Here's my stats for friendfeed taken right now. - Robert Scoble from Bookmarklet

Full size image: http://www.flickr.com/photos... - Robert Scoble

Apparently me too Robert! Happy holidays from snowy Seattle! - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

I tend to like a lot more Friendfeed content. I wonder if that's because it's longer and more detailed, because I read tweets on my tweetdeck and therefore subconsciously ignore them here, or because my FF friends just don't tweet a lot.... - George Smith

Thanks for the likes Brian! Wish I were up there playing in the snow. - Robert Scoble

Robert, how did you get those stats? - Vinko

@vinko - check out: http://friendfeed.com/setting... - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

Vinko: click on "Friends" up on upper right corner of FriendFeed. Then click on "stats." - Robert Scoble

Robert... Hahaha! I just LIKED this... :) You find the best content on FF...your huge network combined with your unbelievable ability to filter it all helps me get premium content fast... thanks! (bionic human socnet filter) - Susan Beebe

I had noticed that actually. Glad to see I'm not crazy. How should like be used anyways? Is it possible to 'like' too many things? - Mike English

Mike: I try to keep the quality up. Sometimes I like too many things, yes. But generally you get to see a lot more stuff that way and hopefully I keep the quality up so you are getting something out of it. - Robert Scoble

Susan is pretty awesome. - Eric @ CS Techcast

Thank you Eric..that was nice :) made my morning (early AM that is) - Susan Beebe

Everyone has their different criteria for "liking" something - I think that's what makes friendfeed so great. You'll get serious articles for sharing, funny tweets, bacon, LOLcats, whatever - depending on who you follow (or even their friends!) I don't think anyone - even Scoble with all the people he follows - can like something too much. But maybe I'm wrong... - George Smith

I must be a bionic "like" machine... "16,413 all time" (since March 2008) - Susan Beebe

It's all good, yo. Robert's likes don't need to be your bible. It's just what he likes. If you follow enough people of different interests, you will get a varied set of subjects and opinions. - Eric @ CS Techcast

I'm also a big fan of Robert, but I prefer to monitor his tweets thoroughly. Cancelled a bunch of FF subscriptions as it was beyond my power to manage huge incoming stream of information. - Alan Kodzasov

@susan amazed at that number... and to think that Morton has over 30000k You guys all make FF such a great place. Keep on *liking* :) - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

Robert & George: thanks, good observations, and thanks for liking cool stuff! Susan: Do you think we're becoming neurons in some social super-brain when we act as "bionic human socnet filters" for this flood of information? I want to follow people who are looking at that angle of the social web. - Mike English

Mike - wow, what a great question! I honestly don't know...but all this data, information and the ability for us to collectively share it, collaborate on it and learn at the same time IS powerful. One mind, one voice, one language ..... could really bring people together... great stuff! - Susan Beebe

Eric ... Robert's likes are not my bible, they serve as a filter and very good one at that. I follow 1055 people right now and that provides plenty of diverse content, pictures, music, and conversation.... I have multiple LISTS to filter content as well. Discovering new people is really one of the top enjoyments here... I've enjoyed and "liked" your content too...it's really great - Susan Beebe

Susan is a magnet. I find her following my likestream as well. She is focused and very good at what she does. Sometimes I'll look at my previous likes, and she's right there, next to my name. - Louis Gray

Agreed, Susan, Robert Scoble is good at filtering, but you could get that on a blog from an individual. FF gives you the variety you can't get through the blog medium alone. That's why I say you get variety on FF, which is a good thing. You can weight it however you want. - Eric @ CS Techcast

Hi Louis ... Another one of my fine "bionic human socnet filters"! wooo hooo! You too bring me lots of fabulous blog posts, new startups info, tech news, and excellent conversation... and of course, I could never forget those ADORABLE BABY PICTURES that make my day!!! :D - Susan Beebe

I think the social web is too segmented. Birds of a feather flock together. And sometimes it's people with polar opposite views arguing. But I don't think one place really has a large enough spectrum of human discourse...yet. We have to remember there is still a large portion of the population that does not participate in these conversations. - George Smith

I just passed 5,400 people I'm following. Wow. - Robert Scoble

Robert - what are you habits with FF? Do you worry about stuff you miss - or do you count on your 5400 people that you're following to separate wheat from chaff and focus on those things? - George Smith

WOW, is right dang! How many FF lists do you have? What is the average user count in each? - Susan Beebe

Susan: I agree with George about segmentation, I don't think there's one voice. I am curious to see how different groups interact (or don't) online. (tell me if I'm getting too far OT) In the "real" world circumstances often force individuals together. Online there's a lot more freedom to go off and start your own village. - Mike English

George - right! FF is definitely tech / blogging / web / apple / iPhone / LOLcats / Food / Babies! ... centric. We are a small, but rapidly growing group. I've been here since early 2008 and it's really BOOMED in growth. What you're seeing is that the adoption rate among techies is HIGHER than the average population. "Mainstream" folks will be here later. Look at twitter's evolution and you'll see the progression of new users / user types - Susan Beebe

George: if I worried about missing stuff I'd go crazy. I miss stuff all the time. But it all comes out in the wash. I also watch TechMeme and other places. Anything "big" I usually hear about. The stuff that I miss is usually smaller stuff (someone's birthday, for instance). - Robert Scoble

Call me a pessimist - but I don't think FF will ever be "mainstream." Remember, most of the mainstream population doesn't even get RSS - so they don't even know they might need something like FF to aggregate other's content together. Twitter is gaining appeal but a lot of Twitter accounts are unused and or used improperly (not following anyone). This isn't condemnation of whether they are useful or not (they better be or I'd be out of a job) - however, to go "mainstream" or even remotely close is tough.. - George Smith

....plus friendfeed is cliquey. ;-) - George Smith

Hmm, maybe George. But I don't think you really need to understand RSS to import most of the services into FF - just your username. I think that will help a lot of people jump the feed hurdle. - Shawn Farner

George: I agree with you. At least if FriendFeed stays the same as it is now. But, here's the rub: it won't. The metadata being collected here will enable new data displays that WILL go mainstream, if they are done right. But, the details are everything and we haven't seen what FriendFeed will become yet. 2009 is make or break for friendfeed. - Robert Scoble

It's not that you need to understand it, to use it - but if you don't understand RSS, you probably don't understand a NEED for something like FF and therefore it wouldn't quite register as something to play around with and adopt. It's an assumption - but I feel it's an educated one. - George Smith

Well I am excited to see where it can go. The small changes that have been made since I started were definitely positive steps, so I have some faith. I'm not a total naysayer... - George Smith

blog post: "The Global Village(s?)" http://tr.im/2kw7 - Mike English