Facebook Snaps Up FriendFeed

By  |  Monday, August 10, 2009 at 2:45 pm

FriendbookFacebook, the planet’s largest social-networking site, is buying one that’s relatively small but extremely influential, FriendFeed. The deal involves FriendFeed living on as a standalone site for now, but it sounds like the long-term idea is to build new FriendFeed-like features and technologies into Facebook itself. It’s clearly a major move in Facebook’s chess game with Twitter, and presumably reduces (but doesn’t eliminate) the possibility of Facebook buying Twitter itself at some point.

Reaction among serious FriendFeed fans to the news seems to be largely guarded-to-negative (although FriendDeed überenthusiast Robert Scoble is guardedly optimistic, and here’s Louis Gray’s thoughtful take). Me, I’m basically a FriendFeed dabbler/lurker at best, and I’m keeping my mind open. FriendFeed is impressive in many ways, but it’s complex enough that it’s remained kind of a secret weapon of serious geeks. If there’s one thing Facebook has done well, it’s figured out how to make a complicated (confusing, even) service appealing to millions of people of all sorts. Maybe it’ll be able to work some magic with the FriendFeed team that’ll make all of this makes sense.

 
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2 Comments For This Post

  1. payday loans Says:
    December 18th, 2011 at 1:11 am

    If there’s one thing Facebook has done well, it’s figured out how to make a complicated (confusing, even) service appealing to millions of people of all sorts. Maybe it’ll be able to work some magic with the FriendFeed team that’ll make all of this makes sense.

  2. robinmaster698 Says:
    December 25th, 2011 at 3:10 am

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5 Trackbacks For This Post

  1. More Lite Versions, Please! | Technologizer Says:
    September 11th, 2009 at 6:40 pm

    [...] been its low price; maybe you’d have to pay to unlock the full Office interface.) FriendFeed (now owned by Facebook) is notoriously complex; the current version’s a lot easier to use, but it could still [...]

    been its low price; maybe you’d have to pay to unlock the full Office interface.) FriendFeed (now owned by Facebook) is notoriously complex; the current version’s a lot easier t..." permalink="http://technologizer.com/2009/08/10/facebook-snaps-up-friendfeed/#comment-25548"]
  2. Ten Questions About Google Buzz Says:
    February 9th, 2010 at 1:40 pm

    [...] to FriendFeed, a service that was widely hailed as a potential Twitter killer until Facebook bought it and more or less put it into suspended animation last August. Like FriendFeed, Buzz has none of Twitter’s innumerable limitations and irritations. But [...]

    to FriendFeed, a service that was widely hailed as a potential Twitter killer until Facebook bought it and more or less put it into suspended animation last August. Like FriendFeed, Buzz ha..." permalink="http://technologizer.com/2009/08/10/facebook-snaps-up-friendfeed/#comment-35276"]
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    February 10th, 2010 at 10:19 am

    [...] to FriendFeed, a service that was widely hailed as a potential Twitter killer until Facebook bought it and more or less put it into suspended animation last August. Like FriendFeed, Buzz has none of Twitter’s innumerable limitations and irritations. But [...]

    to FriendFeed, a service that was widely hailed as a potential Twitter killer until Facebook bought it and more or less put it into suspended animation last August. Like FriendFeed, Buzz ha..." permalink="http://technologizer.com/2009/08/10/facebook-snaps-up-friendfeed/#comment-35346"]
  4. Getting distracted with all the buzzing going on at work…10 ?’s about Google Buzz « Life of a Gaander Says:
    February 10th, 2010 at 1:51 pm

    [...] to FriendFeed, a service that was widely hailed as a potential Twitter killer until Facebook bought it and more or less put it into suspended animation last August. Like FriendFeed, Buzz has none of Twitter’s innumerable limitations and irritations. But [...]

    to FriendFeed, a service that was widely hailed as a potential Twitter killer until Facebook bought it and more or less put it into suspended animation last August. Like FriendFeed, Buzz ha..." permalink="http://technologizer.com/2009/08/10/facebook-snaps-up-friendfeed/#comment-35365"]
  5. FriendFeed Is Not Going Anywhere Says:
    April 21st, 2010 at 3:28 pm

    [...] is in attendance, and says that the site will not be shutting down. Facebook acquired the site in August of last year, and FriendFeed developers were re-tasked to responsibilities within [...]

    is in attendance, and says that the site will not be shutting down. Facebook acquired the site in August of last year, and FriendFeed developers were re-tasked to responsibilities within [...." permalink="http://technologizer.com/2009/08/10/facebook-snaps-up-friendfeed/#comment-40984"]