I've been noticing a recurring thought on... - Shey, Jamaican of FF

Minus Scoble and a handful of others of course - Shey, Jamaican of FF

The only A-Lister I really deal with is Thomas Hawk, so I don't see why anyone can't make their own FF. In my FF, Shey is an A Lister. - RAPatton

+1 RAP. In the year 2000, we will decide who on the A-list. - You.

quality, not quantity. - grant fox

I want people who are active, who are enthusiastic about giving their time to the site. - Richard A.

I don't see the conventional A-listers running things here...which is why I'm here. - Alex Scoble

Are you referring to those "who should I sub to" posts? Speaking to that, the same clique participates in those for the most part and all suggest one another. My favorites here never make those lists. I think we're all capable of making our own decisions. We don't all have the same interests or reasons for being here. - Admiral Anika

I see a bunch of both, as I'm subscribed to about 11.6k people. I guess its time for you to increase the people you're subscribed to Shey ;) - Nicholas James

Anika, who are your favorites and why don't you add them to the lists? BTW sorry for not listing you...so hard to remember everyone that you follow and participate with, not that that's much of an excuse. - Alex Scoble

The conventional A-Listers are far from running tings 'round here. - Carlos Ayala

on an aside, how do you subscribe to 11.6K people? am I missing an easy method to do it besides clicking on a person one-by-one? - grant fox

Well Scoble has been on FF for a while, plus one day he sat down and invited everyone to sub to him and he subbed back - Shey, Jamaican of FF

Grant: I imported people from services I use via http://friendfeed.com/setting... and then I did the rest manually - Nicholas James

I come to social networking sites because the information in aggregate is unbiased. if I start conforming to lists and filter out people due to popularity, I skew the information. Granted, some of you 'A-Listers' tend to ring my bell more than most. - grant fox

thanks Nicholas! - grant fox

I'd rather see everyone run things. I'm too busy to have that put on my shoulders. - Robert Scoble

Grant: I subscribed to each one one-by-one, except for the 7,000 who were automatically added because I already followed them on Twitter. - Robert Scoble

Eventually with things like "Subscribe Sunday", and other rooms you discover, us no-listers will get more "known" but as long as we provide value and participate things should work out in the end because of our pure intentions. - Amani

Amani: you're right. The ones who bring unique content in here AND participate get noticed, er, "liked." - Robert Scoble

I'd rather see no one "running things" or anyone telling other people how to use FF. My ideal FF would be where everyone uses it the way they want, subscribes to who they want, and no one pays any attention to anyone else who wants to dictate who to listen to and how to properly use FF. - Trish R

I agree with @Trish R - let us use how we want. - Thom Allen

+1 Trish -- I meant "running tings" in terms of popularity -- not in terms of telling people how to use the services - Shey, Jamaican of FF

the friend-market never lies...interesting comments that generate others will rise to the top over time and the authors become known...darwin would have loved twitter! - dromologue

Variety is the spice of life, i like anything interesting regardless of proprietor. - Steve C

Every hour is Earth hour. So there. - Morgan Haley

I don't consider anyone "A-list" in the sense that you're referring to -- there are those people who are well known on the internet but that still does not make them likeable or even worth reading. It's all objective. There are several well known people online who are active on FF, and they should be followed and listened to, but people should still make those decisions for themselves. - Trish R

@Shey, LOL ... some people may misunderstand your Jamaican use of the phrase "running tings ..." .... - Amani

@Amani YES -- I just realized that. Sometimes I just need to bus' out :P - Shey, Jamaican of FF

LOL @ Shey ... - Amani

Trish: we have decentralized moderation here on friendfeed. On this post, for instance, Shey can delete my comments. So there's social pressure on me to behave in a way that will keep Shey happy. Same thing on my posts. This is why friendfeed is pretty resistant to spam and assholes. - Robert Scoble

Well, yes, Shey can delete anyone's comments on here if he chooses to, but I would think the only pressure on you to behave in Shey's thread is not to call him an asshole or insult him in another way. That doesn't mean everyone else is or isn't "running tings" elsewhere on FF, just on their own posts. - Trish R

In the sense that Shey said "running tings," there are people everywhere in society who are more popular than others or who get more attention from the masses. In terms of content, I give just as much credibility to Robert Scoble's comments on a thread as John Doe, a new user who is followed by 3 people. To me, that's the beauty of FF. - Trish R

I think it's funny that you lump yourself in the no-lister group, Shey, as I tend to lump you in with the FF A-listers. Just goes to show, it's all about perspective. - ♥patricia♥

@Pea and that's what makes FF awesome :) - Shey, Jamaican of FF

Pea and Shey: you both are A listers. - Robert Scoble

YES! I have arrived. - Shey, Jamaican of FF

I only follow A listers and I am following both of you. - Robert Scoble

Said the A-lister (sorry, the irony was delicious!) - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

Other than Scoble, I didn't even know any of you were A-listers. I haven't been genuflecting or bowing or any of that protocol stuff. - Matthew DeVries

I don't want to see any group of people "running things". I want to see neat stuff and have interesting conversations. To that end, I'm on a campaign to follow everybody and make heavy use of filters. - Ken Sheppardson

That's the way to do it Ken - Shey, Jamaican of FF

Matthew, didn't my tiara give it away? :D *ahem* On a serious note, I sure as hell would never have put myself on any FF A-list list. Now, if we're talking about who's active, I think I make myself known. - ♥patricia♥

The people that bug me most are the people who constantly say not to tell them how to use something, to let them use it the way they want. It's like they don't even understand that entering into a framework such as this implies that you do want to use it. - Matthew DeVries

Matthew, not everyone uses it exactly the same way. If I print out this post, will all of you autograph it for me? :-) - Trish R

I think the A-list thing is BS & and kind of offensive when i comes to FriendFeed (aside from Scoble & Hawk who participate), if you're looking for a stream of A-Listers subscribe to their RSS from their Blogs, re: Friendfeed though, it is qualitatively different as its main appeal and structure is built around active participation through comments and shares, - sofarsoShawn

Trish - But people get down to the really silly with those replies. "I don't want to add friends, I should have to follow people get content, that is not how I use FRIENDFEED, it needs to work better as an RSS reader so I can use it the way I want" *shoots self* - Matthew DeVries

don't know about A-listers, but you're all more than welcomed to my Home (feed) ;-) - Dobromir Hadzhiev

Dobromir Hadzhiev is one of my A-listers for sure. Still trying to figure out a way to clone him and get 2x more signal - Shey, Jamaican of FF

Shey, I wouldn't call you a no-lister. - CW™

@sofarsoshawn, I agree. In fact, I was just having this conversation with a blogger about the label "mommyblogger." There are well known bloggers now who have been chosen by the MSM or appointed themselves as speakers for all mothers online, when they never interact with anyone. That seems to be the piece that a lot of people are missing, or the whole key to social media, in my opinion. They should all migrate to NarcissismFeed, not FriendFeed. - Trish R

What's an A-lister? I mean I know the biggies that are huge in tech and everyone seems to know their names, a la Kevin Rose, Arrington, etc. I consider myself someone who reads people's posts, contributes to others, and posts things that I find interesting. Again, I reiterate, it's one thing to *talk* about social media and what it can do, it's another to just *use* it. - Derrick

@Derrick Well said - Shevonne

People outside of FriendFeed are under the impression that it IS run by A-Listers. - Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah

yo Shey with more signal comes more noise :-) - Dobromir Hadzhiev

Rahsheen: it is run by A listers. I follow all of you and I only follow A listers. - Robert Scoble

Except for me...he just follows me cuz he has to out of familial loyalty and all that. - Alex Scoble

lol@Alex - Shey, Jamaican of FF

All this A lister crap... I mean, if I go outside and ask ANYONE offline.. you know scoble? arrington? winer or blah blah.. NOT one would say yeah... it's all irrelevant to me... what I care about is seeing decent stuff, interacting with people. - Rob Sellen :o)

Alex: very funny. - Robert Scoble

Hehe, Rob, if you asked locals if they knew Scoble, they'd more likely say "The street?" than anything else. - Alex Scoble

Well, I'll take that as a compliment, but I'm pretty sure I'm an unknown, especially outside of FriendFeed :) - Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah

This place is run by everyone... in that sense of self moderation, blocking, following, liking, commenting etc.. there is no rule of having to use it anyway or sub to any person.. WHY i love it here. :o) - Rob Sellen :o)

@Rah Doubt it. Your kids, family, and friends know you - Shevonne

lol @ Alex... but then again, probably not, I mean most here won't know about that either lol - Rob Sellen :o)

Rahsheen... who are you? ;o) - Rob Sellen :o)

I would like to see new faces around, but the A-listers bring in a lot of interesting stuff. - Fernando

True, Rob, but the likelihood is much higher that they'll have heard of the town or street of Scoble vs the brothers in America who are on friendfeed. - Alex Scoble

I agree... ;o) - Rob Sellen :o)

OK... I certainly didn't know there was a town called Scoble. But then I _am_ on FF so I fall in the group of people who know about the American brothers. - Andy Kruger

LOL@Shevonne. I'm talking strictly online. If we take real life into the equation, even the most popular A-Listers are pretty much unknown. - Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah

I don't know, partly because lets face it, ff is filled with geeks... And the kinds of people we think of as A Lister's (and the things they post about) are different to the kinds of things most other people find interesting. We are all to some extent a collection of hothouse flowers. That being said, if you post some thing that other people "like" then for that brief moment you (yes you) run things. - J. Abdul-Qahhar

LOL @ The American Brothers. Are the Scobles the Jonas Brothers of the internet? - Trish R

Robert: I'm glad you feel that way (A-Listers) about the people you follow. It's a very good way of looking at the people you interact with. If they weren't important in their own right, why bother following them around on the internet? - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

If you subscribe to me I am sure I'll do my best to dilute the A list pool. - petar vucetin

Define "conventional" and "a-listers"? :-) - Kol Tregaskes

Ok petar you are on - just subscribed. :-) - Dan Morrill AKA Techwag

the scobelnator is the bomb where he goes coolness follows - Monique

...you become an A-lister on any service by contributing, by participating in conversations, and by helping build a community around the service: by answering newbies' questions, writing FAQs and tips about the service,etc--helping. You become an A-lister outside of the service by connecting in real-life with people who are doing notable and newsworthy things in various fields. As I recall, he was just another blogger, but it wasn't until Scoble connected with Dave Winer that he picked up A-List momentum... - .LAG liked that