Top Ten FriendFeed Friends Challenge

December 1, 2008 · 91 comments

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:

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.
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.
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.)
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!
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.
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.]
Zee – a prolific blogger on cutting edge technology.
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).
Hutch – You’ll find some truly interesting tech posts and a dose of humor in his Hutch Tech Blog.
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:

(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:

NEW: How to Get the Most out of Social Networking (Posted at Mashable, written by Wendy Boswell.)
15 Secrets of FriendFeed Power Users (Posted at LouisGray, written by Daniel J. Pritchard of Sharing at Work)
FriendFeed is Google Bait + 25 Ways to Use It

Tagged as: FriendFeed

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therapist Twitter: tinababyk May 22, 2009 at 12:59 am Twitter: @tinababyk

I love friend feed, they are innovative, early adopters, they simply rock.

Internet Strategist who writes about GrowMap Twitter: GrowMap June 18, 2009 at 5:07 pm Twitter: @GrowMap: Hi Therapist,

I’m still sharing my best finds at FriendFeed as I have some major readers there. I wish Paul would acknowledge my communications / recommendations – so far not a peep from him. I would hope that Social Networking sites would be more “social” when their cheerleaders try to interact with them.

The founders of StumbleUpon (SU) bought it back from eBay so perhaps SU will be the Social Networking site that figures it out first and not FriendFeed.

Internet Strategist’s last blog post..Select Keywords First to Make Your Content Easy to Find

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joomla template Twitter: wowjoomla May 11, 2009 at 3:13 pm Twitter: @wowjoomla

I have been following many members on your list for a while. However most if not all are from the tech or social media niche. Friendfeed although still an early adopter tool needs the air to breath out of this space in order to gain mainstream appeal. Twitter gained this since it embraced the masses and not just a particulat niche. Maybe this is friendfeeds curse or is it its gift?

InternetStrategist who writes about GrowMap.com Twitter: GrowMap May 11, 2009 at 5:18 pm Twitter: @GrowMap: Welcome Joomla, Yes FriendFeed so far is for early adopters and I’ve blogged about why that is and what I wish they would do. Click on the post I’ve used as the link to this comment (not the Comment Luv link – the other one) to see what I suggested which they have never acknowledged no matter how many places and times I’ve offered it.

Twitter has broad appeal because it is not that difficult to figure out even for the non-technical. Even the least Internet savvy can type in a comment and click submit.

What every Social Media site really needs to do is make it very obvious and easy how to find what you’re interested in. As the post I suggested indicates StumbleUpon almost did it right before they were bought by eBay so now that they have been reacquired they might do it first.

Imagine you’re new to FriendFeed. How do you find those who share what you are interested in? You have to be somewhat savvy just to think to search. THAT is why it is still the playground of early adopters.

Add a link or two to lead folks into what a conversion expert would call a funnel and that would make a whole new game of it.

InternetStrategist’s last blog post..How to Create a Successful Blog Based Business Part 1

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Kate who writes about legal conveyancing Twitter: BTL_Mortgages May 8, 2009 at 9:09 pm Twitter: @BTL_Mortgages

I am very new to twitter, just trying to get my head around and don’t know much. Don’t laugh, but I seriously didn’t know how big it is.Thank you very much for these links, especially in my case for links in section :ON HOW TO USE FRIENDFEED. It will keep me busy for quite some time.

InternetStrategist who writes about GrowMap.com Twitter: GrowMap May 8, 2009 at 10:04 pm Twitter: @GrowMap: Hi Kate. Sorry your comment got caught by Akismet. I am very glad you inquired why. I do rescue real comments just about every day. Did you find the FriendFeed Twitter Quick Start post too? I will link it to the top link in this comment. (Not the CommentLuv featured post – the other one.)

You may also find some interesting information in the Social Networking category and Twitter and FriendFeed sub-categories. You can find those in the right sidebar (right column).

InternetStrategist’s last blog post..How to Create a Successful Blog Based Business Part 1

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InternetStrategist who writes about GrowMap Twitter: GrowMap April 9, 2009 at 10:29 pm Twitter: @GrowMap

@Bill Masson Good to know you’re here and at FriendFeed and Twitter. If those links did not answer all your questions do let me know and I’ll offer what I know or research to find what you need.

@Bill from CrosswordPuzzles Isn’t Tamar’s Avatar great? I really miss it where she doesn’t use it. I’m a fan of using Avatars instead of photos for many reasons.

@Gas forum You are absolutely correct that it is better to have dates on comments. Instead of updating this Theme we have been planning to change to Thesis as soon as my friend who handles the technical aspects can free up enough time to work on it.

He is a Project Manager and very busy with a major launch. To complicate things the current Theme is not widget-ized so there may be some major challenges involved.

We have added plugins including the Twitter comment field which will automatically add your Twitter account to all comments you have ever left and are planning to add threaded comments too.

InternetStrategist’s last blog post..What IS a Social Media Expert?

Gas forum April 6, 2009 at 1:06 pm

Growmap would be nice to have dates on peoples comments? Nice blog.

InternetStrategist who writes about GrowMap Twitter: GrowMap April 28, 2009 at 2:55 pm Twitter: @GrowMap: When we upgraded to Thesis and turned on threaded comments we also picked up the dates and times you wished we had.

InternetStrategist’s last blog post..WordPress 2.7 Threaded Comments Works In Thesis

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Bill who writes about FreeCrosswordPuzzles.com.au March 1, 2009 at 6:23 am

I just wanted add my vote to your “grin of the day” claim for Tamar’s SU avatar. Thats a happy avatar!

InternetStrategist who writes about GrowMap Twitter: GrowMap May 1, 2009 at 6:22 pm Twitter: @GrowMap: I love it. Every time I think of a really memorable, distinctive Avatar THAT is the one I see.

InternetStrategist’s last blog post..WordPress 2.7 Threaded Comments Works In Thesis

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Bill Masson (WWAH) February 9, 2009 at 3:57 am

Hi Growmap, This is a really insightful read for me because i have just hooked up to friendfeed and i am still finding my feet so thanks for all the resources and great blog posts to check out.

Bill Masson (WWAH)’s last blog post..Free Advanced Link Cloaker

InternetStrategist who writes about GrowMap.com Twitter: GrowMap February 5, 2009 at 6:26 pm Twitter: @GrowMap

Welcome Abdulrehman. Your blog is certainly what many more bloggers would like to do: Make Money on the Internet. The best thing we can all do is support each others’ efforts which is why whenever someone comments here I go visit their blogs.

Then I select the most recent post that is most compelling and share it at FriendFeed and Twitter. I sometimes share multiple posts. This is my contribution to helping bloggers gain more exposure.

The more often someone comments here the more often I am reminded to check out their latest posts and share them. CommentLuv really helps with that.

I hope you’ll visit and comment often. I work online full time and spend almost all my waking hours spreading good content across the Internet. It may as well include yours.

InternetStrategist’s last blog post..Have a Blog? You Win By Reading This Blog Review Contest Entry on Best Blog Design!

Abdulrehman who writes about How To Make Money On The Internet January 25, 2009 at 5:32 am

Nice idea, many of such lists can follow up. Plus, this list is great, I just added most of them!

Abdulrehman’s last blog post..Do Firefox users really hate IE that much?

growmap Twitter: GrowMap January 13, 2009 at 1:31 am Twitter: @GrowMap

@Adam. Welcome Adam. Now that you’ve discovered GrowMap, GrowMap has discovered you too. I’m off to check out your blog and share it at FriendFeed and Twitter. I hope you’ll check out the other content here as most of it is directly related to growing a blog.

Adam Loving January 12, 2009 at 11:03 pm

Wow, what a treasure trove of good people to follow. I just discovered GrowMap. Thanks for the recommendations.

Adam Loving’s last blog post..Quotes from Seth Godin’s “Tribes”

Internet Strategist Twitter: GrowMap December 16, 2008 at 4:24 pm Twitter: @GrowMap

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.

Tamar Weinberg December 16, 2008 at 4:13 pm

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.

Joe Dawson December 11, 2008 at 5:01 am

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

growmap Twitter: GrowMap December 6, 2008 at 4:34 pm Twitter: @GrowMap

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.

growmap Twitter: GrowMap December 4, 2008 at 11:32 pm Twitter: @GrowMap

@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.

Joe Dawson December 4, 2008 at 4:09 am

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

growmap Twitter: GrowMap December 3, 2008 at 11:19 am Twitter: @GrowMap

@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.

growmap Twitter: GrowMap December 3, 2008 at 11:18 am Twitter: @GrowMap

@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?

Tamar Weinberg December 3, 2008 at 8:24 am

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).

Ladybug Heather Twitter: hedwyg December 3, 2008 at 7:30 am Twitter: @hedwyg

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.

Derek Twitter: dereksemmler December 2, 2008 at 2:42 pm Twitter: @dereksemmler

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.

Susan Beebe December 2, 2008 at 10:26 am

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

growmap Twitter: GrowMap December 1, 2008 at 6:23 pm Twitter: @GrowMap

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.

Louis Gray December 1, 2008 at 5:11 pm