Let's Call the Whole Thing Off

carlacthompson — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:21:03 +0000

Five years from now, we’ll look back on this and laugh. Or at least some of us will. Others are decidedly more cranky these days. But the great FriendFeed-Socialthing war will seem trivial compared to… whatever meme we’re obsessing over in five years. The funniest part of all this hubbub is that the CEOs of both companies don’t even view each other as competitors. After talking with both Matt Galligan at Socialthing and Bret Taylor from FriendFeed, it’s clear that the two companies are approaching a very real problem – information overload – in very different ways. In fact, it’s entirely possible for someone to use both services at the same time, with virtually no rips in the space-time continuum.

As Taylor noted, the end goals of the two companies are their key difference. FriendFeed is about content discovery and applying social solutions to the problem of information overload. Socialthing focuses more broadly on a user’s entire digital life, in an attempt to make sense of the myriad networks out there. FriendFeed is bringing the conversation in, while Socialthing is broadcasting it out. FriendFeed has morphed into a separate social network while Socialthing wants to help consolidate all the networks you’ve already built. FriendFeed, tomato; Socialthing, tomahto.

What was so striking to me today, after talking with them virtually back-to-back, was the similarity of messaging. It’s almost like they met in a backroom over the weekend to get their stories straight. The two companies dovetail quite nicely and, if the right conversations happened, I could see FriendFeed plugging its stream into Socialthing. That isn’t to suggest that FriendFeed is somehow lesser. But whether they intended it or not, FriendFeed has become a go-to social network. It’s one of the most vibrant and consuming networks I’ve ever been on. Perhaps that’s because it isn’t crowded with super-pokes and relationship quizzes. It’s stunningly simple, an aspect some aren’t fond of. But Taylor recognizes the power in this simplicity. While FriendFeed does intend to build out the product per user feedback, they’re also mindful of staying true to a basic app that has charmed a legion of tech-weary testers.

Socialthing, on the other hand, doesn’t yet have its fanbase, so is lacking in the fervent free press that has accompanied FriendFeed. Just officially launched last week at SXSW, the service boasts a slick iPhone app and a UI with a bit more polish on it. I also really like that you don’t have to import your social graph; it finds it for you. (But doesn’t take it quite as far as spammy Spokeo.) Socialthing is working to solve a problem that has become urgent for many in the last couple of years – disparate social networks scattered hither and yon – and they’ve taken only the first baby steps. It’s a company worth keeping a close eye on, as they’ve come closer to cracking the code than any company I’ve seen to date.

As for FriendFeed, we need to start classifying them in a different category. FriendFeed isn’t interested in managing your digital life; they’re interested in taming the content flow by showing users what their trusted friends are reading and recommending. The ad-hoc social network that has sprung up is an interesting exercise in the social graph. But it all comes back to the content. After talking with Taylor, I’d instead match the company against another competitor – Persai. Finding relevant, interesting and unique content among the millions of pages hitting the Web each day is an equally important problem to solve. So if we have to start wars, we should find new competitors for FriendFeed and Socialthing. They’re two innovative companies tackling two separate but equal technological problems.

So Very Tired

carlacthompson — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:19:24 +0000

Josh Catone’s piece, Visualizing Social Media Fatigue, on ReadWriteWeb added fuel to a fire I’ve been stoking for some time now. Problem is, I’m too tired to write about it. Just looking at the map he references makes me want to take a nap.

It’s no stunning revelation of course; we’ve all been begging for relief from information overload for some time now. (I remember referring to the social explosion last year as a “massively multi-headed monster.”) But the tools being created to alleviate the problem aren’t really solving it – and are creating problems of their own. I suppose it’s an inevitable result when a market struggles with something, particularly in technology: a certain number of fits and starts are necessary on the way to a seamless solution.

In recent weeks I’ve found myself signing up for several profile aggregators, or life streams as some call them, in the vain hope that one will solve all my social graph headaches. It’s not working. Instead of logging on to multiple social sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Flickr, I now find myself logging on to multiple aggregator sites like Plaxo Pulse, Friendfeed and PageOnce. Each offers different ways of aggregating all manner of sites, and each has its own friend list. The constant input of status updates, blog posts and profile changes from all my friends on each different service is sometimes interesting but most often maddening. And don’t get me started on Twitter.

I love the social Web. I love the status updates on Facebook and the business networking on LinkedIn and the mountains of feeds that inform me on Google Reader. But I’m not the norm. I spend all day online and get paid to wade around in the social graph. I have an abundance of time to devote to corralling this information. The rest of the world does not. My suburban mom friends can barely make time for a Scrabulous game on Facebook. If we truly want to proliferate a social Web among the masses, we absolutely must make it simpler. Everyday consumers won’t have the time or patience to plant – and keep track of – their graph on multiple sites.

So enough with the whining, what’s a tech sector to do? I don’t think these companies are headed in the wrong direction, necessarily. The basic idea is sound; it’s the execution that is lacking. Broad initiatives like data portability are intriguing but still in the early stages and seemingly a long way from real-world validation.

While we want to be careful about putting too much power in the hands of one company, I think the safe bet for the moment is to construct our social graphs around one dedicated, already existing site. The aggregator services need to give us the tools to plug in to preferred networks rather than out. Plaxo Pulse has a promising interface – why not enable it to supplement my Facebook news feed? Or if you spend more time on MySpace, plug your Friendfeed in there. I’m not just talking about tiny app boxes on your profile page either; I added the LinkedIn app to Facebook months ago and haven’t viewed it since.

We’re now faced with two choices: re-direct feed streams into one existing service until we figure out data portability or, god help us, aggregate the aggregators. At some point, we’re going to aggregate ourselves right into absurdity.

Guidewire » information overload

Let's Call the Whole Thing Off

So Very Tired