The new Friendfeed service has gone live and it’s clear that two features are driving the update.
If you’ve never used the Friendfeed web site before – think of it as a place to look at all the items your friends online are sharing.
For example, each time that I send a message on Twitter, or post a story on GearDiary or upload a new picture to Flickr – all that activity is captured in my Friendfeed Stream.
Really there are arguably two big changes:
First, everything is in real time. And it can zoom by pretty fast (Tip: Use the pause button in the upper right of the tab labeled home).
Prior to this Friendfeed beta you could see the postings of your friends in real time but it was an option. Now by default all postings flow by in a real time steady stream of too much data.
Lot’s of people are reporting that the flow is too fast. Those with many friends that they follow will probably be unable to concentrate.
Friendfeed addicts, who seem to monopolize the service, will be glad to see the real time feed. It means their postings appear even more often because every time someone posts a comment about one of their stories or links then their post automatically flows to the top of the stream where it is noticed by everyone who follows them.
Second, and perhaps coolest for me, you now can create saved filters. So if you happen to be watching for people’s reactions to a new book or movie – save the keywords as a filter and when you visit you have one click access to any new content that’s been saved regarding your search/filter term(s).
Overall I see Friendfeed as a sneak peak at what will be coming on Facebook. Several Friendfeed addicts had commented that these features would be copied by Facebook (hasn’t Facebook already announced a real time feed). One things for sure, Friendfeed is a lot prettier, faster – and more additive.
