Hmm you are nt on the list too. : ) Never mind them... - Erhan Erdogan

Ah! Top bloggers, remember? :-) - Palin Ningthoujam

Palin: Write us these names : ) Maybe they will come to converse then. ;-) - Erhan Erdogan

Thanks. I've been participating in online communities since 1985 and I'm not about to stop. It's too much fun. - Robert Scoble

There is a large contingent of bloggers who feel they are the conversation facilitators: as long as they get people discussing something, they can just sit back. I don't find those bloggers interesting. A lot of the conversational bloggers are actually right here in Friendfeed. - Mark Trapp

Erhan: all you have to do is look at any of the big names here on FriendFeed and see how many comments they've left. Leo Laporte is one guy I see participating. The others? Very rarely. Most A list bloggers feel very threatened by FriendFeed, though. They see it as an attack on their business model (which requires you to refresh their pages a lot to get their advertisers to pay a few cents each time you do that). - Robert Scoble

1985? Ah yes...the days of BBS & Compuserve - Mark Krynsky

Come on Palin.... name some names! - Stefan Hayden

Mark: yup, our computer user group in Silicon Valley had a popular BBS in one of the members' garages. We had about a dozen Hayes modems (very expensive back then) that ran at 9,600 bps. So fast! :-) - Robert Scoble

If we're not having conversations on our blog, I consider it to be a failure. I often learn much more from our readers that they do from me. Without two-way dialogue, our blog would just be a bunch of pointless words. - Kevin C. Tofel

Everything speeds up, we started with BBS threads, then blogs and replies and now twitter and friendfeed... I'm just waiting for my brain implant, bit scared of signing onto Scobles feed when that happens ;) - Gerard van Schip

@scoble to your point I think that is why so many are clinging onto Twitter for dear life - they love to be able to bless their "followers" with the benefits of their wisdom but have little to no interest in really developing and advancing ideas - Marco(aureliusmaximus)

robert: you nailed it, and the main reason why decentralized dynamic commenting systems scare some folks so much even those that are able to integrate back into the original blog post w/out being seo disadvantaging - mike "glemak" dunn

I've been involved in online communities since I got a 300 baud modem for my Atari 800 back in 1984. Business or no, there needs to be feedback from bloggers or the commenters are going to feel their comments are going into /dev/null. Feedback is always important. - Michael Gaines

Could this just be a conversation correction similar to a market. If one thinks of early or big bloggers as mature companies who don't want to talk then the newer bloggers will be at an advantage by recognizing the value of talking to their readers. Fairly or unfairly, I would imagine continuing to respond to comments is likely VERY time consuming. Maybe people naturally tend toward command and control style as they get bigger and money is involved? - Laurent Courtines from twhirl

Tongue-in-cheek, but does anyone else see the irony that Palin started this thread and hasn't engaged since? - Mark Trapp

@Mark good point! :D - Michael Gaines

@Robert Their core readers are in FF too - OK. But I don't understand them why they can't learn the new web 2.0 economy. It is easy, and cheery expanding their markets and also growing their businesses with the additions of these core readers. FF is a good sandbox for the other potential web evangelists.(new users) Like you! You are always learning smtng from FF and also sharing them with your new fresh users too. - Erhan Erdogan

Sorry Mark, was having dinner. Quite late out here. Time for sleep. But really liked the way we are conversing out here. What I have noticed is that on Friendfeed, there is no A list or B list (I think, so far, or is it?) and there is no 'my blog' or 'your blog' thing. This is the place where I have seen conversations happening, as different from 'commenting'. What say? - Palin Ningthoujam

palin: agreed, its more about conversations than commenting - mike "glemak" dunn

Stephan, Erhan: we can take any of the top blogs on technology, blogging, or marketing. You will know what I mean. I loved this thing Robert pointed out 'Most A list bloggers feel very threatened by FriendFeed'. The realization sets in me. 'Yes. That's true'. - Palin Ningthoujam

Erhan: most "pro" bloggers are out there competing to find stories and get on TechMeme. Interact with their communities? Never. To be fair, though, I participate a lot over on TechCrunch and I see Arrington interacting with his commenters often. - Robert Scoble

@scoble maybe I'm wrong here, but if "A"-list bloggers are only there to compete, then why not just be a journalist? - Michael Gaines

@Robert Forget Arrington. He has a great aggregator named as TC comments and mails. He has great an intelligence office there. : ) But you are right some of "pro"BLOGGERS like Arrington using FF like toilet paper. ;-) - Erhan Erdogan

Robert, one counterpoint: does it matter to the top blogs that they interact with their readers? The comments seem to be not declining, nor the readership. Or maybe I should ask this question like this: which is more important to a top blogger - engaging with their readers on the current post or finding the next story? - Palin Ningthoujam

Choice #1. (a) Remain engaged, 'social'. (b) Broadcast only. Choice #2. If (a), then (c) limit/niche your channel, (d) sell your soul (integrity/authenticity), (e) clone yourself, or (f) hire/get volunteers to speak on your behalf. I can't see how anyone could be authentically 'social' with more than ?100? people and still have a life. - Leif Hansen

@Leif Hansen - You're quite right. I'm sure Robert Scoble has no life outside FF... ;) - Eric Hamilton

Blogging's definition has changed a lot I supposed. There is a 'pressure' to post now. - Palin Ningthoujam

Let s gossip about Steve Rubel: http://friendfeed.com/e... : ) - Erhan Erdogan

@Erhan I have seen Steve very active on FriendFeed. - Palin Ningthoujam

Robert's bored of this thread I suppose :-) - Palin Ningthoujam