Posted December 1st, 2008

Top Ten FriendFeed Friends Challenge

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TwiTip’s Top Ten ‘Must Follow’ Niche Twitter Lists were such a hit that I’m proposing a Top Ten FriendFeed Friends Challenge and would love it if YOU would participate. I’ve added a post on How Using FriendFeed Benefits You as further encouragement.

To kick it off the challenge here are my choice of exceptional Top Ten favorite FriendFeed users:

  1. Louis Gray - Who else to kick off the list but our friendly neighborhood FriendFeed expert himself. Check out the latest post in his blog by guest writer Jesse Stay: Pull Your Blog Into FriendFeed and Increase Exposure.
  2. Robert Scoble - I really started using FriendFeed because I wanted to join Robert Scoble’s discussion and talk to him directly. Read Scoble on Tech on the FastCompany blog. Visit his FriendFeed discussions any time or the ScobleRoom on Thursdays.
  3. Mike Fruchter - Check out his series of FriendFeed Users to Follow on his Michael Fruchter Blog. You can start your FriendFeed profile by checking out his first thirty recommendations. (Direct links at the end of this post.)
  4. Tamar Weinberg - From StumbleUpon to Twitter to Friendfeed to all her blogs, who doesn’t love Tamar? Catch up with her wherever you hang out. You won’t regret it. Be sure to check out her Avatar at StumbleUpon for your grin of the day!
  5. ProBlogger - Did you know there is a Problogger Room at FriendFeed? If you’re serious about blogging this is one room you’ll want to frequent.
  6. LifeHacker - Popular LifeHacker blog offers Tips and Downloads for Getting Things Done - [NOTE: Tamar and others have pointed out that they are NOT active at FF. I selected them on the quality of their blog but they only have a feed at FF.]
  7. Zee - a prolific blogger on cutting edge technology.
  8. Tim Hoeck - everyone can use a good programmer friend. Check out Tim’s blog and you might even finally figure out How to Use Yahoo Pipes - or maybe not (unless you’re a true geek).
  9. Hutch - You’ll find some truly interesting tech posts and a dose of humor in his Hutch Tech Blog.
  10. Gregory Lent - Read his insights on PostLinearity Beyond Linear Thinking

Why use FriendFeed? The number one reason for me is that you can have a discussion with people who are usually inaccessible because they’re so well known and so busy. You can sometimes chat with them live and other times weigh in on a conversation whenever you’re available and see the answers later.

It is also a fast, easy way to see all the posts someone has made in each of their blogs. If they have several (or many!) you can view them sequentially by just clicking on the orange feed buttons that look like this:

FeedBurner (Not everyone knows about feeds yet and we like to help everyone get up to speed.)

Special thanks to Derek Semmler for being the first major blogger to answer our challenge. Don’t miss the major Social Networking experts on Derek Semmler’s Top Ten Favorite FriendFeed Friends List (some of which I should have remembered to include on my own!).

NEW: Thanks to Joe Dawson for jumping right into second with his favorite FriendFeed Friends in the comments. Check out Eric Berlin’s Online Media Cultist Blog whose Follow These Ten People on FriendFeed and Your Social Media Powers Will Be the Stronger For It came in a close third.

There is an additional benefit to the challenge that we hadn’t considered. Each of the bloggers who’ve entered so far have added comments on their favorite FriendFeed users AND their take on why and how they use FriendFeed.

One of the best is Software Developer April Russo’s Cranial Soup’s entry My Top Ten FriendFeed Friends. If you’re new to FriendFeed read her post

We’re off to a good start, but we can do MUCH better. We would love to hear from YOU too!

UPDATE: ELITE FRIENDFEED FRIENDS LISTS:

TOP FRIENDFEED FOLLOWERS LISTS:

RESOURCES ON HOW TO USE FRIENDFEED:

Responses to “Top Ten FriendFeed Friends Challenge”

Louis Gray Says:

I have to give credit where it is due. The article you gave me credit for was written by Jesse Stay: http://www.friendfeed.com/jessestay

I’ve written more than my fair share of FriendFeed related articles, to be sure, but that one is all him. Thanks for including me.

PS — can you turn on full feeds in your RSS?

TwiTips Top Ten Niche Twitter Users | GROWMAP.COM Says:

[...] NEW: Take our Top Ten FriendFeed Friends Challenge! [...]

growmap Says:

I have clarified the authorship on that post and also added clarification on another post on your blog but written by someone else. Thank you for letting me know.

I’ve turned on full feeds just for you. ;-) I’ve seen others requesting full feeds elsewhere so probably for the best.

Susan Beebe Says:

Excellent choices!!! FriendFeed is really amazing. Probably the *best* social application on the planet! Community is rich, lively, and genuinely engaging and fun - lots of debate, collaboration and awesome conversation!

Susan Beebe
http://friendfeed.com/susanbeebe
@susanbeebe on twitter

Derek Says:

Great idea to expand the challenge to other social networks! I’ve shared my list of FriendFeed friends to follow on my blog with 10 people worth following.

How Participating at FriendFeed Benefits You - Don't Miss These Top FriendFeed Users | GROWMAP.COM Says:

[...] thanks to those who are making submitting their Top Ten Favorite Users of FriendFeed a priority. The first submission is already in and Derek Semmler’s FriendFeed choices are [...]

Ladybug Heather Says:

Since I recently moved home to telecommute instead of working from an office, FriendFeed is now my surrogate for water-cooler chat. I love being part of this fun place, surrounded by so many smart, tech-savvy people who aren’t afraid to let their hair down and have fun, to ask and answer tech questions, or to have rational and intelligent debates on current events. So I’m not going to recommend people to follow based on their expertise in any particular area, but because they’re interesting and fun to interact with.

That said, my ten are (in alphabetical order by handle):
- Carmen (boxercab)
- Stupid Blogger (aka Tina) (isthisstupid)
- Alex Scoble (itblogger)
- Jill, Superhero Librarian (jilibrarian)
- The Haleys - Josh (joshhaley), Trish (trishhaley), and Morgan (mrbento) - and yes, I cheated by combining three in one!
- Mark Wilson (markwilson)
- Matt Musgrave (mattmusgrave)
- Shey Smith (shey)
- Abby Martin (whynaut)
- Zee (zee)

It was really hard to choose, because there are so many amazing people on FriendFeed, sharing themselves and their lives, and building a true community.

Tamar Weinberg Says:

hmm, hard but not so hard :)

If I could choose my top 10, they would be:

1. Kol Tregaskes (http://friendfeed.com/koltregaskes)
2. Rahsheen (http://friendfeed.com/rahsheen)
3. Mona N. (http://friendfeed.com/monasfeed)
4. (jeff)isageek (http://friendfeed.com/jeffisageek)
5. popurls (http://friendfeed.com/popurls)
6. Michael J. Cohen (mjc) (http://friendfeed.com/projct)
7. RAPatton (http://friendfeed.com/pattonroberta)
8. Robert Scoble (http://friendfeed.com/scobleizer)
9. Louis Gray (http://friendfeed.com/louisgray)
10. Steve Rubel (http://friendfeed.com/steverubel)

Naturally I like to reward those who use FF religiously — they make you WANT to go back. Without these guys, you wouldn’t.

btw, I’d argue with your #6 choice. All that you get there is their feed spit back in FriendFeed format. I wrote for LH for over a year, so I should be biased, but I’d prefer active users in the top 10 compared to a feed that you can subscribe to via RSS or email (or that’s even available on Twitter–oh yes, it is). ;)

growmap Says:

@Ladybug Heather - Yes, I see FF that way too. Thank you so much for adding your list. I love your creativity (three in one! lol). I’m not much for strict rules. They’re just guidelines, no?

growmap Says:

@Tamar Bless you for offering your list and your feedback. I’m fairly new to FriendFeed and missed that it was only a feed. I totally agree with you.

You may know as much about using Social Networking sites as anyone. I would LOVE to read a post by you about which of the Social Networking sites you’d use if you were to start an entirely new profile. I’d also love to read more on how you’re currently using the various Social Networks.

One challenge I have with following you is knowing WHERE to follow you! You write for so many different blogs. If you’ve already written on these topics or there is a place where you write about this subject more than others do please share it with us? Thank you.

Joe Dawson Says:

Robert Scoble
Louis Gray
Mona N.
Paul Buchheit
Kol Tregaskes
Mitchell Tsai
Duncan Riley
Zee.
Thomas Hawk
michael arrington

Follow these 10 people on FriendFeed, and your social media powers will be the stronger for it ¦ Online Media Cultist Says:

[...] the “Top 10 people to follow on FriendFeed” meme has gained momentum lately. I shared a GROWMAP.COM story on the topic, which prompted its publisher to encourage me to jump in on the [...]

growmap Says:

@Joe Thanks for being one of the first to see the value of entering the FriendFeed Challenge! I see we have identified some of the same major players. I hope you find many other posts here useful to your blogging.

@ Eric Thanks for the Pingback. I’ve linked your blog into the body of this post. I hope my readers take the time to read the reasons you selected each of your Top FriendFeed Users.

(Weekly Recap) - Social Media, FriendFeed & Twitter » My Thoughts On Social Media Says:

[...] 6) GrowMap proposes a new top ten FriendFeed friends challenge. [...]

growmap Says:

That last link is from Mike Fruchter’s must-read Thoughts on Social Media blog. I highly recommend following him both by subscribing to his blog and adding him at FriendFeed.

How Your Time Online Can Benefit Many: Why Pay It Forward Really Works | GROWMAP.COM Says:

[...] the less famous bloggers may have before passing up any opportunities they offer such as our own Top Ten FriendFeed Friends Challenge. Some may be serious and know what they’re [...]

Joe Dawson Says:

@growmap No problem I am always happy to assist where possible :)

Tamar Weinberg Says:

I suck. I never saw your response.

But now I do!

“I would LOVE to read a post by you about which of the Social Networking sites you’d use if you were to start an entirely new profile.”

Hrm, that’s hard to say. In October, Digg banned me (and I was a top 100 user). I’m not going back there even though the traffic is good because Digg is nothing but a gamed social site (on the other hand, it used to be a “social news” site — I purposely removed the word “news” from the designation). Building profiles is tough on a site where trust is really the most important factor for survival, and the time investment I spent is much better spent on real work and not profile building on a site that I think will hopefully die soon enough.

Which sites would I use, then? Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, and FriendFeed, in addition to a plethora of niche sites (depending on one’s wants and needs).

“I’d also love to read more on how you’re currently using the various Social Networks.”

I don’t know if this will help, but check out this article: http://www.techipedia.com/2007/networking-on-different-social-sites/

Yes, techipedia is my main site. I don’t write there often (because a post takes 10+ hours to write and requires a LOT of brainstorming and thought… I guess I aim for quality over quantity), but when I do, I think it’s usually a good post. ;)

Internet Strategist Says:

Hi Tamar. When someone truly figures out how to stay on top of everything we leave scattered across the ‘Net then MAYBE we could feel bad about missing some. For now it is pretty amazing that you DID see this.

Thanks for the comments and the link. I’m going off to check out your article now. Quality always bests quantity in my book too. :-)

Wish There was a Twitter Local? How to Geo-Target Your Tweets | GROWMAP.COM Says:

[...] you’re in list mode why not add your FriendFeed List to our FriendFeed Friends Challenge? Don’t know how to use FriendFeed yet? All you need to know can be found linked from our post [...]

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