FriendFeed adds to content overload Mar03 '08
FriendFeed is a place to aggregate all of your content from around the web. It acts as a social network for your content.
Followers (friends) can leave comments on your content, or mark items as "like." Once an item receives a comment or is "liked," the item gets re-promoted to the top of the list. The more people that "like" or comment on your items, the more exposure your content receives.
Think of it as Digg meets RSS feeds.
So far I'm not caught up on the idea.
Creates duplicate streams of content
FriendFeed doesn't solve any problems, nor does it offer a new way to promote content. It simply regurgitates content you've already posted elsewhere, which, in turn, creates duplicate streams of content for your readers.
If I'm already subscribed to your Flickr photos, why do I need to see those same photos in your FriendFeed stream?
Adding the ability to "promote" items in FriendFeed, by clicking "Like," or posting a comment, only duplicates the spots that people can promote your items. For example, in Flickr, viewers can mark your photos as "Favorite," or leave a comment. They can do the same in FriendFeed. Instead of one location to track activity on your photos, you now have two.
I personally don't want multiple locations to track activity. The less input sources, the better.
I've discussed reasons to avoid using feeds as content - number one being duplication.
Nothing unique about it
For each new service I use, there is some level of uniqueness that it provides me in letting me publish content in new and interesting ways. Twitter, for example, introduced to me micro-blogging - a concept I was previously unfamiliar with. I embraced the idea as a new way to be creative with my content (by keeping it short, and to-the-point).
FriendFeed does nothing for your publishing abilities - it only increases the load of extraneous "chatter."
Your content still resides on other servers, and FriendFeed just spits it out into a chronological timeline.
Content overload
If you're feeling overloaded by the amount of content you follow or attempt to consume, services like FriendFeed do nothing to help decrease this load.
Categories: Content 
, FriendFeed , Opinions , RSS , Services
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matthom is published and produced by Matt Thommes - an independent publishing enthusiast, mobile blogger, content creator, informative writer, web developer from Chicago.
Never one to conform, Matt intends to promote the effect the web has on our lives, in an effort to intensify, instruct, and clarify all that is happening around us.
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Really interesting post. I've been wondering about the value of this kind of feed aggregation as well, it seems to be sprouting up all over. But ... Read more.