Friendfeed is a very powerful social platform and is touted by many to be superior to the likes of Twitter. At the same time, very few have serious followings (or subscribers) on Friendfeed that many people enjoy on Twitter. This, in some ways, concerns me.
One of the many touted features is the extreme power of the block feature. If you decide to block someone, all conversations, likes, direct messages and whatever else are gone. They are no where to be found and this includes search. Blocking someone doesn’t merely just stop further contact, it wipes the slate clean. So let’s reverse the situation and say you are the person getting blocked. This means all comments you have made, the likes and whatever else are being blocked and you can’t even search them… all at the simple click of a button. This is where I believe Friendfeed’s fatal flaw exists.
Currently Scoble has by far the largest following on Friendfeed, 32,000 and counting. A while ago he blocked me over a Twitter vs. Friendfeed debate. Instantly I saw activity around me start crashing down on Friendfeed. Scoble has such a large following that he reaches nearly everyone on Friendfeed, and being blocked from that seriously depleted activity on my stream. Now imagine if I happened to tick off the three biggest users on Friendfeed?
I would be the outcast of Friendfeed.
No longer would I see the activity I normally see, sure I could subscribe to some more people, but undoubtedly they are following the biggest people on Friendfeed and liking/commenting on their content often… none of which I would be able to see. The central powers of Friendfeed need to start spreading, being able to control so much information at the click of a button is too devastating to the community.
One place to start would be to get rid of that stupid “suggested users” list.
