Facebook + Friendfeed = ?
In 2007 a quartet of former Googlers took an idea and ran with it. The idea, to bring social content and news to a centralized aggregation location, did not run far. Once touted to be the next big thing in social networking, FriendFeed apparently did not have much to offer in order to satisfy the fickle tastes of tech-savvy consumers. Facebook, on the other hand, saw in the little start-up something they either liked or feared, so they bought it. As such, Facebook acquired FriendFeed on August 10, 2009, for a total of $47.5 million, in cash and stock options. It may have lost more in customer loyalty than it gained in profit.
With a whopping dozen employees, the shift from the FriendFeed offices to Facebook should prove to be seamless, at least for the employees of the two companies. The same may not hold true for die-hard Feeders out there who have grown to love the little service that just couldn’t, quite. Only time will tell how the former users of FriendFeed will adjust to the larger, more crowded Facebook. Facebook will undoubtedly continue to integrate many of FriendFeed’s nifty little gadgets and tools into its interface; that practice had been adopted a while ago. The question remains as to how much of an influence Facebook will have on the format of the FriendFeed user interface.
According to an article by JR Raphael on PC World (08/10/09), assurances abound from one of the founders of FriendFeed, Bret Taylor, about the longevity of FriendFeed’s independence. Taylor posted in his blog there are more plans to integrate FriendFeed tools into Facebook, but as of yet, no immediate plans are in the works to have Facebook swallow FriendFeed. This will undoubtedly be welcome news for long-time fans and users of the formerly obscure news aggregate. We tend to want to trust these guys, they brought us such handy services as Gmail, Google Maps and Google Groups.
Unless the four young entrepreneurs have turned into the cliched corporate sellouts, one could hardly assume they would jeopardize the integrity of their creation and their reputations-these guys clearly see something bigger and better in FriendFeed’s future with its bigger, more popular sidekick.
While internet users like to make a pretense of resisting change, change will happen, just by the very nature of the product. Web services are constantly being tweaked and one-upped, and this will be just one more thing to get excited about, for the time being. Again, only time will tell what the future holds for FriendFeed. What some may view as a hostile takeover, others may see as a life preserver. More than likely, FriendFeed will just be absorbed into the monstrosity that is Facebook, and join the ranks of the other courageous dot.coms that took the first steps out in the perilous journey through cyberspace, hoping to ride in on forefront of the new form of salesmanship and marketing. Feeders may just have to accept their pet corporation has been swallowed up by one of the big boys. Sigh. It happens. Fear not, the future of the internet is not at stake.
Image courtesy sxc/svilen1
Trina L. Grant is a self-styled social media guru who will chew your ear off about freelance writing and politics. Check out samples of her writing on her website, and see what she has to say about all things freelancing on her blog, Destination Freelance.
