static compared to microblogging services. - Berci Mesko

I think only you can be the judge of that. We're all beginning to look at blogs as sort of the core of our outreach, so I'm not sure investing time in microblogging elsewhere is an either/or question. You are you. Your blog and social media network are simply extensions. If you're happy with your business model and continuing to grow, what's the problem? :-) - Chris Baskind

Mark: Revenue? Didn't change much. Eyeballs? Well, I have almost 21,000 followers here that I didn't have at the beginning of the year. Zach: I just saw that FriendFeed was going to be one of the most interesting new services of the year. Seeing how it was on the screen at the Chinese BloggerCon I think I picked the right services. - Robert Scoble

I consider FF as blogging in many ways and more interesting than a blog. - imran

You certainly moved the ball forward for the two companies. And if you think they're a vital part of the "internet plumbing", you absolutely made the right decision in helping to secure their futures. - Christopher Galtenberg

I've shut down my blog for the time being. Not getting the interaction out of it, the way I'm getting out of experiences on FF and Twitter. I think if you want more conversation online, the blogs (for now) would not be the way to go. - Helen Sventitsky

are the 21K followers different from people who followed your blog already? if so that is in increase. if not then the eyeballs are moving from your blog to friend feed. - Jonathan Jesse

Just wondering. Thanks, Robert. - Mark VandenBerg

My twitter lives alongside my blog in the sidebar, and I keep track of all my tweets by feeding it into a lifestream stored on my server. i think that's the key, as the two platforms, microblogging and blogging, work nicely together. - C. K. Sample III

@Michael great thoughts on blogs allowing for deeper thought development. that greater development, might lead to more meaningful discussion on FF then what may occur in the comment section - Jonathan Jesse

Also, check out Twitemperature if you like Twitter. Tells you whether you're hot or cold based upon what you've tweeted and how it ties into online trends and community: http://twitemperature.com - C. K. Sample III

It's a good question -- I've been thinking (and writing a bit) about the question of a blogging / microblogging balance. My working theory: that going forward the most successful bloggers will be strong microbloggers, and vice versa. - Eric Berlin

Robert, then I have a wunderbar über wonderful idea for you! You know, you can trust me :) - directeur via NoiseRiver

YES YES YES YES YES YES! - Susan Beebe

There are plenty of people up at blog-level covering "the scene". You're on the ground with people as they're trying things, talking about what's missing, what they need, what they like and don't. I think this is a good place for a tech-head to be. But blog posts to send signals up and out to the other tech-heads, reviewing your time embedded with the troops, will still be vital for growth of the net. - Christopher Galtenberg

No =) The audience for the standard blog delivery system is different than a hyper-conversation micro-blogging system. While these services are great with interactivity, they do not generate useful long term content in most cases due to short posts (usually under 120 characters) and basically being a link farm rather than useful content. The initial "posts" are not as in-depth as a typical blog post, and the comments are often "me too" type of responses as well. Balance your tweets vs. your blog posts =) - RAD Moose

I found I moved too much of my activity to Twitter and FriendFeed - I have tried to return to more blog postings, since I do have a community of readers that is only there. - Richard Akerman

Hard to say. Who are you, again? :) - Matt Tuley

Yes, I've heard little about your blog posts, but I've heard plenty about you being very open & active on social sites. That kind of interaction with your audience is a refreshing change and I'm sure it helps your reach (though I'm sure that's not what you meant). - Cains

Honestly? You put you in front of me. I would not have gotten to the blog as often, as I've seen you here. Just too much to read. - Ed Shaz/NextInstinct

I personally miss the longer/thought out posts that used to appear on your blog. While I don't think that using FF/Twitter has been a bad thing, and I know that you don't have time for *everything*, your more "editorial" and reporting style of blogging is missed. - drew olanoff

Cross posting of comments between blogs and friendfeed would be an interesting development. - Andrew Leyden

Jonathan: I think I've gained a good percentage of new people who found me here on FriendFeed. That's why I have more followers here than, say, Michael Arrington does or Leo Laporte do (and they should have WAY more, because of the size of their audiences). - Robert Scoble

I ask myself the same question often regarding whether I should spend so much time on social media sites instead of just writing content on my blogs. What I don't think I realized is that I'm still creating valuable content at all of my outposts that are still ultimately leading to my blogging hub. I think its been well worth it. - Mark Krynsky

@Andrew WordPress has a nice plugin to link to FriendFeed activity. Unfortunately for my platform (TypePad) I don't know of an equivalent. - Richard Akerman

ppl will follow you anywhere on web i think, but this is the best place to folllow you. - imran

I find FriendFeed to be more engaging, but it would be nice to gauge the amount of traffic a post on FF gets. - Spencer

the #friendfeed, #twitter, #socialmedian instantaneous replies, directs, and comments distributed throughout feed aggregation access points establishes a better communication channel for your voice - shayne catrett

depends. did you sacrifice blog content & share it on FF/Twitter? - I stopped blogging about useless junk since I can simply throw that stuff up on FF or Twitter now. Less frequent are my blog posts, but more quality, at least I think - Enrique Gutierrez via twhirl

@Richard if you can migrate to Six Apart's Movable Type 4, they have a widget for FF -- in fact, I'm going to be trying to get it running on my blog tonight - Woodrow Jarvis Hill

Here's how you get your answer: (1) Go get some sleep. You just got back from China! (2) Wake up and look at the likes/comments on this item. (3) Compare those numbers against responses to your best blog post this year. - Bruce Lewis via fftogo

It depends what you're after. Knowing you, it was the right decision - twitter and friendfeed are like a quickfire conversation, here there, lots of input, changing topics all the time. Blogs are the considered discussion...or lecture. Different methods of communication, you choose which one you prefer. - Rachel Clarke

Blogging is more of a one-way street, FF and Twitter are interactive. It's pretty obvious they are the natural evolution and successor to web collaboration. - Tyler Hurst via twhirl

You clean the dust off the window and peek out. You're staring at a brick wall a few meters across. It seems to be early evening. A neon "Hotel" sign blinks near-by. This is gonna give you a headache. - Philipp Lenssen

w - John Mueller

You don't have a compass near-by. Where do you want to go? - Philipp Lenssen

Listen at the door. - Reto Meier via fftogo

There's shouting coming from what must be the corridor or a room close-by. A man and a woman are engaged in a verbal fight. "Because I say so," the man shouts. You can't make out much more. After a while, the noises dies down. - Philipp Lenssen

check to make sure you still have both kidneys - Lou Paglia

You don't notice any scars on your body and seem to be in normal health. You're still tired, but your head is clearing up. A breeze enters the window. Suddenly, someone knocks at the door. - Philipp Lenssen

look through the spy hole in the door to see who it is - Tony Ruscoe

Carefully, you look through the spy hole. There's a sweating, bearded man outside, holding up some kind of a paper note. "Someone left this for you, sir!" Outside, a car honks. - Philipp Lenssen

Open door - John Mueller

"Thank you sir, I wanted to give this to you personally. It's from the woman you arrived with here last night, seemed kind of important." The man hands you the paper note and disappears in a sluggish walk. You can see a corridor outside and several, numbered doors. A staircase leads downstairs. There's an elevator. A fly is buzzing around. - Philipp Lenssen

eat fly - John Mueller

You walk into the corridor, but you have a hard time catching the fly with your mere hands. Maybe your reflexes aren't up to their usual speed? "Clank." Slightly unnerved, you realize the door to your room has fallen shut behind you. The fly keeps buzzing about. - Philipp Lenssen

read the note from the woman (which is still in your hand) - Tony Ruscoe

You unfold the little white paper note. "Don't exit through the main entrance, they're waiting for you... use the window! Meet me at Crown Pub. -Kate" Who's Kate? A blurred memory of a black dress, long brown hair... a feeling of trust. - Philipp Lenssen

eat note - John Mueller

Better be safe... you gulp down the note. Yuck. - Philipp Lenssen

realise you're locked out and can't use your window. head to the roof... - Tony Ruscoe

[Short delay -- I'm away for ~3 hours. :)] - Philipp Lenssen

take a nap! - Susan Beebe

Try to get warm, look around the room trying to remember where you are and when that fails, look outside and eventually go outside - RAPatton

read book - Aram Zucker-Scharff

Say "xyzzy" - Glen Campbell

pinch yourself to wake up! - vijay

You pinch yourself... as far as you can tell, this is not a dream. You head towards the staircase to go up to the roof, but the stairs only lead downways. At the other end of the corridor you can see a closed window, and what looks like a fire escape outside. There's a small metal toolbox below the window. From behind one of the doors, you can hear a woman sobbing. You still have a taste of paper in your mouth. - Philipp Lenssen

Look out the back window. - John Lam

Ignore the sobbing woman and use the toolbox to open the window and leave. Head to Crown Pub. - Jess Lee

examine the books - Kamilah Gill

Leave? No...tweet: HELP! I'm having a blackout...location unknown, might have been drugged. - Sarah Perez

exa boo - ♫ Rahsheen™

Pull up your iPhone and check your location on Maps. Check your Twitter/FF and pictures history from last night. Search FF for Crown Pub. - simonpure

Im still trying to figure out why I would have looked out the window when there were books to read. - Cyndy

You look for some books, but there are none around here. You try to find your cell phone to send an SMS or tweet to friends or call for help... however, all you can find in your pocket is a silver key, a couple of dollar bills, and a small paper with the number "2302100015" scribbled on it. You're now walking towards the window, and use a wrench to push open the rusty window pane. You put the wrench in your pocket. The fire escape on the outside doesn't seem very stable. Do you want to use it to go down? - Philipp Lenssen

Check to see what floor I'm on and what the distance to the ground is. - Dan Hsiao

The heck with it, just climb out and count the seconds until you hit the ground. - John Mueller

It looks like you're on the third floor. You might survive a fall from that height, but you're not too sure. There's some trashcans in the alley below, though they don't look like a comfortable landing zone. You suddenly hear a "Bing" coming from the elevator. Seconds later, another "Bing": - Philipp Lenssen

I jump to escape whoever is coming... - Luka

You're jumping out the window and onto the fire escape, heading downways in high speed zig zag. Your heart's bumping fast as the fire escape continues to tremble, but you make it down. The alley is lit by a street light coming from the right. There's some trash cans here. A cat is going through the trash and looks at you with a puzzled "meow." To the left side, a wall rises up at about 2 meters, leading into darkness. From above you can hear the hurried steps of a person. What do you do? - Philipp Lenssen

Welcome home Robert. I hope the China trip was enlightening. - Rob Diana

So, hamburger, burrito, sub or something else? What's the food you missed the most? - Andrew Leyden

did you loose any wieght while in china? when i was there i dropped 10 lbs due to the change in diet - Jonathan Jesse

Welcome back. Thanks for all your China updates. Really good stuff. - Dave Martin

The media has been alerted :-) - todd

See you next week when I get there:-) Let's have a China discussion. - Francine Hardaway

Jonathan: I gained weight. I love Chinese food. Mexican is what I missed most. And Maryam's Iranian cooking. - Robert Scoble

This is the first time I checked out Dopplr. I don't really travel enough to justify its use, but it looks like an interesting service. - Ontario Emperor

Gem of a post! - Rahul Deodhar

"To be a company that society wants to exist." - Bill Strathearn

Wow, many, if not most, popular Web 2.0 apps are cloned by the Chinese. And they're bringing them online fast. - imabonehead

ima: yeah, and most have been cloned multiple times. Now, though, the services are innovating on their own and adding some really unique things. Micropayments, for instance, are way ahead here in China vs. the US. - Fast Company

Interesting and yet kinda scary. US tech companies definitely need to be aware, if they're not already. As for me, I probably should move to China, the land of my ancestors, to start a Web 2.0 startup. :P - imabonehead

interesting, though its surprising something like it would be around in China with the Chinese government's censorship, namely seeing as how ours has labeled twitter as a potential terrorist tool, it'd seem they would be hesitate - BCK

BCK: Interesting to me is that neither China nor Iran have blocked FriendFeed. Both block my blog. I bet both services will get blocked eventually. FriendFeed is VERY fast in China, though, while Facebook is dreadfully slow. - Robert Scoble

it's a pure surprise to see Robert Scoble in Guangzhou(Canton). What a pleasure to talk to Robert about the Chinese Twitter: www.zuosa.com - Alex Mou

I guess the chinese government doesn't have any early adopters on the staff :P - BCK

The comments there are a treasure too! :) - Alex

It's as big as all the countries of Africa combined! - Gabe

hotbed of innovation and manufacture within 30 years - Gregory Lent

Alex: spot on. lol reading these comments. A dash of pedantry, a little bit of bigotry, some serious lack of geographical knowledge: so much fun! :) - Mathieu Ayel

beg to differ somewhat with Gregory. It might become hotbed of innovation but not any time soon. Conflicts, political instability, lack of decent governance and underlying infrastructures and institutions will not allow it to resonate in a way to become a hotbed of innovation. In small pockets though, it happens even now, especially in countries like Kenya and Ghana in everything from innovative approaches to private education to inventing incredible devices for water cleaning. - Hayk

Moreover, the size and comparison of African continent with other continents and countries is little more than a nice figure illustrative of geography. - Hayk

30 years, hyak, things will move fast, but i know what you are saying, seems nearly hopeless, impossible .. but the world "vibration" will make it happen faster than is logical (my opinion) - Gregory Lent

Gregory, i did not mean logic. Living on this continent since 1.5 years and seeing their mentality and their potential, I believe that nothing short of dramatic consciousness change, to borrow your term, will turn people on this continent into economic machines of production. I generalize, apparently. - Hayk

me too :-) ... i really have nothing to base this on .. except two things .. the creativity they have with basically nothing, even bricks are rare sometimes .. the way they are doing the cellphone thing is a hopeful sign .. and the other is from african art, every culture made masks with some sort of design feature where the third eye is .. there is an innate plugged-in-ness there, so that when it gets a bit stable, it will flow .. and the gates foundation should only do education, malaria will then take - Gregory Lent

care of itself - Gregory Lent

Also, Africa had this "misfortune" of being on top of all kinds of natural resources which became valued at one point or another. As it said in Blood Diamonds, "every time a precious resource is found on this continent,innocent people die, country is plundered." Pouring money only to sustain lives without any solid self-sustainable policies in education or infrastructure is sort of a band-aid. Tackling malaria is what appeals the most to inner sensitivities of Gates :) - Hayk

Africa is the cradle of our species.. says a lot about how out of touch we have become when we treat our birthplace with such distain. No wonder we're raping and pillaging everything we can. Makes you wonder if the attempts at keeping the African nations as undeveloped as possible is to turn the place into the next middle east when the rest of our resources have been spent. - alphaxion