The “live web” arrives on Twitter and FriendFeed

by on October 15, 2008

You’ve seen Twitter’s election feature that showed a select kind of tweet in real time. A few minutes ago FriendFeed released a real-time-web feature that lets you watch FriendFeed in real time. This is fun to watch! Especially on nights where everyone will be giving you their opinions on politics. More about this on FriendFeed’s blog. Of course we’re talking about this on FriendFeed too and on cofounder Bret Taylor’s feed.

Unlike Twitter’s page, which only shows Tweets, FriendFeed’s “real time web” shows you everything that people are doing on the Web including, but not limited to, videos, photos, blogs, event calendar items, tweets, and other things.

This is wild. It’s like the web has been turned into a chat room.

What do you think? Keep in mind that unlike a chat room each item you are seeing here has its own URL, its own RSS feed, and its own place on the Web. Also, unlike a chat room each item here can be commented on live, or you can like it, which will push it to the top of the old fashioned FriendFeed page.

This is also functionality that Facebook or MySpace does not have.

UPDATE: you can also see other people’s views of FriendFeed this way. Here, you can view my feed (which only includes about 3,500 people): http://friendfeed.com/scobleizer/friends/realtime

You can also view rooms this way. For instance, if you want to watch just the political room tonight as the debates go on, visit here: http://friendfeed.com/rooms/2008-debates/realtime

First bit of feedback after watching for a few minutes. Now we REALLY need to be able to talk to the database! I’d love to be able to say “show me all items that have the word ‘obama’ in them, but also that have two or more likes.” Imagine if you could do that. Wow.

Analysis: I still like the old style of reading FriendFeed better. Why? Because each comment cluster is threaded together so you get the context. Things aren’t moving so reading is easier too.

Compare the real time pages above to these:

http://friendfeed.com/scobleizer (my FriendFeed account, which shows everything I’ve put into the system).
http://friendfeed.com/scobleizer/discussion (the page that shows everything I’ve liked and commented on).

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  • Definitely a fun innovation, and a neat way to pass the time. Hopefully generations of kids won't be flunked out of school because they were watching their live friendfeed / facebook / myspace stream.
  • WOW! Its a really cool feature, much better than twitter because of its like/dislike and comments sections. I guess FF will lead in every aspect from twitter just because of these features.
  • Go javascript. JS is my friend. Spesh when put to good use. Thanks for sharing.

    Robert, I emailed you just now. Sorry for the delay, Yahoo wouldn't talk to Gmail for some reason. Within, there's a private link with some serious bizness. Long reading, you'll need a couple minutes and I appreciate your patience.

    For the rest of the world, here's something cheeky and fun (with a very very serious satirical message) --> http://electoralsexmap.com

    J.
  • ojbyrne
    Remember digg spy? http://blog.digg.com/?p=289
    Since I built it I'm kind of sad to see it go. But really this is just the same thing, within the friendfeed context. Actually not quite as sophisticated as spy was in 2005.
  • Dawn
    Robert, trying to watch your feed is literally making me motion sick!!
  • Todd Kitta
    Facebook has had live feed for a month or so ... given you can import "stories" and comment on each one - isn't this very similar?
  • Todd: can I share my Facebook live feed? No. Can I filter Facebook feeds by topic area like I can on FriendFeed? No. It's similar, but not the same.
  • Peter
    Actually, Facebook has had this feature for months: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?tab=2
  • peabody
    Hey look, FriendFeed has reinvented the CompuServe real-time chat room!
  • Chrisopher Coulter
    Wow, automated spam, chat-room spew styled. And that's a good thing? If it keeps you amused, away from blogging and human interaction, it serves a valuable purpose.
  • "Now we REALLY need to be able to talk to the database! I’d love to be able to say “show me all items that have the word ‘obama’ in them, but also that have two or more likes.”

    Yeah - and the more searching you allow, the more likely you can segment the resulting pageview into an ecommerce opportunity. If someone searches for "tennis enthusiasts" you'd be well served including an online tennis store and US Open ticketseller in the results.
  • well, it looks like a chat room and it dosn't seem to be some new invention either ...
  • got to try that
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