3,003 “Likes”

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Over on FriendFeed, which I joined in March, I’ve been quite busy. I’ve moved a bunch of my blogging time and Google Reader time over to it. How does that time translate? Well, into a few things:

1. Comments. (Those are items I’ve commented on — 1,893 so far)
2. Likes. (Those are items I’ve liked — 3,003 so far)

A few minutes ago I just passed 3,000 “Likes.”

What is a “Like?” First of all, you can’t like your own stuff. So, if you check out my like page you’ll see everyone ELSE’s stuff that I liked. I read through rivers of noise and anything that rises above that aggregate I click “Like” on. It’s my way to signal to you that something is worth checking out. I guess these things are the “news, not the noise.”

Likes, though, are sort of magic on FriendFeed. Here’s why.

Let’s say you only have one friend on FriendFeed: me.

Well, by my liking other people you’ll see THEIR posts along with mine. FriendFeed shows you those as “Friend of a Friend” items. That means that people’s first experiences on FriendFeed are a lot better than they’d otherwise be. And minimizes my own noisiness because you won’t just see my items, but you’ll see the dozens or hundreds of things I like every day there too.

I can’t wait until I can pull things out of the database that have tons of likes and show you those. That’s where the real value is in FriendFeed but I can’t do that yet. When that happens we’ll have the ability to really build our own pages with stuff that we care about that’s vetted by other people first.

I feel a lot of responsibility to only like good things since I have 13,000+ people following me on FriendFeed already.

One reason why I do a lot more “Likes” than Google Reader Sharing lately (which is pretty close to the same thing). Because I can “Like” an item on my iPhone without waiting for a new page to render. FriendFeed is the first iPhone-compatible-sharing-system I’ve gotten on. It’s amazing how much I read on my iPhone thanks to FriendFeed now. Google Reader on iPhone really sucks comparatively.

Also, FriendFeed is far better because I can “Like” Twitter messages that don’t come into Google Reader. If you’re on Twitter please sign up for FriendFeed and add your feed so I can “Like” your items too.

Published by Robert Scoble

I help entrepreneurs build their technology business' story, help with getting ready for investors, with other launch plans, and many other strategic things that can help your new startup. Call to talk: +1-425-205-1921 (text first).

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64 thoughts on “3,003 “Likes””

  3. FriendFeed has a much more scalable backend and a better search engine too. On the FF team are the guys who invented Gmail and Google Maps. I don’t think Socialthing is going to be able to scale the way FF is.

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  4. FriendFeed has a much more scalable backend and a better search engine too. On the FF team are the guys who invented Gmail and Google Maps. I don’t think Socialthing is going to be able to scale the way FF is.

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  5. C’mon, stop saying “friendfeed” in every post you make… it sure looks like you receive money every time you say the magical word…

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  6. C’mon, stop saying “friendfeed” in every post you make… it sure looks like you receive money every time you say the magical word…

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  7. I’m very excited by FriendFeed and want you all to know it. Shoot me. I’m investing a LOT of time over there that should add a lot of value to your life as well. Plus, it’s new, so we gotta discover what it’s good for. I’m not paid by them, by the way. Nor do I have investments in the companies I talk about or receive any other gifts. Well, OK, I got a T-shirt and a sticker at a FriendFeed party.

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  8. I’m very excited by FriendFeed and want you all to know it. Shoot me. I’m investing a LOT of time over there that should add a lot of value to your life as well. Plus, it’s new, so we gotta discover what it’s good for. I’m not paid by them, by the way. Nor do I have investments in the companies I talk about or receive any other gifts. Well, OK, I got a T-shirt and a sticker at a FriendFeed party.

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  10. Ikin: I also need to explain why I haven’t been blogging much here lately. I’ve been spending most of my creative time hanging out on FriendFeed and Twitter.

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  11. Ikin: I also need to explain why I haven’t been blogging much here lately. I’ve been spending most of my creative time hanging out on FriendFeed and Twitter.

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  17. I signed up for FriendFeed a while ago, but I didn’t find it to be all that interesting or useful. I get the feeling that the only people who actually use Twitter and FriendFeed are Silicon Valley bloggers who post on their blogs about how they all use Twitter and FriendFeed. If you’re outside the Silicon Valley Echo Chamber, it’s pretty dead.

    To top it off, about a week later I started getting spam in the email address I used to sign up for FF, so I dropped it like a bad habit.

    Just one man’s opinion.

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  18. I signed up for FriendFeed a while ago, but I didn’t find it to be all that interesting or useful. I get the feeling that the only people who actually use Twitter and FriendFeed are Silicon Valley bloggers who post on their blogs about how they all use Twitter and FriendFeed. If you’re outside the Silicon Valley Echo Chamber, it’s pretty dead.

    To top it off, about a week later I started getting spam in the email address I used to sign up for FF, so I dropped it like a bad habit.

    Just one man’s opinion.

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  21. Mary, I don’t think Google can keep up with Robert, but for me, their newest Reader product works fine.

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  22. Mary, I don’t think Google can keep up with Robert, but for me, their newest Reader product works fine.

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  23. Friendfeed looks like a nice enough tool, but I haven’t been brave enough to leave the tools (yes, plural) that I’m currently using to accomplish the same thing. It would be like releaning how to walk.

    Maybe I’m just getting old,

    Regards,
    Breki T.
    http://breki.se

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  24. Friendfeed looks like a nice enough tool, but I haven’t been brave enough to leave the tools (yes, plural) that I’m currently using to accomplish the same thing. It would be like releaning how to walk.

    Maybe I’m just getting old,

    Regards,
    Breki T.
    http://breki.se

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  25. Robert,
    It just hit me… You said “I’m investing a LOT of time over there that should add a lot of value to your life as well.”

    And I started thinking. I haven’t used any applications from any start-up that you’ve intereviewed since you left Microsoft.

    I guess I subscribe to your RSS because I want to stay informed and you for sure have your ear to the rail when it comes to new web applications.

    And I’d bet there are a lot of others who are in my boat. Not that I haven’t tried many of your reviewed technologies, I have.

    So, I in one respect by you working with these apps you are adding value to my life, but not the value you percieve.

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  26. Robert,
    It just hit me… You said “I’m investing a LOT of time over there that should add a lot of value to your life as well.”

    And I started thinking. I haven’t used any applications from any start-up that you’ve intereviewed since you left Microsoft.

    I guess I subscribe to your RSS because I want to stay informed and you for sure have your ear to the rail when it comes to new web applications.

    And I’d bet there are a lot of others who are in my boat. Not that I haven’t tried many of your reviewed technologies, I have.

    So, I in one respect by you working with these apps you are adding value to my life, but not the value you percieve.

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  27. I really need to get into these services. Not only will they help me connect to my readers and my audience but I believe that if used properly they could even save me some time as well. Whether this is the case or not is to be determined as many technological tools can end up be time wasters and not time savers if not used properly.

    Like

  28. I really need to get into these services. Not only will they help me connect to my readers and my audience but I believe that if used properly they could even save me some time as well. Whether this is the case or not is to be determined as many technological tools can end up be time wasters and not time savers if not used properly.

    Like

  29. C’mon, stop saying “friendfeed” in every post you make

    Not to worry, in 4-6 weeks or so, something new and/or they will do something to tick him off, as went Second Life to Facebook (and everything in between), so goes this…

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  30. C’mon, stop saying “friendfeed” in every post you make

    Not to worry, in 4-6 weeks or so, something new and/or they will do something to tick him off, as went Second Life to Facebook (and everything in between), so goes this…

    Like

  31. What narcicistic aspect of your personality leads you to believe that the time you spend on FF and the things you like will add value to MY life? You don’t know me. And I’m pretty sure you know only a small number of the 13000 people following you. I checked out your “likes” and not one of them is of interest to me. I suggest you refrain from making such broad assumptions

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  32. What narcicistic aspect of your personality leads you to believe that the time you spend on FF and the things you like will add value to MY life? You don’t know me. And I’m pretty sure you know only a small number of the 13000 people following you. I checked out your “likes” and not one of them is of interest to me. I suggest you refrain from making such broad assumptions

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  33. Its always funny how when we are enthusiastic about something we naturally turn into salespeople. Selling our views to the world. 🙂

    How spammy is friendfeed? I’m off to check it out now.. thx

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  34. Its always funny how when we are enthusiastic about something we naturally turn into salespeople. Selling our views to the world. 🙂

    How spammy is friendfeed? I’m off to check it out now.. thx

    Like

  37. Thanks for this post. It cleared up some questions I had especially how “like” is used. Also have a better appreciation for seeing other’s friends through the links they like. Hey you’re adding value to my life.

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  38. Thanks for this post. It cleared up some questions I had especially how “like” is used. Also have a better appreciation for seeing other’s friends through the links they like. Hey you’re adding value to my life.

    Like

  39. Pingback: 99 “Likes”

  42. Does anyone really care? I mean truly? Following thousands of people or thousands of people following you doesnt make them ‘friends’. Its all kinda sad!

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  43. Does anyone really care? I mean truly? Following thousands of people or thousands of people following you doesnt make them ‘friends’. Its all kinda sad!

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  44. Andy: Yes we care, but for different reasons. I am not Robert’s friend, and he is not my friend. But I follow his FF feed, just for the reasons he describes in the blog posts.

    I agree that Robert may have some narcistic aspect in his personality, but is that a crime? I couldn’t care less – everyone has his or her own quirks, so what.

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  45. Andy: Yes we care, but for different reasons. I am not Robert’s friend, and he is not my friend. But I follow his FF feed, just for the reasons he describes in the blog posts.

    I agree that Robert may have some narcistic aspect in his personality, but is that a crime? I couldn’t care less – everyone has his or her own quirks, so what.

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  46. I think your right about how useful Friend Feed is, Robert. It’s a quick and easy way to quickly scan items of interest and then click to dig deeper.
    I’ve had problems with logging into Facebbook for 2 weeks. I’ve never had a problem logging into Friend Feed.
    I also think Friend Feeds graphic user interface is extremely well organized, and I’ve been doing usability testing for decades. Thanks for letting me know about it.

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  47. I think your right about how useful Friend Feed is, Robert. It’s a quick and easy way to quickly scan items of interest and then click to dig deeper.
    I’ve had problems with logging into Facebbook for 2 weeks. I’ve never had a problem logging into Friend Feed.
    I also think Friend Feeds graphic user interface is extremely well organized, and I’ve been doing usability testing for decades. Thanks for letting me know about it.

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  48. @Andy – You clearly don’t understand what Friendfeed is or the value of similar social networks. It’s not about thinking the people you follow are actual “friends”, but it’s about the content that those people pass on or are interested in. I know not one person that I follow or who follows me on Friendfeed and don’t consider them “friends” in the regular sense, but I follow them because it enables me to be exposed to information and point of views that I normally wouldn’t be exposed to.

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  49. @Andy – You clearly don’t understand what Friendfeed is or the value of similar social networks. It’s not about thinking the people you follow are actual “friends”, but it’s about the content that those people pass on or are interested in. I know not one person that I follow or who follows me on Friendfeed and don’t consider them “friends” in the regular sense, but I follow them because it enables me to be exposed to information and point of views that I normally wouldn’t be exposed to.

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  52. I just came to realize something: the only value Robert added to my life, is in lifing an attention-deficite lifestyle, which I came to despise. I don’t want to life my life by liking things of other, I don’t want just to have only conversations about the interesting things other people do, sitting on friendfeeds like birds on a wire. In fact Robert is the antithesis of what I want to be my life. And I’ve got this epiphany just now, far to late. Perhaps I’ll can change it.

    Thanks Robert for giving a bad example. 😉

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  53. I just came to realize something: the only value Robert added to my life, is in lifing an attention-deficite lifestyle, which I came to despise. I don’t want to life my life by liking things of other, I don’t want just to have only conversations about the interesting things other people do, sitting on friendfeeds like birds on a wire. In fact Robert is the antithesis of what I want to be my life. And I’ve got this epiphany just now, far to late. Perhaps I’ll can change it.

    Thanks Robert for giving a bad example. 😉

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  54. Two things.

    Combining your cheerleading 😉 for FF w/Dave Slusher’s and Fred Wilson’s recent posts, I *finally* get it and have moved to it. I think you’ll like the story I posted here:

    http://www.jer979.com/igniting-the-revolution/are-we-conversing-now/

    Also a request for the FF team: why wouldn’t my “likes” get integrated into my regular FriendFeed stream, a la del.icio.us links. If I ‘like’ something and someone follows my FF RSS feed, I’d want them to see that as well, as I do Disqus comments, etc. Thoughts? Am I missing something?

    Like

  55. Two things.

    Combining your cheerleading 😉 for FF w/Dave Slusher’s and Fred Wilson’s recent posts, I *finally* get it and have moved to it. I think you’ll like the story I posted here:

    http://www.jer979.com/igniting-the-revolution/are-we-conversing-now/

    Also a request for the FF team: why wouldn’t my “likes” get integrated into my regular FriendFeed stream, a la del.icio.us links. If I ‘like’ something and someone follows my FF RSS feed, I’d want them to see that as well, as I do Disqus comments, etc. Thoughts? Am I missing something?

    Like

  56. Pingback: Come Get Baptized in the River of Noise « TJCNYC

  57. I *LIKE* you Robert!!! 🙂 you rock man!! BTW, I got here via FEEDLY… man, we’re gonna never get sleep now. FF first and now this…oh boy

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  58. I *LIKE* you Robert!!! 🙂 you rock man!! BTW, I got here via FEEDLY… man, we’re gonna never get sleep now. FF first and now this…oh boy

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  61. Thanks for sharing about FF. My share is on Glyphius. It scores your ad copy. Then you can revise as necessary until it rates it higher. Hav eyou heard about it? It sounds like it could save me some money on Adwords, too.

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  62. Thanks for sharing about FF. My share is on Glyphius. It scores your ad copy. Then you can revise as necessary until it rates it higher. Hav eyou heard about it? It sounds like it could save me some money on Adwords, too.

    Like

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