First, FriendFeed is _not_ going away. (in fact,... - Paul Buchheit

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First, FriendFeed is _not_ going away. (in fact, we're working on switching it to new servers) Second, I know everyone wants to know what the team is working on, but we don't pre-announce things, so for now all I can say is that there's good stuff on the way. Re: http://friendfeed.com/jworthi...

October 21, 2009 - Comment - Like - Share

Lu Tao, Hollywood Amanda, Dallas Cao and 292 other people liked this

I know that doesn't answer everyone's questions, but I hope it helps. - Paul Buchheit

Paul, working on friendfeed.com stuff or facebook.com? - Kol Tregaskes

I like the first sentence. The rest is just gravy. - Derek Coward

I'm totally happy if we just reside on decent servers, and get occasional IT help... We'll keep the rest of the ship running :) - Christopher Galtenberg

Paul - is that why it's been slower lately vs.pre-fb ? - Allen Stern

Paul please repeat it in re-phrased form: Friendfeed is NOT going to repeat destiny of Jaiku? Y/N - A. T.

*processing statement...* - Micah

Can't wait... **Fingers tapping desk impatiently** - AJ Batac :)

But what does "going away" mean, Paul? And what does "team" mean? And when you say "pre-announce", are you talking about the Palm Pre? - Ken Sheppardson

Allen, the slowness is due to growth (more users and more data), but I put in a few fixes yesterday that should speed things up a bit. - Paul Buchheit

thanks paul - Allen Stern

Paul, sometimes when I open up threads I get the Opps... error. Is that related? It has been happening more and more these last few days. - Kol Tregaskes

Still better than twitter and facebook. Thanks for the update! - Mike Nencetti

Paul, thanks for the incredible work with FriendFeed. Please, keep it alive! and most importantly keep it FriendFeed! - Ciro Villa

as long as FF doesn't go dark or fall to pieces due to lack of maintenance, i think most ppl would be appeased. - Joe The Sausage

Does this mean that the sky is not falling and we should stop running around screaming GODZILLA! and pointing in the direction of FB? - Tony C (Unrated) from fftogo

also, thank you for making such a great service in the first place! - Joe The Sausage

Paul: Did you see http://www.thetechnewsblog.com/2009... & can you understand why it got so many people talking / blogging? - Jim Connolly

I second that!! - Kol Tregaskes

Always nice to hear Paul talking about Friendfeed. - Ashish

Thanks Paul for the update. - Roberto Bonini

Thanks for the update! Would like to know if there will be actual development done on FriendFeed in the future (other than bug fixes/minor updates) but I understand if you can't really talk about that too much. - Brandon Titus

Paul: so still no answer from you as to if your 'good stuff' is being developed for FB or FF? The silence suggests it's FaceBook you're working on, or at least transferring FF into an 'add on' for Facebook? - Jim Connolly

Kol, fb platform and openness, primarily. - Paul Buchheit

David Recordon FTW - Jesse Stay

i made a post here - http://www.centernetworks.com/friendf... - one interesting note - maybe FB keeps FF running nice and smooth to keep the early adopters happy as it's a great way to get new features out to them via this channel... just a thought. - Allen Stern

Wow. I've had to eat my words before but these are the best-tasting ones yet! - Akiva from BuddyFeed

Akiva, just add salt. You know which kind :) - Micah

I'm anxiously waiting for FF->FB Platform integration (drools...) - Jesse Stay

These are the best words I could have expected by Paul. There is obviously a cultural difference between the two platforms and audience and I'm assuming both the former FF team and the FB team recognize that and are sensitive to the community. Thank you Paul and I hope you are feeling better.... - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

Allen, you're in good company on that thought - there were musings on that concept right after the buyout. - Micah

When the leader speaks, everyone listens.... :-) - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

I feel a few "I told you so's" coming though... :-) - Jesse Stay

Thanks Paul. Glad you're working on maintaining/improving performance. I've definitely seen issues here. Looking forward towards your influence and changes over at the blue giant. - Mark Krynsky

Paul - thank you for letting us know, and I do hope you feel better! - Jennifer Dittrich

The big question though is will FriendFeed continue to add new features? There's a difference between that and it going away. (and hence my argument w/ Scoble the other day) - Jesse Stay

Paul: Seriously weird that you're there reading this, and totally ignoring each relevant, yes no question. No one's asking you to pre announce anything - just genuinely concerned (and increasingly so) that they do NOT include developing for FF. - Jim Connolly

Jesse +1 - Jim Connolly

I for one want to say: I'm excited! - Jorge Escobar

Jesse: Paul answers that question - BOOM - rumour mill dies and we finally get something positive to say. Ya know what - we won;t get an answer though. He's reading this, he knows the answer, but he won't. - Jim Connolly

Jesse: For now, FF has more features than any other platform for this type of niche. There's some catching up to do before I'm worried about new features. - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

AWESOME!! Thanks for helping to quell some concerns Paul. Looking forward to what comes next, but hope that FF never dissappears also. - travispuk from iPhone

Paul: I'm right, right? There's something stopping you from saying that you are no longer adding new features to what 'we' know as Friendfeed? - Jim Connolly

Paul: Amazing how quickly you guys have adopted the Facebook attitude to silence. Pity. - Jim Connolly

Paul: blink twice if you will add new features to FF. I won't tell anyone, honest. - Edward Zwart

FWIW he did just upgrade servers. My e-mail notifications are almost real-time. Sounds to me like they're still improving the service. - Jesse Stay

Jim: Don't blame Paul on that, it's not fair. He's only allowed to say so much at this point but I'm very satisfied on what he said. - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

Jesse: The questions not if they keep the servers running - we want to know if this is a dead platform. - Jim Connolly

Jim: in Paul's defense Facebook's PR is more controlling than FriendFeed's was. I'm sure he's having to consider the effects his words will have on other people inside Facebook. But, I'm VERY HAPPY that Paul is here giving us hints as to what's coming. I wish it had happened six weeks ago so we wouldn't have lost so many people, but maybe that would happen anyway. - Robert Scoble

Jim, there may be a few new things, but as I said, the team is mainly working on fb platform and openness, so it's unlikely that there will be any big new features of ff (except maybe one that I've been thinking about for a while...). - Paul Buchheit

Did the Walrus think about Feed Splicing? :-) - Robert Scoble

Paul: Finally - THAT'S what we were wondering. - Jim Connolly

Paul: Pity. At least we now know not to expect any developments or improvements. Thanks for answering the question. Whilst it confirmed my fears, it's good to know what's happening. - Jim Connolly

I have no problem with FB integration (notice my drool above). Hoping for good friend conversion tools to bring subscribers over as friends or fans on Facebook from FriendFeed. (Connect.registerUsers FTW!) - Jesse Stay

Jim: I'd modify "any" to "many." - Robert Scoble

As a result - Jim has left the platform. - Jim Connolly

Jim: this is a change from last week, by the way. My sources were telling me that we weren't going to get any new features and now Paul is refuting that and saying we might get one new feature here. - Robert Scoble

I'm still drooling - anyone have a towel? - Jesse Stay

Jesse: I'll buy you a virtual one over on Ning. - Robert Scoble

personally, i would be happy just to have FF not fall apart and die. given the post-acquisition situation, anything beyond that is gravy! - Joe The Sausage

Robert, I heard Ning is dead - care to send me one on Facebook? ;-) - Jesse Stay

Robert, think of it as 20% time. If there's a feature I want, I'll just add it :) - Paul Buchheit

Thank you for the clarification, Paul, and hope you are feeling better. - WoH: Minding her Botts

Even if there no new features in Friendfeed, I am happy with Friendfeed just staying on. - Ashish

Paul, if you wanted me to bake you some cookies, all you had to do was ask, GEEZ. - Derrick

Twitter doesn't accept cupcakes any more (just check Foursquare when at their offices). How about FriendFeed? :-) - Jesse Stay

Mark, I'm okay with better Facebook integration. There's a lot of power in that (hence my drooling). - Jesse Stay

Mark, I'm really hoping it ends up the best of both worlds - that would be really cool - Jesse Stay

im going back to efnet - i got a bus for 7pm - anyone want on? :-P - Allen Stern

I don't think you can mix the two sites at all. This has been repeated over and over. FriendFeed's technology might be portable, the concept, no. - Jorge Escobar

I think you could make the case that some sites and services can in fact be "done" at some point, and simply require resources to keep them up and running. - Ken Sheppardson

Thanks, Paul. - Josh Haley

Ken: That's a potential advantage of turnkey application-level hosting such as App Engine: the resources to keep them up and running are almost entirely outsourced. ~All costs are variable costs, monetization improves over time, variable costs decline over time, so services that are "done" can literally just coast. - Daniel Dulitz

might be a full-time job times 2 or 3 for any fresh devs - safe to say Paul's got a bit of a head-start which changes that equation significantly! .... Also maybe almost as important is simply keeping spammers in check - that makes the difference between a ghost town vs the happy place here we want to keep coming back to enjoy ... - Dan Freeman

Istanbuldan buyuk bir eferimi hakketti bu cocuklar, bizim icin calisiyorlar - MobilAdam from fftogo

Yes, this helps a lot. Thank you, Paul. We were beginning to fight amongst ourselves over these things. - Kamilah Reed (K. Gill)

Chris: the problem is that a shovel doesn't get more utility the more people that use it. FriendFeed does. - Robert Scoble

I think the problem is that some people feel extra messianic some days (which is perfectly okay), and then refuse to see/believe/accept when others don't feel the same way AND point it out. The refusing part is not really okay, I guess. - Michael Bravo

Thanks for these reassuring words Paul. Have been working hard to get more Flickr users over here after the recent rash of censorship there. Friendfeed's TOS and lack of censorship is a breath of fresh air compared to Flickr. - Thomas Hawk

You can’t predict what the future of technology will bring; so trying is a fool’s game. You can only adapt to the new realities as best you can. Paul's word is that it is still worth the time to invest in FF the tool. The tool may stay in this form but that's still a better design for me than Twitter. If FF is a shovel, Twitter is a spoon feature-wise. Audience volume-wise, it is the reverse. - manielse (Mark Nielsen)

"Feature creep is the devil." truer words! - Joe The Sausage

I've been rough on you guys in some comments around, but I'm VERY encouraged to see that you guys see a future for FF. Thanks for shining some light, Paul. - S of 2C

Clarification is appreciated. - DGentry

Chris: Pownce had more "features" than Twitter did, yet it died. So did other aggregators like Jaiku. It's not "features" that matter in social software. Well, at least not completely. It's a combination of features with crowds that matter. If the crowds leave FriendFeed has a lot less utility to everyone than if they flow in. Look at this item here. Why is it interesting? Because there's people here talking about it. - Robert Scoble

take your time PB Bear take your time - Thomas Power

This is definitely more of the answer we were looking for. Thanks, Paul. - Scoble, Alex Scoble

Thank you - Johnny from iPhone

yea - happy happy.... - Chris Jackson

I can't find any wave that is even remotely comparable with friendfeed's conversation, if you found one will you invite me? (muzzle at googlewave) - Dr. Emme Ci

Great news, I await the new functions eagerly - Mo Kargas

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the best thing I've seen ALL day!! woo hoo!! Thanks Paul :) {{{ HUG }}} - Susan Beebe

Just a few words of assurance go a long way, Paul. Thank you for finally giving us something more solid to stand on. It's been frustrating for a lot of us waiting for the other shoe to drop and this news makes it much easier to keep investing time in FriendFeed. Please don't be shy about reaffirming that it's not going away on a regular basis because it's always good to hear. - Lindsay

I will say it for the least time! Friendfeed kicks ass :). The rest who is saying friendfeed is dying. please SHUT THE FUCK UP!!! - alfred westerveld

Good to read. - Grant Bierman

Tnx Paul, people just want to see that are not "alone" - CantorJF from FreshFeed

@ThatDBD I think you're responding to the wrong thread... - Lindsay

still curious, but understand - Kim Landwehr

It's fascinating that so many people seem worried about new features. Until recently Twitter added almost no features at all and yet it continued to grow in popularity. FriendFeed's recent slump is all about perception, not tech. - Eoghann Irving

Looks like it's official then: FriendFeed lives! On new servers, even! (At least for now...) - Dennis Jernberg

Hoorah! - Ron Bailey

Very glad to hear it!! - Rosalinda Mojarro

word! - Dylan Casey

This is great news! Thanks, Paul, for the update, and if you get a hankering for a feature, great! I'm fine with the tech being your personal sandbox in exchange for keeping the service alive. Robert, I hope this means we'll see more of you and your family - and hear from the ones who have mastered the art of rolling over. Johnny, thanks for having the courage to ask the hard questions (and Louis for helping you frame the issues.) wow - life feels good again! - Auntie Buttinsky Botts from iPhone

This is brilliant news from Paul! Now can we put this FriendFeed is dying business to rest please? It's a self fullfilling prophecy because by saying FF is dying, folks begin leaving, causing a downward spiral which would then cause it to come true! - technogran

Wan't it to stay? Then begin spreading the word! Get others to use it! At the moment its not mainstream so encourage ordinary users to use FF! The more popular it becomes the less likely it is to fold. - technogran

Yes :) Paul . Thanks. we love ff :) - sunipeyk

Questions? No just enjoy it. - ★ Soner Gönül

technogran: sorry, today you see what's going on. Bing? Displays your Facebook and Twitter tweets. Google? Twitter. Where's FriendFeed in this equation? Now do you get why FriendFeed is destined to be a tiny niche player and why the real action is on Facebook? - Robert Scoble

Good news :) - Maryam Ardakani from FreshFeed

Is not FF that is going somewhere else (?). Is its user base. - Claudio Cicali

Good to know. - orionstarr from iPhone

Robert, if FF gives me what I'm looking for, why do I care where "the real action" is? If FF serves its niche well, what's the downside? - S of 2C

Robert, do you mean that Google doesn't index Friendfeed posts? Friendfeed is the first site that comes up if you search for my name. - Victor Ganata

Excellent point Victor - but FF only imports a small % of twitter's posts. Ergo Google is still not getting Twitter. - Roberto Bonini

@Scobleizer - this item is not interesting because of the conversation. it's interesting because of who it's from, and what he said. The fact that there's a conversation around it and that conversation is easy to find and read is a bonus (a feature) that sets this service head and shoulders above others (IMHO). There's really not much interesting in the comments here, if you ask me. You could get rid of all the comments that aren't Paul's and the value of the entry doesn't diminish that much. - Chris Heath

That isn't to say that conversations around items aren't ever useful or valuable (or interesting as robert says)... but in this case i would say it's who it's from and what he said. - Chris Heath

Chris: you nailed, in a single paragraph, why Twitter is winning. You now can choose who shows up on your screen and under what context. Well, I can because I have list support. Everyone else will get that next month. Victor: Roberto is right. I barely see ANY of the good stuff I see on Twitter come over here. Well, it comes here because of my favorites feed, but that isn't in nearly as useful a form as it is over at http://www.twitter.com/scoblei... - Robert Scoble

Robert, you keep saying that's the reason Twitter's winning - I can do that in Facebook and FriendFeed as well. - Jesse Stay

Well, the problem is that Google doesn't seem to index tweets as well as it indexes Friendfeed posts. And Google has never been able go inside Facebook's walled garden. Hopefully that will change. - Victor Ganata

(and I have been able to for the last year or so) - Jesse Stay

Victor, that changed today - see ReadWriteWeb's post. Facebook is opening up public status messages to search engines now. - Jesse Stay

Why is Twitter/Facebook/FriendFeed a zero sum game? I use both Twitter and FriendFeed a lot - they have different strengths - and they feed into each other. Facebook I use less, but that's a personal issue because I simply like it less. Why does there have to be a winner? And +1 Scott, if I'm in the niche market that FF is serving and I'm happy with it, why should I care if "the real action" is on Facebook? If that's the case, I'll take FF's "fake action," thank you very much. - Jandy

Good point Jandy - sunipeyk

Paul: Thank you for letting us know status as much as you are able. The fact that you took time to write anything says a lot. So thank you for that. And thank you for FriendFeed in general. It truly does rock. Have a great day. - Morgan

Thank you. - amygeek

@Gene, sorry, you'll have to wait for a FB invite like everyone else! - Andrew C (✓)

FF team needs 20% time at FB to keep inventing the next. - Christopher Galtenberg

This is great to hear, it would be bad that a major peice of my microblogging arogration just died off. - denzuko

Bump for clarification and Happy Birthday Paul! - Charlie Anzman