Facebook’s Comments to the Mini-Feed or Communication goes Both Ways

Have you noticed the new comments to the Mini-Feed feature on the Facebook? It’s a great feature.

Facebook used to be a place where the main communication was direct – interactions on friends’ walls, you had to go to their profiles in order to see what they’ve changed and what’s up with them, messages, tagging photos and more.

However, for a while now, there has been a shift. It started with the introduction of the news-feed and the way it was portrayed as the homepage, which shifted the concentration on what your friends are doing through indirect communication. You hear about your friends, without actually interacting with them.

But today, when I tried out the new commenting feature, it felt like old times. It actually made me check out profiles of some of my good friends which I don’t always check out. It made me feel that I am a part of the profile, not just a viewer – which can make one feel like a stalker at times. (Though Facebook should connect these comments to the notification system – I don’t think they have, which is a shame).

That’s why the new commenting feature on the Mini-Feed is so great (and yes, even if it is copied from FriendFeed). It helps keep the communication flowing back and forth. Because communication goes both ways – and that is key.

The Facebook Newsfeed is boring

Really. It is.

In fact, I never really liked it that much.

I remember when they added the newsfeed feature. I HATED it so much then. Couldn’t bring myself to read it or even look at it. It gave me a feeling that it’s all about prying. It made me feel that Facebook was such a nosy media, just by adding the newsfeed. And it is so public. I didn’t do anything for months so that it won’t show up about me. It took me a year to stop clicking on my own “Profile” every time I logged in to Facebook – to stay away from the “home”, where all the data was thrown in my face(book).

The only time that I used to actually read it was when they had the “Like/Didn’t Like” X/V check feature next to each item. That made me feel that it was some sort of task on my “to do” list when I was logged in, which I should complete. To make sure I responded to every item (most of them with X). And I never looked at an item more than once, because it was already taken care of.

But now, I scheme through it very briefly, and miss a lot of things, because it is just not interesting enough. The nosiness aspect is not as much of an issue, because most users now joined facebook after the feature has been included, and are aware of the fact that their every move is broadcasted.

But I just don’t feel that the data there is of importance to me. It is (mostly) just simply boring.

I’m late

I’m such a late early adapter. I adapt to new technology/trends very late compared to people around me, but that’s way before the rest of the market. This is because I’m fortunate enough to always hang out with very early adapters.

Was lucky enough to have a pc at home before everybody did, because of my family. To have an internet connection before my classmates had – back from the time of mIRC. I remember staying up all night on the chat, while still in elementary school. It was such an amazing notion, to speak with people from different countries right at home.

And when I went to Brown University, I signed up to facebook, even though I was reluctant to do so (“me? to post my picture on the internet? no way”) -  but I still ended up joining before most of the world.

So I feel that I’m a very late adapter, but that early and late it is all relative to your environment. Therefore even though I’m late compared to the people surrounding me, I tend to be way ahead of the rest of the market.

Do you feel that way too? I’ve always wondered how unique my position is as a late-early adapter. Are most people indeed either early adapters – “yea I’ll try that even though/because no one has”, or late adapters – “I’ll only do it after it has been accepted as mainstream”.

Stereotype me

Something funny I noticed recently in a social experiment some students were conducting, in form of a Facebook group. The discussion board there was very active, and I wondered what do all these people have in common to be having such a lively discussion board.

The topic was “stereotype the person above you“. During their experiment, there was a new post every few seconds. I wanted to post as well, but every time I refreshed the page there were several new comments already. (meaning it wouldn’t be about the person above me, but about 4 persons up).

I kept thinking, what made all these people, and myself, want to know what is the stereotype people might have of them?

Whatchamacallit

It was Douglas Adams who said: “Technology is a word that describes something that doesn’t work yet.” (Thanks Oded for the quote, I was looking for it). I heard this recently, and I think it is very insightful.

There’s a difference between “technology” and a “product”. The difference being, that technology is the stage when it still just belongs to the “early adapters” realm. When it is already widely accepted you don’t call it “technology”. Instead of calling it “this new technology which let’s you do ex-why-zeee…” you call it “a fax machine”, “a phone”, “a stereo”, “a pencil”, “facebook”, or just “whatchamacallit“.

I love that word – “whatchamacallit“, when I was young my parents would use it every so often (as part of the Hebrish we spoke at home); I used to try and make believe that it means something about purchasing a Watch in the Makkolet (a local supermarket in Hebrew). Those were the days.

I didn’t even know it had a “correct” spelling. But apparently it does. What’d you know.

Wishing all you entrepreneurs that your products won’t be a “technology” but a “whatchamacallit”.

Facebook Toolbar for Firefox

Okay then, now that everybody is using facebook, I can let you in on a little secret. The facebook firefox toolbar. It can get annoying after a while, but it is a fun tool nonetheless once you start using it.

It allows you to see all your friends’ recent facebook activity, and your own data, instantly. It shows up as pop-ups – similar to Outlook’s emails, but… without the option to close these notifications. Oops. It can get especially annoying after a while, but you might really like it too. It’s also nice to see the stats you get on the toolbar – friend requests, events, groups, pokes…

And thanks to Roy who let me in on it. There are currently only ~40k active users on this application (which btw was developed by facebook) according to Adonomics. Which isn’t much I would say. I guess nobody has heard of it, and it’s not a viral application. Okay then now it all makes sense.

Check it out then.

P.S. Did you notice that I started linking to things inside the post? Hurray for me. (Yes yes I know, I’ve done it a gazillion times in the past. But not here.)