Marketing Nirvana

Yes, I said it. 5 Reasons to use FriendFeed today! And to think that just 24 hours ago, I would have never imagined myself uttering those words. Well, it was Arrington’s post announcing FriendFeed search that started it all and the rest is…down below.

So what exactly does FriendFeed do that other feed based sites don’t? My $0.05!

$0.01. The Ocean Feed | It’s very similar to what you’ll find on Facebook’s News Feed where you incorporate all your different applications’ activities, which are then re-distributed to your various friends (thus constituting the News Feed). The only difference is that the FriendFeed is available to everyone outside of a walled garden (correct me if I’m wrong), albeit creating their own walled garden in the process!

$0.02. Need for Feeds | Another difference between the Facebook News Feed and FriendFeed, was the sheer number of updates you’re likely to receive. I get the feeling that I receive a continuous life-stream of activities from all my connections on FriendFeed (correct me if I’m wrong), much like Twitter (in this case)
So, in a way, it’s kind a like “the News Feed meets Twitter” on steroids!

$0.03. Quick & Easy conversations | Comment within threads

Currently you can comment on each activity item that you find on your friend feed. Works well, smoothly and quickly.

One of the things that would need to be done is 2-way updates. Right now, when you update a communication thread it only resides within the post, but what’d be useful is if I comment on a blog post or a tweet (in FriendFeed), if the update gets translated to the original site as well. Feasible?

Steven Hodson from WinExtra shares similar concerns

Yes it would be nice in some cases if you could talk back to those disparate services you have collected under the FriendFeed roof but as Paul posted today FriendFeed has their own feelings on this matter. What remains to be seen is if the requests for a talkback feature is loud enough will FriendFeed bend and add it.

$0.04. Twitter like Simplicity | Like/Unlike specific items

You can also bookmark specific activity items with a Like button. Similar to the iLike button on iLike. Yet again, simple like Twitter.

$0.05. Search and monitor

The killer feature here as Mike Arrington pointed out is Search. So, let’s say you’ve a brand to maintain. I think Jeremiah’s suggestion to monitor your brand perception makes sense in a much more comprehensive way here than was possible w/ tweet scan.

I’d also recommend using the same brand scan as a customer support tool to find out what conversations are happening out there about your brand. Check out a brand scan for linkedin (on friend feed). Or you can of course, search for conversations around your name. Vanessa Fox outlines different ways to find your customers’ online water coolers; looks like friendfeed would be a welcome addition to that list.

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The bottomline: Build out FriendFeed and then go about your daily business. In my case, it’s an aggregation of 12 services (blog - personal and LinkedIn), Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, Google Reader Shared items, iLike, Netflix, Pandora, Twitter, Upcoming, YouTube, etc… I use and so it makes sense to share those items with family, friends and colleagues outside of the realm of any particular service.

And, I forgot to add that it works & looks great on your iPhone as well. Thanks to @steverubel for the suggestion on how to make that work.

If you’d like to follow me or share your activity streams with me on friendfeed, feel free to do so.

Add me on FriendFeed and check out what the fuss is all about | http://friendfeed.com/vjmario