The Value of the Conversation

I think the individual messages are the second most interesting thing about tweets/status updates; I find I'm even more drawn to the conversation that can follow. Like a good blog post that sparks an even more compelling comment thread, the value of the discussion often exceeds that of the initial comment.

And that's where FriendFeed shines. It aggregates published content from everywhere - blogs, comments on blogs, tweets, you name it - and brings it all into one place so I can see as much of the picture as possible. And it allows me to organize the streams into channels so I can manage the volume (unseparated, it's completely overwhelming). I would go so far as to say that FriendFeed is creating so much value for me that I would be willing to pay for it.

FriendFeed will need to become "smarter" (i.e. do more automatically, rather than require configuration) before it gains traction outside technical users, but I think it has a lot of potential. It definitely seems to be one of the few products that understands social networks are about community and interaction, and not just a lot of individuals broadcasting.