Pownce Needs To Pownce!

Twitter is on the ropes: Pownce should Pownce. The early adopter crowd has NOT jumped overboard and left Twitter. I am unsure why. Pownce appears to be a superior product. I am not debating its merits versus Twitter. Pownce has stability on it’s side. Pownce may have a smaller user base but at least the site stays up.

But for the last few weeks the focus is all about how to fix Twitter. Twitter is really only known to the early adopters and is very simple in concept. The concept for the application is not difficult. Why don’t the users jump ship?

This is a tremendous opportunity for others in this space. Pownce and FriendFeed are positioned to take advantage.

Pownce should definitely well you know Pownce! The time is now. Pownce should step in the ring with press release after press release and knock Twitter around. They should be wowing with features and make people wonder why they ever stuck with Twitter in the first place.

In the last couple of days many things have been written about the new startup Plurk that is just another Twitter clone. Pownce shares files, it has a good established API, and is an established application with an existing user base. The time for Pownce is now.

What would it really take for the users to bolt? Would all it take is for Scoble and several other A list bloggers to band together and choose a replacement.

Let me reiterate that Twitter is very simple. I could see potential in FriendFeed implementing direct messaging and crushing Twitter. That does not appear to be FriendFeed’s goal.

Well someone let me know please why has Pownce not Pownced!

Who is in your FriendFeed Zone?

Who is in your friendfeed zone? Check out this link. Your friendfeed zone is:

“This little app grabs all the subscribers of the person you enter and also all their subscribers – so it defines your zone as everyone up to two steps away from you. It then simply tabulates how many people are following everyone in the zone and presents the top 100 influencers in that zone and a graph of the top 25.”

The blogpost introducing FriendFeed Zone is here.

Is An IFrame Integration?

What constitutes real integration and what is just silly? Integration to provide additional functionality is great. But my question is that really being done. The following are 3 examples using 3 different methods of so called integration all using iframes.

Readburner recently released an update that combines Google Reader into the ReadBurner site. It is being called Google Reader integration. It is actually no more than a tab with an iframe for the google reader site.
As I said before I am using FFapps.com to expand the FriendFeed functionality. One of the Greasemonkey scripts they have released is called FF Tabs. It adds a tab to FriendFeed called Techmeme and when clicked on simply embeds Techmeme into FriendFeed as an IFrame.
The third is a bookmarklet I read about today on Louis Gray’s blog that combines Google Reader into friendfeed via simple bookmarklet. When FriendFeed is open you click the bookmarklet and Google Reader is pulled in.

Readburner coded this iframe as functionality into their site, the second is a user created Greasemonkey script, and the third example is a user generated bookmarklet all created to add functionality via IFrame.

We all use tabbed browsers correct? What are we really gaining? I always have multiple tabs opens that include Google Reader and FriendFeed. Are these IFrames true functionality? I would say NO. They are nice but not really that helpful.

I am all for true innovation and integration this just is not it.

FriendFeed Apps

Loving FriendFeed Apps and the greasemonkey scripts that are being produced. If you are a FriendFeed user this site is a must. I am currently using:

  • Tabs – add custom FriendFeed tabs and never leave the site again!”
  • Show Domains – displays the domain name of all shared links”
  • TinyURL Resolver – enables one-click instant inline preview of TinyURL links that show up on FriendFeed”

They also have other scripts as well. If you are not trying greasemonkey scripts for FriendFeed I highly recommend that you try them out. Link

FriendFeed Noise Solutions

I read a post today titled “Proposal to Clean Up the FriendFeed Clutter” by Hutch Carpenter. It clearly outlines some of the noise problems with FriendFeed.

I have seen the need for change to the FriendFeed stream for weeks now. The problem in a nutshell is that the same link appears over and over as it is submitted to multiple services by multiple users. One destination but many entries in my stream.

The stream is noisy. Some may like it noisy but I would like it to be quieter.

I first discussed the multiple link problem in conjunction with what I called ‘The FriendFeed Disjointed Comments Problem.” The same links clog the stream over and over. My point was that many different places for comments existed. Every entry that existed had the potential for comments and conversation. But comments are a different issue. For more on the comments problem see Comments Floating in the Blogosphere.

Mr. Carpenter gives 2 possibilities for how the data could be presented to eliminate noise in the stream.

  1. Person-centric: if a user has the same feed more than once, the same-link feeds are aggregated together under a common link for the user
  2. Link-centric: all same-link feeds for all friends appear under a common link

I am in favor of the Link-centric approach. This has already been coined the “techmeme way.” Some including Corvida are against it.

Bret Taylor of FriendFeed has already commented on Mr. Carpenter’s post saying:

“Great ideas… We have been thinking through these issues as well, and it is great to see such detail and mockups.”

I agree Mr. Carpenter’s article certainly gives food for thought.

My point is let the user decide. The data being presented can be displayed in several different ways. How about giving the user several different ways to customize their stream. Person-centric, Link-centric, the current approach, and many other ways could be developed.

It would be great for FriendFeed to implement several and let the user decide how they want to view their stream.