@Louis, what was the tipping point for you where you went from 1k to 4-6k/mo out of curiosity? - Jesse Stay
Jesse, a few tipping points... the most obvious was when I wrote "10 suggestions to improve Google Reader" in March of 2007. http://tinyurl.com/6rro59 Scoble and others linked to it, and it was my first Techmeme headline ever. - Louis Gray
Other things contributing were when I switched from RapidWeaver to Blogger, and could post more frequently, with flexibility, getting indexed by Techmeme, and of course, Friendfeed! - Louis Gray
I think the key goal for any up-and-coming blogger, based on what you're showing, is to get some big A-listers to link to you and that will get you recognized by Techmeme. As soon as that happens, more people begin to recognize you. Thanks for sharing that, Louis! - Jesse Stay via twhirl
Turning serious for a moment, Louis has been sharing his monthly statistics for...months... - Ontario Emperor via fftogo
I think being transparent is a good idea, especially for anybody who feels real "small" and is looking up to where I'm at, or, even better, to realize how small I am and how I would have to look up to others. - Louis Gray
No one who is on friendfeed tonight should be driving :) - Gavin
I wish someone thought of this when I still had a babysitter! - Michelle Martinez
You hide a Flickr entry because it's NSFW, take a drink. You see an entry from more than two weeks ago come up again, take a drink. The entry from more than two weeks ago is Eddie Murphy's huge head, chug it! - Mike Doeff
Now that's a drinking game that everyone can "win". :-D - David Cook
Let the game end! Please, I feel sick already. (should have replaced the beer by applejuice). - Ton Zijp
Louis, don't give in! You and I will be the only sober ones here. ;-) - Jesse Stay
That's really good stuff Jeremy. (takes drink for making comment #12 on this post) - Hutch Carpenter
Jesse, I was planning on consuming a lot of Diet Coke. :-) - Louis Gray
Greader, but Steven Hodson really likes Newsgator's FeedDemon. - J. Phil
Friendfeed. :) I've started creating groups as imaginary people and just adding feeds to those groups. It works quite well for me so far. Keeps things quite organized. - Justin Korn
@directeur Well race -- it's just a social construct. At the end of the day, we're all human, flesh and blood. Race is just a factor of the power imbalance in the world -- created along ethnic lines. - Shey
@Shey: I'm white but look at my avatar :) I have so much respect for every nice man/woman in this earth. The race things is because we "generally" have eyes. How do blind people "see" the race thing? See what I mean? :) - directeur via NoiseRiver
Blind people see the race thing just like everyone else really does, as a cultural values thing. Even blind people know glorifying living in the ghetto and pimpin' hos is probably not a good idea from a social context. - Alexander Williams via NoiseRiver
Awesome post, Shey. I'm glad people actually posted about this. - Rahsheen Porter
I had never seen the video at the end... doesn't surprise me though - Bwana McCall
I have to ask though; isn't this a year old why all the heat now? I had no idea who this guy was until Corvida and You posted about it. Maybe as a black bloggger it would only seem right if i expressed my 2 cents on it too - Gordon Swaby
Alexander's comment is exactly the problem racism yields. There is no "Black Culture" that glorifies "pimping hoes" or living in the ghetto. What you see on TV, and what is reality are not the same. The idea that Blacks have "lower cultural values" is at the core of racist ideology. - Jasmin Smith
Gordon, I never saw it recently either, literally a couple weeks ago. Blog away if you like :) - Shey
Key race is the human race! The rest is just details. - Mark Forman
Somebody apparently dug it up. Probably when they found out about the Verizon deal. I read somewhere that he had pissed of some other people before this, so they could possibly have had something to do with it. - Rahsheen Porter
One of the things I like about FriendFeed is that it proves Loren's video assertion (comical or otherwise) is untrue. That there are black nerds and bloggers and are adding to the conversation. It is very refreshing to me to hear from black people and women on the internet. I like to get a better sampling of "people" not middle-aged white men. All I need for that one is the mirror or listening to my own thoughts. - Mark Forman
Funny you should say that, Jasmin, because that's the culture black cultural entrepreneurs are selling. Look at urban culture in general and look to who produces it. Largely middle-class blacks from urban homes. If we can't expect they know what best sells to their home communities, who can we? - Alexander Williams via NoiseRiver
The comment I made on the Mashable post was that in competitive improv, we were taught never to go for the "easy" humor because it's not respectable and its not sustainable. All Loren Feldman has going for him is an easy laugh obtained from a sea of classless appreciators. He deserved to get this ripped away from him. - Jennifer Leggio
OK Alexander. Let's look at the So-Called Black Music Industry (Specifically hip hop/R&B. Who creates and markets it... white men... who buys it.. white kids... - Jasmin Smith
Well said Mark. I need to ask how long ago did he get the "verizion deal"? Because i was watching one of his videos where he was commenting on it and he lauded himself for getting the deal; seemed a tad bit excited, must have been a shame to lose it. - Gordon Swaby
@Shey, sadly racism is alive and well in America. Your post was spot-on. Bravos! - Dave Martin
I defy someone to find me another place - online or in the real world - that facilitates conversations like this about topics as sensitive as this. You find me a place where people regularly express the thoughts and ideas that have been expressed above about a topic like this and I will frequent it every bit as often as I do Friend Feed (ok maybe not EVERY bit - there are only so many hours in a day...) - Marco
Marco, absolutely - this is why I can`t stop blogging about FriendFeed :) - Shey
It would be good if my question was answered, please and thank you. - Gordon Swaby
Thanks Dave, unfortunately there are many who turn a blind eye or will even deny it. - Shey
@Dave Martin Racism is alive and well here in Canada too. Don't even get me started.. especially when it comes to how Canada has treated and continues to treat our Aboriginal people. Sadly, unless you've experienced the negative effects of racism directly, it's difficult to understand the lived experiences of people who are discriminated against SOLELY because of the colour of their skin... not their "lack of moral character" as our friend Alexander has mistakenly suggested. - Jasmin Smith
Jasmin, you must be living in an interesting parallel world. I think I can say with some comfortable surety at least in the context of Atlanta's hip hop media and entertainment industry that it's very, very predominantly a black enterprise. White kids may be buying it up in bulk, but that's because there are a lot of white kids and somewhat fewer black kids. Thus the term "minority." - Alexander Williams via NoiseRiver
Wow.. I saw this friend feed post and it sent me on a wild tangent through the web to Corvida's site and to the TechCrunch article that I somehow missed. Glad to see things come back around regardless of who the target was. - Adam Helweh
Unfortunately I think Feldman and his "shock jock" nature will try to capitalize on this negative publicity somehow. :-/ - Jennifer Leggio
Alex, I live in Canada, thanks.... but in your country, (America I presume) the Hip Hop industry is overwhelming supported by young white kids, and financially backed by their older white "parents and grandparents." While Black men and women stand as the figureheads in the industry, with the exception of a few big names, the money goes into the hands of the top execs.. who are predominately White. - Jasmin Smith
@Alexander, I am an artist in Atlanta. I know many other artists in Atlanta. The problem is that these artists talk about what they live. The big record companies help to market and glorify these things. White kids support this industry. The record companies put the black artists in positions where it looks like they run the show, but they are just managers/supervisors...not CEO's. - Rahsheen Porter
and while we're on the issue of "minorities" -- it has nothing to do with numbers and EVERYTHING to do with which groups hold the POWER in society. Racism is then perpetuated through the maintenance of these power structures along "racial lines" -- promoting stereotypes to denigrate racial minorities, all the while elevate whiteness to "the norm" (intentionally and unintentionally) which further stratifies society... - Jasmin Smith
Jennifer-who's to say he isn't the one to instigate the Verizon protest issue. It's possible that Verizon deal not so great and he hoped to generate even more publicity through this brouhaha. Hard to say when you're dealing with performance artist that is comfortable using "shock." Anything is possible. Loren might be many things but certainly dumb isn't one of them. - Mark Forman
@Mark It's quite possible. But hopefully since his notoriety is in limited circles a respectable mainstream business would realize there is more detriment than value to dealing with him. Again, the operative word being "hope." - Jennifer Leggio
So, if the "black culture" Loren parodies (well or poorly) in his video is created by, marketed by, consumed by, and enjoyed by whites, is it racist then to mock? Because, Hell, it ain't black at all by that measure and any REAL black person'd know he couldn't POSSIBLY be talking about them, right? Or are we assuming that since blacks aren't competent, driven, or cunning enough to produce the cultural artefacts credited to them (by your assertion), they're clearly too weak to take some parody and need to be protected by our doting, paternal culture? - Alexander Williams via NoiseRiver
With the video at the end. Spot on. Sometimes you get off the hook, sometimes there are consequences. Now he met some. - Roland Hesz
Alex, your opinion truly illuminates what is wrong with race relations in (the) America(s). Because you, and people like you have ignorantly bought into the stereotypes about Blacks (and no doubt other minorities) you fail to understand the social significance that your type of ignorance causes. It's too much to get into here. I'll sum it up in a blog post later. - Jasmin Smith
That was great to read Shey. I've felt the same way, all the stuff I've read being posted in his defense stinks of ignorance. How anyone can even stand to watch a single video by the guy is beyond me. His smug expression intolerable. His blatant bigotry is sickening. - Tsega D
It's really mind-boggling how impossible it is to actually explain race issues to people who have not lived them - Rahsheen Porter
@Jennifer, We can only hope that Feldman does call further attention to this situation, that he does attempt to rally and in that process out those like thinkers who support his plainly racist notions of humor and entertainment. We can not let this stand. We have the collective power to turn his cavalier dismissal into an indictment. We have the responsibility to call to account any advertiser that supports what is now a history of racist stereotyping for profit. If not us, who? If not now, when? - Dave Martin
OMG the irony of the video! LOL, yah he's a total loser. - Trula
@Dave I not once implied that we shouldn't continue to raise the issue. Nor do I have any doubt that Feldman will continue to fan the flames himself. My comment was merely about how I hope he does not profit from the increased notoriety this situation has caused. Not sure where you got the other part. - Jennifer Leggio
@Alexander No matter how they originate, the stereotypes end up hurting racially. When someone who's just met me jokes about not bringing a crack pipe, or when an Ivy League school president is followed around a store to make sure she won't steal anything, if you can visualize someone being negatively impacted, do you visualize a white person? How about anyone of the same "race" as the one working off the stereotype? - MiniMage
@Jennifer, by his own hand let him come to be known for what he defends and let his supporters and fellow travelers be named. I learned as a child it was a good thing the KKK sported the cover of sheets, it told us who they were. - Dave Martin
@Dave OK, I am not nor never disagreed with you. Just think you missed my point. Regardless, we're on the same side, so we can stop wasting Shey's quality convo space. :) - Jennifer Leggio
Closed circuit to Feldman: A quote by the great philosopher king Mike Tyson seems apropos here, think about it..."Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth." - Dave Martin
Alexander: "Black culture" isn't monolithic; what you're describing is a substrate of hip-hop culture. Is that substrate unusually visible? Well, yeah... white kids in search of rebellion-by-proxy lap it up, making the artists in question enormously successful, which in turn attracts those in the black community who are starved for signs of economic and societal success. It's a big, complicated puzzle... not a simple matter of glorification. - Roger Benningfield
Roger, if only I could "Like" a comment :) - Rahsheen Porter
@Shey Great post. Thanks for sharing your feelings on this issue. Unfortunately, these discussions just show how far we have left to go and how much we white people have to learn. - swhitley
Amazed by all the people still saying that it's not racist. As you know it's easy to say when you're not the target of the ridicule.It really doesn't matter because corporate America doesn't like controversy. It's as simple as that. - Kenya Allmond
It seems to me that this is a classic proof that yes, words really do have consequences. Feldman likes to swagger, talk tough, and put on this macho act about how he's the only guy with big enough balls to say things other folks would rather not hear. But now that he's pissed people off enough that there are actual consequences, he says it was "satire" and complains that people are too easily offended. Well, wasn't it part of his goal to offend people? If you're going to play bad boy, play it all the way. - nathan
I have only recently come to learn of Loren Feldman - and now I wish I hadn't. I know he works to rub everyone up the wrong way, but his lack of understanding on matters is vapid to non-existent. I hadn't heard of his potentially racist path, but somehow it doesn't surprise me. - Jake Fudge
nathan-bingo-like the wise man said,"You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?" - Mark Forman
I'm continuously amused by the number of people who decry Loren's comments as racist and essentially call for his lynching. If we add up the number of people suggesting that black people need protection from such hurtful words with the people suggesting such things should never be said and never be allowed to be said, it becomes rapidly clear that racism may be the issue on the table but freedom of speech, especially for those whose messages you virulently oppose, is the one under the table like a gun levelled at one's midsection. "White culture" is just as monolithic as "black culture" in these comments, for what it's worth, but one is an opressive manifestation of racism and the other is hand-wringing. Seems to me the problem isn't what Loren said, or how he said it, but a lot of excuses to pose before public opinion and try to look good. Pfeh. - Alexander Williams via NoiseRiver
added some links I'd missed on the first page + added others from FriendFeed. I'll be adding new pages shortly, but count most of these links as crowd sourced from FriendFeed followers. Some really interesting blogs here in the mix - Duncan Riley via Bookmarklet
“It's interesting to me how the "a-list" are freaking out about losing control. Why? Because friendfeed and everything else is loosening in their hold and leveling the playing field. This is why you see so many clammoring for followers. It reminds me of why sites...”
like Revenews failed as a meta blog years ago because people no longer needed a meta blog to blog. Anyone could do it. The same is true with what were seeing now. Anyone can be an "a-lister" and be part of the conversation and get tons of followers and get known. The lines of fame are fading fast for the elite. I think that's a good thing. No offense to those at the top, I'm just saying. - Jim Kukral
I think you need to clarify what you mean by a-list because there are significant portions of the proverbial a-list who are not doing this. The ones that are are the ones who have relied soley on their political capital as "entrepreneurs" and don't engage anywhere, really, except on Diggnation. :) - Aaron Brazell
Hmmm. I think the opposite is going on. There is great concentration of influence in a relatively small group of A-listers. The current crop of social media tools is widening the attention/influence wealth gap. - John McCrea
Aaron, you know who I'm talking about. Nothing against them, but before things like Twitter and Friendfeed, it was easy for them to remain "on top". But tools like these have really leveled the playing field. If you put in the effort to work these channels you can rise quickly and get "known". That's all I'm saying. - Jim Kukral
And by the way, I'm not a-list. I'm z-list, according to Feldman anyway :), and yes, I do clamor for followers on my blog and other places. Well, I promote my signups at least. Nothing wrong with that in my opinion. - Jim Kukral
Ya I'm not saying it's not happening but I haven't seen it- maybe because I'm not paying attention to these A-listers, in which case, I have humorously underlined part of your comment :-) - Brian Carter
I see FriendFeed, twitter and other social networking tools putting those of us who aren't on the a-list on the same footing as the so called a-listers. A tool on the Internet is doing just what the Internet did for small business, solos and for people who work at home, narrowing the gap to large business. - Grant Griffiths via twhirl
Social networking tools narrow the gap between a-listers and the non-a-listers. But you still have to be willing to take advantage of the tools available. You can't just stand by and hope the tools available will just work because they are there. - Grant Griffiths via twhirl
Poor suckers! Where I work, not only do we get to get to pay too much for our food (as compared to nearby organizations), most of us also have the privilege of paying our employer for a non-guaranteed parking space! Envy me! - MiniMage
i never took advantage of my friend's invitations when he was there. :| - edythe
that's because you are a good person edythe, and i am shameless. WILL DATE FOR FREE FOOD! - Mona N
When I went out to Google for a visit, I was sure to try their food. had momo's and it was so much better than our cafeteria at work and it was free. - Andrea Baker
Ok that's kinda pissing me off. :-) That's just not fair. LOL - Brian Carter
thinking of the Andale on campus...good stuff - Rick Bucich via twhirl
Brian: You should see the breakroom INSANE - Mona N
I wish more companies had the same work philosophies Google has. Allowing them to have free food is genius. Google gets to keep more of their workers in close proximity and I'm pretty sure most stay later at the office for dinner too. free good food = happy productive employees. - Michael Narciso
IMO, it's management 101. employees(perks + positive work environment) + deadline driven employees = happier employees / phenomenal work results - Mona N
^btw the 'happier employees / phenomenal work results is supposed to be a fraction =| - Mona N
My company gives away free red vines... does that count? *sigh* - Michael Narciso
WHAAATTT Red Vines FTW! I don't know about you, but I think I can eat a whole bucket of Red Vines. But I can't find anyone who's willing to do it with me. - Mona N
"I don't think it's my call to say when someone is an early adopter or a late adopter. To artificially draw that line would be silly. You also don't get any more prizes or cash money for being in the first camp. :-)" - Louis Gray
Louis writes "While some continue to debate whether one service will kill another, or what it will take to bring a product into the mainstream, I can easily say as one of the most visible and active users, the population has changed, away from an eclectic group of uber-engineers to something more recognizable: peers of all backgrounds. It should be interesting to see just what the service looks like by the end of the year, or next June. Could be dramatically different again." - Russellreno via Bookmarklet
This is a must read if you want some perspective on the short life of Friendfeed. - Russellreno
I was an early beta user of FF on Facebook, but I was losing interest when I discovered Louis and his love for FF. That is when I first logged on directly to the web site and watched wave after wave of new subscribers arrive. Excellent write up Louis. - Russellreno
I am definitely late to the friendfeed world, but I am very glad it exists. I have gained so much perspective on social media in the last month that would have been impossible without this service - gregory
@gregory - so true. I am not a part of the social media scene, but wholly fascinated by it and find FF to be such an eye-opener. FF has done more than any other service, blog or media outlet ever has for my awareness of social media and so many other subjects. - JA Castillo
sergiooooooo, yes, if its a roll in your sidebar. They're not extinct, but they are rare these days. Sprague, good to see you're still keeping the spirit alive - Duncan Riley
I used to use one, but it seemed as soon as I'd update it, people would go inactive, or I'd have to change it again. (Examples: GeekWhat and Kent Newsome, both who just about fell off the map) Now, I think the Google Reader shared items blog gives a good enough clue as to what I read and find important. - Louis Gray
I found that no one ever clicked on them so I removed it. It was just noise. - Kevin
I'm on the same boat as Kevin. No one ever clicked on them so, I just got rid of it. I have a section for "friends" that include a couple of blogs but that's it. - Candace Holly
I have one on my dembot blog and really believe in it. - Andrew Baron
My blogroll would probably span a few screens.. Anyway blogroll feels slightly 1990s.. Don't you think so? - Winston Teo
Which reminds me, I need to update my blogroll. - J. Phil
Still maintain one but update it about once a month as things change - Charlie Anzman
I still use them, but only for close contacts. I like them. - Jim Kukral
I once used them, when Zeldman was that name in the bottom of every blogroll (go figure why ;-) ) and then I stopped blogging - directeur via NoiseRiver
In my opinion, the best use for a blogroll is for a _short_ list of _related_ blogs that the reader can hit in order to get more information on the topic. The "600 blogs I read every day" doesn't seem to me to be the best use of a blogroll. - possible248
I'm trying to convince myself to compile a decent blogroll since 2002:) - Federico Giacanelli
Perhaps it's time to convert the blogroll to a micro-blogroll. Better yet, I would like to display the people I find interesting (at friendfeed) as a widget. - Czar Derek Peterman
I recently dropped the blogroll on my blog. No one ever bothered clicking the links. What people do click are the links in my blog posts (yes, it does still happen). The blogs to which I link regularly in my blog posts are a much better barometer of the ones I follow than my blogroll ever was. I really didn't keep the blogroll up to date. - Hutch Carpenter
Hmm, regardless of clicks, SEO's understand that a blogroll link is a vote in Google, or at least indexing priority. If you really like someone, you'll tell Google about their blog by blogrolling them. I never nofollow those. - Brian Carter
Czar: How do you describe your "intersting" people at friendfeed? - directeur via NoiseRiver
I have it on good authority that a new blogroll widget is in the works that will bring blogrolls back - well at least with this crowd. I probably shouldn't say who and I don't know when, but it sounds like it will be dynamic and awesome. So don't count them out just yet - David Knight
My blogroll was too long for my sidebar, so I used to have a separate links page. I should clean it up and bring it back. Need to add a TON of social media bloggers I've been introduced to via FriendFeed these past few weeks. :D - Nathaniel Payne
are blogrolls that hump of cheese n the back of your fridge? :) - (jeff)isageek via fftogo
How about this for a theory: The blogroll has been superceded by Twitter and FriendFeed as the easiest way to track and associate oneself with others that are active, interesting and influential in social media - Daniel Young
It's crazy to me how many have dumped them when it's the first step in being social online if you have a blog... good for blogger to blogger luv and also good for pointing your visitors to additional related resources of value, so good all around. - Scott Bannon via twhirl
Duncan, this is so true. I was literally thinking late last night about doing a post on this as I was tidying up my own (relatively new) blog a bit and looking at the standard blogroll links that came with my Wordpress template. I had a quick look at a few fairly well-known blogs and there wasn't a blogroll in sight.. - Matt Hooper
Regarding the value of blogrolls for Google SEO. Check out this thread, about 3/4 the way down, for a comment on that by Adam Lasnik (Google search evangelist): "be careful about making assumptions on how Google does or will weight 'constant' links ;-" (http://friendfeed.com/e/7c7d98...) - Hutch Carpenter
I read blogs mostly in Google Reader. When I'm on a blog, I'm focused on the content rather than the sidebar. I like the blog roll concept, but it would reach a broader audience if it moved to the main column of content. For example, instead of showing a Last.fm widget in my sidebar, I automated a weekly post that shows my top artists from the prior week as a regular blog post. http://bit.ly/4rQvZU - Joe Lazarus
As long as it's not me...but I'm probably not well liked enough to start with to count in that criteria. Serious though: no. Personal choice. - Duncan Riley
A sin? I didn't know FF had become a Christian sect! When did that happen? - AJ Kohn
Well, I don't like you, Mark, but no one else does either so I'm not talking about you. ZING :) (j/k) - Aaron Brazell
Spill it, Aaron, or you'll be deleted. :-) - Louis Gray
Yeah, if I mention who it is then I'm going to be swept out of here. Because really, he is an ultimate good guy. I just get tired of him. :) - Aaron Brazell
MRH: That must be the lost 28th book of Leviticus, which also states that everyone should give me 12% of their income. If you find it, let me know. Aaron: I wouldn't really worry about it - hide works wonders if it gets unbearable. - David Worrell
It's hard to find, but it's mark@itafroma.com Aaron. - Mark Trapp
Aaron, you can like, dislike, hide, block, or (apparently) stalk anyone you want on friendfeed. Using it shouldn't be a chore.. if it is, stop using it. - J. Phil
I vote for banning anyone Aaron does not like. Let's see the list. - Kyle Lacy
What's this, "I've got a secret, but I'm not telling..." stuff? - Vince DeGeorge
It's just so hard to keep track of who you're supposed to like and who you aren't. One minute you see somebody post something really insightful that gets you thinking about something in a whole new way and you like them. The next minute you find out that two years ago that person said something mean about somebody else you thought you liked, and you're, like, who am I supposed to like? It's, like, confusing. - Ken Sheppardson
I just try to like people who like me, and not worry about the rest. - Ken Sheppardson
I don't like the majority of the people who everyone else seems to worship. Something about false idols... ;) - Alex Hillman
Yes, it's a sin to not like me, punished by being overfed on well-filled leeches. They taste like candy and rainbows. - Alexander Williams via NoiseRiver
In my opinion, regarding Scoble, he will like you more if you don't give as much of a crap about him. He is always trying to look out past the rosy glow of the scobleverse to what is next, and that often means ignoring the noise from his fan club. - J. Phil
Scoble is not who I was talking about. - Aaron Brazell
Y'know, I like everybody. I just don't follow them all. ;) - Cecily Walker
I choose subscriptions based on a core-perimeter model. The core are people whose interests I know overlap with my own. But I also try to have a strong perimeter - very high quality information sources across a wide variety of areas. So I read blogs by people like Robin Hanson (economist), Terry Tao (mathematician), Ethan Zuckerman (developing world), etc. Unfortunately, FriendFeed usage still seem to be mostly concentrated in a few areas. - Michael Nielsen
Michael, it will get more interesting over time. Waiting for the synthesizer geeks to show up :) - Deepak
Michael, that is one of the best comments I've seen on FF. - David Gutelius
This is true with most things in life. Your real friends, the sites you visit, etc. Why is this so shocking? Just saying... :P - James Mowery via twhirl
it's not shocking... It's justa useful quote that sums up the service... ;) - Chris Messina
I know, but, it could be applied to every social network: Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and YouTube. Even forums and such. I'm sure the Bret guy is smart, but I mean... yeah. - James Mowery via twhirl
Yeah, I'm being really picky about what I read on FriendFeed. Trying to master the "hide" functionality like so many have suggested to filter out the not-so-useful stuff. :D - James Mowery via twhirl
I left a comment agreeing with you on this post. - Robert Scoble
Linking may be less important but as I've said elsewhere the alternatives do not always provide quality traffic to go with the quantity. - Colin Walker via fftogo
'Like' * 3!!! You said what we've all wanted to say, Louis - thanks for this great post. - Jesse Stay via twhirl
Interesting... and I wonder what this is going to do to Google's rankjuice flow model... if linking to others as part of a mutual info/attention ecomony starts to decline in importance and value. - Tom Beardshaw
@tombeardshaw, you can see how old-school google is .. - gregory lent
There's now a pretty good dialog in the Disqus comments on Louis' blog as well. Good reading - Charlie Anzman
@louisgray this is totally wrong. Linking is one of the most powerful signals you can send to Google about your importance and authority in your topical area. I will leave a bigger comment on your post but basically just read @DannySullivan comment carefully because he said it well. And he should know. Especially brand new bloggers NEED high quality links to even be found in Google. What % of your traffic is through Google? 60%? 75%? Enuf said. - Elliott Ng
@gregorylent maybe... searching people and what they've found here vs searching pages and their content on google? I find FF more useful for finding the latest content. Google still rules as an archive though. - Tom Beardshaw
@Elliott - I think the point of the post was that Louis is getting traffic from FF, google etc rather than from blogs linking to his posts. - John
I guess this could be seen as a Tipping Point for your blog, Louis. When you started out you relied on other people linking to you but now you generated enough content, authority and page rank that the referral traffic from blogs is minimal compared to what you get from Google searches. - John
John, that could be one way of looking at it. Also, year over year, a link from Scoble is about the same. I didn't get linked to from the big guys, aside from him, in 2007. I would get about 200 visits from his stories last year, and the FriendFeed one drove about 350 this year, with other mentions being in the 70 range. Also, this post wasn't supposed to be about me, per se, but about how the biggest blogs drove such a small amount of traffic, relative to social media, in general. - Louis Gray
IMHO, it was always the case that you got more comments the more you commented on other people's blogs. Sort of symbiotic relationship. FF seems to just be the next incarnation of the same rule. FF really is just a single portal to view a member's complete content stream and comment inline. - Shawn Smith
It would be interesting to take a look at a relatively new blogger who is active in social media to see what kind of numbers they are getting. - John
I agree with John above. I went through this with my niche blog. Now, my biggest worry is to keep advancing my game so I stay on the other side of the tipping point. Social Media is a part of that game, adding other services, networks, etc are an important part as well. But they're just tools. - John Frost
I'm inclined to think that there is something much bigger going on here. - Kevin
I think what's really going on is web browsing behavior is changing. People are less inclined to click on blog links. I think louis is right - folks are relying on aggregators and search engines to find content, or they're in their reader subscribed to so many blogs following the links within articles is less appealing. - Jason Kaneshiro
I think there is a point at which what Louis says is true, but it's after his blog "arrived" in a sense. After all, a link from Mashable that only give him 77 readers isn't much when he's getting 3,000 visitors from Google that same day. But it's a ton when no one knows who he is (including Google). I agree with John above about the "Tipping Point." - Bob Caswell
Great piece describing the changing landscape for how blogs are discovered and read. Interesting that the #1 and #3 blogs that drove your referrals were posts that themselves were powered by Techmeme and Digg. You indirectly got the benefit through those services. - Hutch Carpenter
i think i have to agree here. i used to find all kinds of new sites through post links but rarely click out of google reader unless i want to comment these days. ff and twitter drive me to more new sites now. - Steve Long
This applies to those people in the thick of the blogosphere and social media, NOT to the rest of the people on the Web who don't know what all this newfangled Web 2.0 stuff is. And quite frankly, that's a good 99% of the people getting online. - Wendy
I believe I agree with the change of discovery of content, but in the end it's still a link whether it's from a blog or from an aggregator such as FriendFeed - I still click on a link. We are simply adding multiple layers (shared thru Google Reader -> FriendFeed -> actual content). - simonpure
There's no irony of it being on Techmeme. I said that's where many people find their news... so it shows the system works. - Louis Gray
Links are still *extremely* important. Your 'Google/Organic' results wouldn't have happened unless you'd established yourself as a hub and authority in your 'neighborhood'. The only way Google understands this is by looking at links: quality and quantity. In addition, you don't get full credit for links right away. It takes time for Google to fully weight the links you have, thus avoiding ephemeral link gaming strategies. - AJ Kohn
Louis, great article on the sliding landscape of traffic aggregration, but I didn't see you make mention of the quality of your visits - only volume. SU for instance offers some great volume, but I'm not seeing a lot of stickiness from that source. However, I do see the smaller referers seem to build longer lasting communities - and yes FriendFeed has offered some great interaction. - ChangeForge via twhirl
Nice piece. Saying links are unimportant is the weirdest thing I've heard in a while. And thanks for including the links to their bizarre world reasoning or I never would have read them. - chartreuse
Agree with you here. I think Louis looked at it only from a traffic view point, but links are a discovery tool as well. Just because one link doesn't deliver a ton of traffic doesn't mean that it won't help your traffic in the longer term via new subscribers + regular readers...it's just harder to directly measure - Duncan Riley
Links are the veins of the Internet. Blood (read: content) is nothing without veins. ;-) - AJ Batac
links are a discovery tool, period. the moment you start likning for traffic is the moment your site/blog/feed/tweet ceases to matter. - Jim Jannotti via feedalizr
Links are a meaaure of respect. 9 time out of 10 I link to something because I respect what the author wrote. Why shouldn't I encourage other people to read it? (The other 1 in 10 is when I'm mocking some fool. But they deserve to be read so that others can mock them too, - Ed Bott
What you'll find is that Steven and I agree on this 95% of the way. The headline of what I said did not say they were unimportant. I said it "seems" they are getting "less important". I believe in linking and do it aggressively. What I was referring to mostly, as Duncan mentions, was traffic expectations. It was not looking at search, but it was looking at the rising importance of aggregation and social media tools, when compared to blog links. - Louis Gray
Cont: I don't declare things "dead" or say one thing will "kill" another, as that's superlative. I also included quite a bit of data and transparency to say how I came to my conclusions. But over time, as I watch this closely, there is a shift, and I wanted to highlight it. - Louis Gray
I don't think Louis was suggesting links weren't important overall, just that their influence on traffic is declining. Yup, I see it Duncan's way. Links are also important to SEO as well and we shouldn't underestimate the increasing role of Google Juice. - Shey
Maybe I missed it, but I thought Louis's post was really about the declining "importance" of *blogs* as drivers of conversation in the infosphere -- links are still the medium of relaying information, but the linking is migrating to the social net sites. - Sprague D
Seems everyone is getting pretty bent up about that post Louis did. To quote the comment Louis just left, which sums up the general idea of the post very well I think; the post was about 'looking at the rising importance of aggregation and social media tools'. Now as any blogger who wants to generate traffic does Louis took this to a little bit of an extreme causing a lot of talk around the subject which is great. - John
Cont: The thing is you need links to generate traffic to your blog, these links are coming from social media more and more rather than from bloggers linking to one another is all. - John
Added you. Also new to FF. I think it might be information overload, though... - John Storer II via twhirl
I added you two weeks ago. Guys and Gals - use the hide button to reduce the info overload. - Russellreno
yea I am trying to figure out how to make my friend feed posts go out to twitter - Jason Stephens
Jason: why? post to twitter and bring them in. - klecu
klecu: because then I have to leave friendfeed, I want to do everything in here...when I share I want it to go out to all my services too.... - Jason Stephens
I think you've got it backwards. FriendFeed is drawing in everything, not sending out. - John Storer II via twhirl
exactly my point...I think it could be a twitter replacement though...i like posting to hear better then posting on twitter. I'd like the messages I share on here to go out to my twitter followers to help grow my subscriber list - Jason Stephens
So is it Ping.fm that does that (posts to Twitter) then, not FriendFeed? - Jeff Kopp
That is, of course, a very valid example. Unfortunately, It's sort of like the AIM/ICQ Fiasco. All your friends are on AIM... why should they switch, even when AIM now sucks? I just got into FF, so I am not sure it could handle the excess traffic like twitter is dealing with. - John Storer II via twhirl
The method to comment and reply is much better on friendfeed, I think this definitly should either be bought by twitter or find a way to cross integrate them better. I see the option to "also send this comment as an @reply twitter from jpstephens" but thats not EXACTLY what I mean - Jason Stephens
Jason: I totally agree, if you can post out to all your socials then someone tell me how. If not, then FF should have the option or I smell yet another social network for social networks. ;) - Mark
