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If FriendFeed Has No Chance, What Do We Say About Seesmic Desktop?
Yesterday social forum provider FriendFeed launched a new beta version of their application which apparently is more real-time than real-time was previously. I haven’t used it yet so I can’t give you my reaction as to it’s real-timeliness. My guess (sadly) is that they didn’t address the real issues – you know… the business side.
Last night I listened to a recording of a podcast where Techcrunch editor Michael Arrington explained that FriendFeed has no chance against Twitter. My take is that FriendFeed is not a competitor to Twitter and the FF team would be smart to get away from the comparisons. Friendfeed is a social forum software and Twitter is IRC 2.0. Everyone wants to make a battle out of the two for cheap pageviews but as I’ve said for a long time now, they are not competitors. I did find it interesting that when asked how he describes the service, FriendFeed co-founder Paul Bucheit basically said the exact same line as Tumblr uses about being the easiest way to share online.
But let’s assume for a moment that Michael is correct and FriendFeed has no chance to compete in the space. What does that mean for his investment in social sharing software Seesmic? Tonight, Seesmic founder Loic Le Meur is going to take the world through a demo of his rebranding of Twirl into the "Seesmic Desktop". Could Seesmic get further in the "fight" than FriendFeed has? I grabbed a quick interview with Loic at SXSW where he announced the first step in his Seesmic Desktop with the launch of Seesmic for Facebook. I haven’t had a chance to see or play with the desktop application and look forward with great anticipation to the demo tonight.
Later this week I will share my thoughts on FriendFeed and how they can start to move ahead and away from the Twitter comparisons.
if loic was not so well liked, seesmic would be deadmic by now
I’ve been a beta user of the various twhirls and the Seesmic for FB clients, and I have to say that they, severally, consolidate the principal social media I pay attention to. I tend to arrange them on an extended desktop in a foursquare (heh, now *that’s* a solution in search of a problem) grid, alongside my email client. The XDT becomes my messaging display. Alerts pop up on my main screen, and if it looks interesting, I can easily go check out the latest stream in any of the five windows. It’s like a stock ticker; I only drill down on the “stocks” I’m invested in, while keeping the door to serendipity ajar.
I’m really looking forward to Seemic Desktop, a lot more than I care at all about the UX issues at FB, FF, or Twitter. I’m much less interested in the default apps that come with the social nets than I am with the third-party client-side value-add.
–Ax
Thanks for your patience and interest Allen, I don’t think we’re competing with Friendfeed though, and please do not expect too much from tonight we’re really launching to get feedback and improve it.
but if friendfeed is a competitor to twitter (says Michael), then wouldn’t seesmic also be a competitor to twitter?
I think that’s more a function of Arrington and TechCrunch viewing technology evolution through a zero-sum lens. I think the platforms are complementary, and inasmuch as none of them has an (apparent) monetization strategy, I would expect further integration or even consolidation. I understand why the leadership of each company wants to remain independent and build their own brand presence, but in venture circles, that’s called “founder’s disease”. At some point, these platforms will be compelled to make common cause. I know that since I started using the Seesmic suite, I use the native form of FF, FB, and Twitter less frequently. That doesn’t mean I don’t read/post to all three, however.
Another critical distinction is that of generating/aggregating content, and furnishing an elegant UX. Two different competency silos, which is why I think more partnership and less less competition is the likely future.
–Ax
Michael Arrington said on Techcrunch that he wanted to uninvest from all these startups. This must include Seesmic. So it’s not his problem anymore.
has that happened yet?