Sad such an 'advanced app' makes it so hard for users to do something as simple as unsubscribe...Hmmm... - Suburban Oblivion

agreed but then if you get FF you won't leave - Thomas Power

(posted from twitter) "socialmedian@thomaspower friendfeed already went mainstream. It's called FACEBOOK" Nonsense Jason. Facebook is a fad. Friendfeed is a trend. Easy come, easy go. - Thomas Power

Amen to that Thomas. People don't realize last year it was myspace, this year it's facebook, next year it will be something else. Is the nature of social media. - Suburban Oblivion

Thomas you are so right friend Feed is a great place to play~Patience is key to anything worth the long term rewards~ - Bunny Parkinson

If something takes a clever user two years to program to do what they want to do, it's a long way from the most advanced app on the Internet. - Ian Betteridge

It's hilariously common in new media to write things up as "a fad". MySpace has 100 million unique visitors per month and 1000 employees. They claim that revenue is up 35% year on year. That's a long way from a fad. In other words, simply because *you* are a gadfly who hops to the newest service every time one comes out doesn't mean that other people do the same. - Ian Betteridge

Ian I think you are saying "Thomas you're stupid" are you? - Thomas Power

hi Thomas. can you please tell me where these words come from? source? obviously it's said by a FF founder somewhere, but I'm having trouble tracking it.. - Onur Kabadayi

No, not at all Thomas. Just because I think what you're saying is wrong doesn't mean I think you're stupid. But remember that what appears to be the case when you live in the internet bubble isn't actually the case when you get out into the world of average users. When you look at the facts, it's clear that neither MySpace nor Facebook are fads - both continue to grow. People like you are on the front of the adoption curve - but when the wave passes and you move on to something else, it doesn't mean that something is "over", or a fad. - Ian Betteridge

Hi, I think you'll all find this quite relevant: Looking at FriendFeed's today, envisioning a better future (http://cli.gs/npt5GH) I quoted this post on my article, but couldn't show source Thomas not yet responded... - Onur Kabadayi

OK Ian I won't be insulted but I do think if these platforms can't retain me for long they are fads, so sorry about that. I'm not a geek but a good old fashioned user. Linkedin, Xing, MySpace, Naymz, Konnects, Facebook I'm sorry but they are passing through me as fads none can hold my attention. Twitter has a bit of my attention not much because it doesn't do much. Friendfeed has alot of my attention despite the Onur article above it's the best right now and Ecademy is my HOME. Biased of course. Seesmic I haven't yet formed an opinion on but @loic is smart (and fit) and should discover/uncover a model somewhere there. Ecademy is evolving in the direction of Friendfeed. Twitter could easily acquire Friendfeed to create Twitter Plus +. Still believe Google will acquire Twitter and Microsoft Facebook. Apple is the dark horse as they haven't made a move yet and could have another go for twitter to create itwunes. I can see alot of mileage in that. - Thomas Power

My 2 cents. Maybe Fad isn't the right word but its undeniable that Myspace is passe for the large majority of social media pros and regular folks alike. Facebook is doing some really good work (despite my loathing of all the noise there) and has some staying power but I'm not sure that I won't be saying the same thing about it in a few years. - Keith - @tsudo

Friendfeed to me is different. Can it go sour someday? sure. Mainstream popularity would increase the noise but FF has always given users tons of tools for stream management. Yes that leads to complexity but those tools help me tune into exactly what I want to hear and that is the power of FF. I'm with you Thomas. - Keith - @tsudo

I think FF is one of the most brilliant and yet fundamentally flawed sites out there. - nick tadd

Flawed in respect that Thomas states - it takes soo long to get your head round it. Other than that it's one of the best - but only for those that have an understanding of the web (and for that matter computers as a whole). real time applications have only developed through Twitter and Facebook both, arguably, are still in infant years, so "to get" friendfeed will be tough even if it was in a more useable format. - nick tadd

I agree with you Thomas - anna sauce

Richard you're new here so we can't take you seriously yet ... can we folks? - Thomas Power

Richard is new, which is great. Welcome, Richard! - Louis Gray

"Today FriendFeed is a "niche" product, and with the current strategy, it's destined to stay that way. It could be OK to be niche, however I'm not sure if FriendFeed could generate adaquate revenues that way. I've outlined my and others thoughts with regards to how it may have a better future." http://thebluebear.com/blog... - Ozgur Uckan

Friendfeed is great. But need some usability re-design. Don't you think? - Ozgur Uckan

Hi. I enjoy this thread, it has been a source of inspiring discussion on FF... Thomas, I am under the impression that these words in your original post "..It has interestingly taken me 2 years to program it to do what I want it to do and I haven't finished..." belongs to a FF founder. Can you please clarify? I used it in my blog post, and I want to verify (there has been a comment...) - Onur Kabadayi

Friendfeed takes the same amount of time to learn as other web services like Gmail and Facebook, it has just not been around as long so fewer people have had the chance to gain experience. - Mike Chelen

Sorry, Mike, but that's simply not true. If it's taken Thomas P (who's a smart guy from his comments) two years to get it working how he likes it, it's not simple enough at all. - Ian Betteridge

Ian, other platforms like gmail and facebook take at least that long to learn, friendfeed is a relative improvement - Mike Chelen

hey FF is hard to figure out but I love apps like that and yes it did take me 2 years to master and find the top 120 minds to follow - Thomas Power

any direction you can share on getting FF to do what you want it to do would be most welcome. I have a concern about double or tiple posting content to my FriendFeed - Jonnie Jensen

Apostolov yes I thnk you're right I could never master Google Reader - Thomas Power