Elizabeth › Likes

If the updater do that in every post, it'll become annoying. Otherwise, I agree with you. - Arnaldo M Pereira

Judging by last Friday night I would have to say that *not* seeing people at the point of their input is a blessing....to the people who are posting :) - WorldofHiglet

@Arnaldo I'm a bit confused. You agree with me that it would cause audiences to form a more intimate relationship with the updater, but at the same time you'd find it to be annoying? - Brad Williamson

Every post, it would be very annoying. If it's merited, then no so much. - Admiral Anika

It would probably have an impact on the interaction/reception. But I think the effect would depend on the picture and the text - that is, the con-text. I'm leaning towards annoying. - phil baumann

Let me clarify: This practice would only be used in instances when someone performs a real status update, not "updates" which are used to share links and such. Personally, I believe that if you're someone who updates their status with thoughts and experiences, instead of links to interesting thing on the Web (like most Twitterers do) then I think you could make the virtual story of your life much more interesting. - Brad Williamson

Currently, the status updates we perform are only text-based, leaving the visual element of the person's update up to the imagination to formulate. I think so much more relationship building could be achieved if pics were included in these updates - especially when interacting with people you don't know very well. - Brad Williamson

Whatever the answer may be, it'll probably require an MRI to figure out! - Justin Davey

That feels like too much information...I think it might turn off more people than it would bring in. - Thor

I'm not gonna lie, I have to stop myself from accompanying too many of my updates with pics. I think it would be awesome, but if people think I'm an attention whore now...what would they think then? - Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah

@Rasheen I see you as being someone who's made quite an impression on FriendFeeders. Don't you think your inclusion of photos has done you more good in relationship building than bad? And as long as your photographic content entertains, it really shouldn't matter if people think you're an attention whore, right? If they don't like it, then you probably don't want to have a relationship with them. - Brad Williamson

The capability to add a pic would be good, but I'd also like the option to turn it off. As for "audience" ... most of the people who follow/subscribe to you don't read or look at every single thing you post. - LANjackal

@Lanjackal If most people don't read or look at every single thing you post, then wouldn't it make more sense to engage your audience's mind with something that stimulates the senses more? Seems as if you'd get more attention that way. - Brad Williamson

it might take some getting used to at first, but i see it as just an extension of what's currently going on. there are plenty of people (here on friendfeed and elsewhere) who divulge very intimate (and sometimes unnecessary) information about their personal lives through simple words. if i'm at the park and provide an image of me at the park -- how does that compare to someone writing about how shitty they feel about themselves? - Cee Bee

Oh, definitely. The responses I got to my pics on FF is the reason I began incorporating pics into a lot of my updating activity across the board. Pikchur makes this easy. I'm with you that it increases the level of engagement and intimacy just as including photos and video increases the effectiveness of any marketing campaign. There is definitely a danger of overdoing it, though. That it where I sometimes struggle with it :) - Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah

@Cee Yeah, one would definitely need to determine the level of transparency they want to divulge before taking such an approach. But with both the examples you just gave, I see an accompanying pic as an incredible way to enhance a tiny status update's impact. - Brad Williamson

There are certain types of updates I'll often share with photos. A couple of examples being whenever I eat, I may share a photo of my food. If my kids are doing something interesting, you may catch a photo/vid of that. People seem to enjoy those :) - Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah

@Rahsheen I think as the culture of the Net evolves we'll all figure out how much info is too much info. You seem to understand this and have done a great job of nudging your life into the lives of others. - Brad Williamson

With FriendFeed standing as the most probable example of what social networking is going to look like in the future, I think online communities are going to evolve quicker when our physical and virtual experiences are accompanied by an appropriate amount of multimedia. Personally, I rarely look at articles on FriendFeed that don't have pics attached to them, and, on the same note, I... more... - Brad Williamson

Funny you should bring this up, Brad. It's something I've been thinking about lately because I feel like I could be doing a much better job of it. It's so easy to include photo in videos using services like 12seconds.tv, Twitpic, Pikchur, whatever that I feel I should be doing a better job of including media on a regular basis. - Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah

Yeah, man, as a Virtual Biographer I gotta always be thinking about how I can liven up the stories of client's lives, and if you don't have multimedia attached to text-based stories you're really increasing the probability that audiences won't give a damn about what you have to say or share. As for you Rahsheen... you seem to be doing a killer job. - Brad Williamson

sort of why seesmic is popular - mike "glemak" dunn

*curtsies* - Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah

This is a very interesting idea. I wonder if this would become a bit mundane and boring if people are taking pics from the same location, (ie, someone's room or office). @mike I agree with you about Seesmic, but it is tough to compare video and just a picture. - Shawn Hickman

@Shawn Yeah, I too think it would get a bit old seeing a pic of a person in the same location with frequency. A web cam pic here and a web cam pic there would be fine; but too many pics like the one I have in this thread would probably turn off a lot of people's interest in your mini-thoughts, over the long-term. - Brad Williamson

@Mike True, Seesmic is doing quite well. But, so many of us find ourselves in situations where we aren't able to record or play back a video status update (example: at work). For this reason, I don't think video status updates will ever become people's sole medium for broadcasting the mini-thoughts and experiences of their life. With that said, the addition of pictures with status updates continues to come back as the best way to engage audiences on a more intimate level. - Brad Williamson

agreed brad, i've had a seesmic acct since it started and used it a lot at first but then stopped - just no time to keep up - the photo idea is a good one - mike "glemak" dunn

I'm thinking a picture every time you posted would drive those with a slow computer or a slow Internet connection nuts. - Brent - Loving Life

That would be a lifestream blog, a live video and audio stream, the audience would probably identify more closely with the lifestreamer, it would be the equivalent of a truman show... - TrafficBug

More than the contextual richness of a single event e.g. one status update (especially if they are ordinary, as most of the updates), it is the continuity of the 'observation' that shape the relationship. But a level of observation as rich as you propose, would hardly be sustainable. - Ugo