

Friendfeed gets $5m - congrats Paul Buchheit - sharpshoot
http://mashable.com/2008/02/25/friendfeed-funded/

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fiaz
FriendFeed looks like a potentially distributed version of Facebook, if used
properly at an individual/friend/local level and evangelized properly as a
company. I really like the relatively loose association between friends and
services. Right now you have many of the photo/link sharing capabilities in
Facebook tied down to Facebook-centric/based apps but FriendFeed allows you to
transfer that level of interaction to highly specialized apps that have fairly
focused goals.

The way I see the potential competition for Facebook from FriendFeed is by
visualizing highly specialized apps connected together like nodes on a graph
by the interaction between people who know each other in real life; the sum
total of interaction between people brings equivalent value as Facebook does.
I think Facebook creates this graph in exactly the opposite way: the
individuals are represented as the nodes and the applications become the
connectors. In both cases it is the interaction between the nodes that result
in the edges of the node, but the impetus for placing a node on the graph are
different - and this difference is ultimately to the detriment of Facebook at
the moment as it puts Facebook at a disadvantage (the factual presence of all
the highly specialized apps that are already popular at some level is what I'm
referring to).

Facebook is one account and it enables you to do many things; these many
activities are bound to Facebook. On the other hand it is more likely that you
will have many different accounts at highly specialized apps/communities and
the fact that you can connect the activity with other people gives FriendFeed
an additional use over using Facebook.

The way these social graphs are created is a very significant distinction for
the upside potential of FriendFeed and symmetrically the downside potential of
Facebook. This can be further illustrated by picturing Facebook as a graph
that grows from the inside out like how patches of mushrooms would grow, and
FriendFeed is a graph that "condenses" from out of nowhere (I'm thinking of
the bright yellow PbO2 condensation reaction from my chemistry days).

If I were a Facebook employee, I'd be terrified of FriendFeed as the
interactions that arise from using FriendFeed are potentially more nebulous
than what Facebook could hope to achieve. The value of the interaction between
the nodes of the graph is the most overlooked principle in why social networks
grow (this is reaffirmed for me each time I read about the next "Digg
killer"!). I have a feeling that FriendFeeders know just how valuable this
is...

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iamyoohoo
most of it is self funded isnt it ?

