Posts Tagged friendfeed
Is Google Buzz the Twitter Killer?
Posted by Paul Holmes in blogging, business, internet, social media on February 16, 2010
Will Buzz Kill Twitter?
Some have compared it to FriendFeed, some have called it Google’s answer to Facebook, and some are just annoyed and can’t wait to turn it off (in GMail, you can scroll to the bottom and click on “turn off buzz”, by the way).
Others have predicted Google Buzz will annihilate Twitter! They make a compelling argument.
- It’s a sophisticated broadcast notification system, much like Twitter.
- It’s public.
- You can send images (and you don’t need third party applications like TwitPic).
- You can automatically feed Buzz from other services (Blog RSS Feeds, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Digg, etc.).
- Your Google profile is now your Google Buzz profile, and has much more information than a Twitter profile (yet, uglier).
It’s overwhelming like FriendFeed, but this is offset in part by neatly integrating right into GMail (which is certainly the most open tab on my browser). This means you can have a peak, or you can completely ignore it – but it will always be at your fingertips, beckoning you…
And does anyone have any doubt that “Buzz” will very soon be searchable (and from Google, no less)?
Will Buzz kill Twitter? Maybe. Maybe not.
What do you think?
Top 10 Social Media
Posted by Paul Holmes in blogging, business, personal, social media on December 1, 2009
I have written various articles on social media in the past, and a few people have asked what my favourites are. The following list is not “the best”, nor specifically “the best for application X”, rather my favourites – those I enjoy using or gain specific benefit for using.
10. Ning‘s (like Your Canada)
Ning is a really cool product that allows you to launch your own social networks around specific themes. Your Canada is an example of one I launched to add a social component to our popular Your Canada website.
9. FriendFeed
Everyone was getting excited about FriendFeed, the ultimate social media collaborator. It’s a cool tool because it let’s you tie all your social media activities into one stream. It can be a bit overwhelming though, so I find myself using it sparingly these days.
8. YouTube
Anonymity is still the name of the game on YouTube. As a result, you get poorly spelled and otherwise idiotic comments on videos all the time. This is too bad, given that it otherwise is the best place for exposure, and the tools to connect people socially are actually pretty good. The social aspects of video are still developing, and I suspect a number of other sites may take the lead in “social video” while Google focuses YouTube more on commercializing what they have (and doing this primarily by pushing sponsored videos, vs. an advertising model). Some to watch include Vimeo, DailyMotion, 12seconds.tv, Ustream.tv, blip.tv, and about a few dozen others.
7. Flickr
Yahoo! has one product that kicks ass and totally owns it’s vertical, and that is Flickr. Flickr is the best social medium for sharing photos/images. Picasa is Google’s alternative, and it is OK. A few others are Photobucket and Flixya, but they are a long way from successful at this point.
6. Digg
The DiggBar has revolutionized Digg (much to the chagrin of the ol’ skool Diggers). I use it all the time, and am a bit of a Diggaholic now. It’s a great tool for sharing interesting stuff you find on the web. It also has some great integration tools to very easily share “Dugg” stuff on Facebook and Twitter. I use Digg every single day.
5. Instant Messaging
Three years ago this was number one (followed by blogging and online forums). Three years ago, I did 100% of my instant messaging using MSN Messenger. Two years ago, 80% was MSN and 20% was GoogleTalk. Today, 50% is Facebook, 30% is GoogleTalk and 20% is MSN. As always, ICQ and AIM are 0%. Instant messaging is still a great way to get ahold of people in a hurry.
4. Blogging
I love to blog. I have at least 5 blogs I update regularly, and I love posting comments to other people’s blogs (which is what makes it a social medium). I also love WordPress; I am a total convert to the platform. I even organized a WordCamp in Victoria a few weeks ago, which was tonnes of fun.
3. Facebook
I was a Facebook holdout for ages, but have grown to like it. I like it because almost everyone I know is there. The platform itself is annoying sometimes, and frustrating at others, but they have the critical mass, so it remains a tool I continue to use, even if I use it despite itself.
2. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is great for business. At a recent presentation I gave at the University of Victoria to all of their business students, I asked several hundred students how many of them were on Facebook, and almost every hand went up. I then asked how many were on LinkedIn, and about 5 hands went up (I think a few of those hands were faculty, too). This is ashame. LinkedIn is a great tool for business, but also for career building. The guy sitting next to you in class today might be CEO of some big corporation in 10 years. Stay in touch and add them to your network on LinkedIn. I’m not sure if I got through to them or not.
LinkedIn is easy, passive and a great way to introduce people. It’s sort of like a virtual business mixer, but doesn’t require you to smile and dress nicely.
1. Twitter
Even people who love Twitter make fun of it. Twitter is an amazing tool for connecting with people and getting a message out. Through the power of the retweet, your potential network is huge. That conference I organized back in #4 above – I used Twitter as the primary medium through which to promote it, and over 100 local (and international) people showed up. Not too shabby for something people love to make fun of.
Loading ...I’ll review my list every once in awhile as my tastes change. It’ll be interesting to look back in the future and see what has changed.
I can already say that “FriendFeed” used to be much higher up the list, and I expect there is a good chance Google Wave and Foursquare will appear here in the next year or two. The influence of mobile and video (and mobile video) should introduce a few new angles to the equation, too.
A few others that I use that didn’t make the top list are Plaxo (11), Yelp (12), Identi.ca (13), Vimeo (14), Meetup (15), SlideShare (16), MySpace (17), and StumbleUpon (18). I have profiles on a few others, but don’t use them much.
I’m always happy to connect with people I know on any of these networks, see my social media links in the right column to link to my profile, or visit my Contact page.
Facebook Pages and RSS – A Step-By-Step Guide
Posted by Paul Holmes in business, internet, social media on June 16, 2009
The most annoying thing about a Facebook Page is that it is called Facebook Page. A page is not the same as your Facebook Profile, it is a separate feature that allows you to build a fan base to promote your website, brand, or company within the Facebook community.
But do any search for “Facebook Page”, and I guarantee 85% of the results will relate to the Facebook profile.
Overview
This entry is how to get your blog to feed on your Facebook Page, and is a step-by-step guide. I wish I had this a month ago, but here it is for the rest of the world.
If you do not know what a blog is, or an RSS feed is, you need to go research this, then come back here later.
Process
- Create a page in Facebook, or load your existing one (this is the easy part).
- In your page, under your image, click on “Edit Page” (sometimes Facebook forgets what page you are on, so make sure your page image and name are correct after you click – restart your browser if it doesn’t work – this is a major source of frustration in some browsers).
- Scroll down to the “Notes” application, click on the little pen icon on the right side of the screen, then select “Edit”. (Note: if “Notes” is not in the list, use “More Applications” to find it, then add it to the page.)
- To the right side of the screen (left of the ads), you will see a link titled “Import a blog”. Click this. (Note: If you have an existing feed, you can delete it by clicking on “Edit import settings”, then click on the “Stop Importing” button.)
- Enter your RSS feed URL in the “Web URL” box, click the consent checkbox, then click on “Start Importing”. (Note: Your RSS feed URL is different then your website address. In WordPress, for example, you typically add “/feed” to the end of your website address.)
- Assuming all was done correctly, a “Preview” screen appears. You must scroll to the bottom of this, then click on “Confirm Import”.
- As per item 2, go back to the “Edit Page” screen. This time, click on the pen icon next to the “Notes” application, and select “Application Settings”.
- Make sure the “Box” and “Tab” are showing as “Added” (you can configure this part of the page as you wish later). Click on the “Additional Permissions” tab, and check the “Publish to streams” item, so your blog entries will appear in your fan’s streams. Click OK.
- Wipe your brow, you’re done! Wasn’t that easy, and don’t you wish you had found this article a week ago?
Twitter RSS Feed
Twitter, technically speaking, has RSS feeds. Given Twitter’s highly volatile state, they are not terribly reliable, and often get rejected. (Perhaps they are also not technically correct RSS feeds, I’m not entirely sure – they don’t import into Facebook or Feedburner, so that’d be my guess.)
So, how the heck do you get your Tweets to import into your Facebook page easily?
I’m glad you asked, because we recently did this with our CanWire.ca Facebook Page, using FriendFeed.
- Set up a new FriendFeed Profile (I recommend using something other than your main account, as you may want to add other stuff to your personal one.)
- Import your Twitter account into FriendFeed.
- Scroll to the bottom of your FriendFeed profile page, and click on the RSS icon next to “Other ways to read this feed”.
- Copy the URL, and paste it in for item 5 above.
Media Overload
If you want to overwhelm your friends on Facebook, set up a FriendFeed account for yourself, and add all your social media sources, then use it’s RSS feed in Notes for your Facebook profile.
You could take this feed, too, and fire it into Feedburner, and allow people to subscribe to your social media as an RSS feed from your personal site.
Egad!
Social Media Binge Article 2: Social Networks
Posted by Paul Holmes in social media on March 17, 2009
For those who missed it (most of the universe), article 1 was on micro-blogging sites. This one will be about social networks.
The idea was to see what was out there beyond FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace – of which, my opinions are published on my blog.
It is worth noting that most of these sites have something equivalent to a micro-blog called status updates, pulses or something else. If you do sign up to more than two or three social media sites, consider using Ping.fm to do your updates. They did not ask me to say so, I am volunteering this because it is really, really useful.
Caveat: If nobody uses these sites, they could be the neatest things in the world, but who cares. Ultimately this is where FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter and MySpace have a massive advantage.
Tip of the Day: If you hate any of the big four, consider joining one of these social media sites just to spite them!
For each network, I’ve listed how many friends I found out of my gmail contact list (about 600 contacts). For comparison, I have about 200 friends on FaceBook (and only add people I have actually met).
Plaxo (7 friends) – I like Plaxo. First of all, 7 of my friends were already on it (which was more than MySpace). The layout is simpler than FaceBook, and the profile page is great. Like FriendFeed, it has the ability to pull in a bunch of your other public social media content (blog entries, micro-blogging, images, etc.), and inserts it into your public profile page. I hope Plaxo catches on.
Friendster (2 friends) – Unlike most of the sites where I found an odd person who happened to have signed up years ago, on Friendster I found a friend who was very actively using this program – 164 friends in her network. I get the feeling that some people really use this network. At first glance, it seems to be a poorly designed FaceBook. But dig a little, and there are some interesting built-in features over and above the standard FaceBook offerings, including classifieds, games, blogs, reviews, and “featured” friends. I think it might actually be the most “feature intensive” social network out there.
Orkut (1 friend) – Google has an offering (experiment) in the social network space as well – shocking, huh. Their micro-blogging program – Jaiku – is way better thank the mediocre Orkut, though. I could not find anything amazingly cool, original or particularly interesting about Orkut, not even the name. (In their defense, it is Beta.) If this catches on, it will be because it is run by Google.
Bebo (0 friends) – If there is one thing in life I want to do, it is to connect with other people so we can talk about the hottest celebs. Well good for Bebo to know what demographic they are targeting (note: not me), and to go after them fairly effectively. Bebo is really pushing for me to find or invite friends, and I really can not think of a good reason to do so.
hi5 (1 friend) – In competition with Bebo for the teen market, I suppose. Features include games and giving “fives” to your friends. There is a “Stats” meter (so you can see how awesome you are compared to everyone else). I’m pretty sure I won’t be frequenting this website very much.
Xanga (0 friends) – I wasn’t entirely sure whether to include this. It is sort of a hybrid between a blog and a social network. It is pretty neat, but sort of a strange animal in the social media jungle.
Yahoo! 360° (0 friends) – One of the disadvantages of having the old search engines get into the social network business is all the legacy baggage that you seem to drag along with you to the new platform. Yahoo! is no exception. While their profile pages are, in my opinion, the best designed, Yahoo! still thinks I live in the UK. Also, Yahoo! has reserved the usernames on their social network for the eventuality of every Yahoo! user ever setting up an account there – thus, getting a decent username on their network is impossible. Hi – I am tpholmes2001, and I live in Dublin. In terms of Features, nothing special here. Ironically, even though Yahoo! owns both, I couldn’t load my Flickr images onto my 360 profile – the option was there, but it didn’t work. (Yahoo! wants you to know that this program is Beta.)
Yuku (0 friends) – You get “kudos” for doing stuff, and can compete in the “hall of fame” with other Yuku social climbers, I suppose. I don’t really get it. I don’t see much else on this site that is terribly exciting. And it appears you cannot update your profile using Ping.fm, so I suspect I won’t be updating my profile here very often. Perhaps I’m missing something.
Tagged (0 friends) – The people who started this website must have learned their trade pushing crack cocaine. I started receiving the weirdest spam right away. People checking me out. Then, finally somebody bought me – how offensive is that. I think this is a website for lonely single people with no lives. I’m not sure. But there is a pretty good (free) poker game on it – if you can wade past all the spam and juvenile nonsense. As for me, I’d rather hang out with the intellectually superior regulars at Bebo or Hi5.
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