Friendfeed: Feed Your Friends

Jim and I are geeks.

There, I said it. The secret is out and we can't hide anymore. Sorry, Jim, but it had to happen sometime. We're officially out of the closet... or the server room. Whatever.

We're geeks in a lot of different ways, he and I, many of them common to both of us. One of those common geeknesses is a love of tinkering with the new. The act of trying something just to see how or if it works is a kick for both of us. Sometimes new things stick (Flickr, del.icio.us, Google... well, Google anything pretty much) and sometimes they don't stick (Twitter lasted all of about a day, Pownce a day or two longer, and I'm still trying to make a decision either way about Facebook and Digg).

It's become quite a chore to keep up with each other and with the Internet goings on of our multitudes of Web friends and acquaintances, even with RSS.

Friendfeed is turning the chore into a pleasure again by tying all of that information together into one Google-esqe clearinghouse of updated information feeds. Here's how it works...

You get a Friendfeed account (they're FREE but you have to request one -- see below) and make quick and easy links to whatever sites you use and want to share with everyone. You can let people get updates on your Amazon Wish List, Flickr photo stream, Facebook page, Blogger blog, Twitter stream, Netflix queue, YouTube channel... you get the point. Your friends can look at your Friendfeed stream at any time, see what updates you've made to those accounts, and click through to them to see more. Best of all they can get an RSS link to your Friendfeed stream making it even easier for them to keeping up with you, and visa versa. Friendfeed is also available for your Facebook page, iGoogle, and your current goings-on can be embedded in your blog if you so choose.

Drawbacks? I only found a few.

First, Friendfeed will only track Blogger (by Google) blogs right now. So it will track new posts here at Waddayagot.org but it won't track updates to my UbiquitousLens blog because that's hosted on Wordpress. TypePad users are S.O.L. for now as well. Bummer. There are other sites missing too, but most of the biggies are there with the possible glaring exception of MySpace. (No big loss. Can you tell I'm not a fan?)

Second, there is a creepy privacy issue with Friendfeed. It's not such a biggie if you've got a Friendfeed account because in theory you can control what you allow to be seen publicly through your feed. But if you don't have a Friendfeed account other people can track you there anyway. Yep, you read that right. All they have to know is your user ID - not your password, just your ID - on the site in question and they can set up an "imaginary friend feed" for you. I find that slightly creepy and disquieting -- if I don't sign up for the service then I don't necessarily want other people to use it on me! -- but I've added a few friends that I want to keep track of who, for whatever reason, have not signed up (yet) and I gotta say it's a handy dandy feature from that perspective.

Friendfeed is still in beta but you can sign up for a feed and they'll notify you as soon as they're ready to take on another round of users. So far everyone that I know who has signed up has only had to wait a day or so.

Have geeky fun with it!

~Kate