Do you use Alert Thingy or any of the desktop apps for Friendfeed, or just keep the site open? - Patrick Jordan

I agree, FriendFeed will go mainstream if people start using more of these online services - Justin Yost

I just keep the site open and refresh a lot. - Robert Scoble

That was an awesome and relevant post! Thanks Rob! - Drew Lucas

I use twhirl for updates - Aura Mae from twhirl

I use twhirl, but it keeps moving the screen while I'm typing if there is an update. Hence these random bits of comment you get sometimes... - Rahsheen? from twhirl

Using twhirl also. Just not enough screen space there, and things to roll off. Web page is easier. - Todd Jordan

Well said Robert, good article on why FriendFeed will go mainstream. - Mike Reynolds

FF is definitely gonna need a better interface if it IS going to be useable by non-geeks - Rahsheen?

I was thinking the same thing, Jason. I don't think my mom would ever be able to handle FF, but I'm sure most geeks/social media addicts will love it and it will be a success - Rahsheen?

my mom is not a good design test case i doubt anyone's mom is- the person who wants to be highly digitally connected, is. - Nathan Eckenrode

Robert, I know you didn't intend it, but your two part piece is a great friendfeed newbie tutorial. Thanks. Also, again don't know if it was intentional, but you forgot to include this friendfeed user: http://friendfeed.com/hillary ;-) - Robert Stevens

Robert Stevens that user needs to engage people with the tools as adults who vote not speakat them like children who must be contained. - Nathan Eckenrode

Well, my mom is a programmer and uses online communications to coordinate her team, so I guess she is not the most common "mom" example :) - Rahsheen? from twhirl

Nathan Eckenrode absolutely right about that user needing to engage. Check her friendfeed page. Not a single subscription. - Robert Stevens

and not everyone's mom is theprototypical bumbler that frequently gets assigned t that architypical user group - Nathan Eckenrode

it does make a good friendfeed tutorial, but I don't think it's going mainstream without a serious interface improvement. Its ass ugly! - Justin Flood @justinflood from twhirl

It's not even that it's ugly, it's that it's not really useable. I think it was created to provide as much as possible, but with the understanding that someone would create decent filters/clients for it for regular consumption. - Rahsheen?

I this that whether FF goes mainstream depends mostly on us. - funkyboy

My thoughts - http://www.toddrjordan.com/thebroa... - Todd Jordan

@PatrickJordan - using Twhirl client. - Todd Jordan

Well said. Not entirely certain I agree or disagree with your thoughts, but either way you do present a compelling argument for FF. I think the number one reason that will hold back adoption of a mainstream FF is the benefit to the average user. Unless that is articulated so the *average user* can understand, they will not see the desire to attach themselves to another service. The question at this point is what can, or should, FF do to attract average users? - Scott Jarkoff

@ScottJarkoff - well, partnerships would help. When you sign up for a service, if that service had a check box to add that feed to Friendfeed, it'd be a done deal. - Todd Jordan

@Todd: Agreed. But that begs the question, how would such a partnership benefit the service you're signing up for? There has to be some mutual benefit to a partnership like that. The obvious benefit is for FF, but what does everyone else gain through such an arrangement? - Scott Jarkoff

Scott: I'm not so sure that FriendFeed should worry TOO much about that right now. Instead, make the system of great utility to advanced users like me and you. If they make it easy for me to get rid of the noise and present it to everyone else, then it'll take off. - Robert Scoble

Why FriendFeed WON'T Go Mainstream: 1.) in the mainstream, people don't want to be THIS informed. That's probably equally good for them, and good for those of us who do want to be this informed! 2.) Steve Case subscribed, friended some people and then...didn't engage at all. He's my go-to guy for what the mainstream will eat up like ice cream. - Robert Seidman

Robert: But how does such usage translate over to the average user? Just because us mega-geeks can use FF, and more importantly we can understand it, does not mean that the average user will comprehend why it is useful to them. _Something_ needs to bridge that gap, no? - Scott Jarkoff

Last night I tried to explain FriendFeed and even Twitter to my friend the cop. While he has a Facebook profile, He Just. Didn't. Get It. The harder I tried to explain, the more he just looked at me like I just landed from Venus. - Capn' One Eye - adrift

FF can't go mainstream and I said as much in my comment on your blog post, which is awaiting moderation I guess :(. Main point - I could never explain FF to any of my non techy friends...never - Jennifer Van Grove from twhirl

Alert Thingy helps with the interface 'issues'. I think it has really helped with adoption / holding onto users - John Duff from Alert Thingy

@Geoff Longman - we are from Venus! ;-) welcome to my planet! - Susan Beebe

No doubt FF will go mainstream. It must over come the too many sites back lash, but over time this is a winner. - Russellreno

@patrick I just keep it open, until Firefox crashes! - Prolific Programmer

#humdaybumpday "5. It is freaking fast and much more reliable than Twitter. Today I’ve been putting dozens of Tweets into Twitter and they show up in FriendFeed BEFORE I can refresh the page. It is amazingly fast at gathering new stuff from Twitter. I have not found any other service as reliably fast." So true! - Ahmet Yükseltürk