Comments on: FriendFeed Is from Mars, Twitter Is from Venus

By: edythe

edythe — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:13:22 +0000

yep, i prefer friendfeed to twitter and am a big giant I.

By: Corvida

Corvida — Fri, 02 May 2008 18:49:58 +0000

I am an “E”. Stop analyzing me so well.

I didn’t find your post to be oversimplified in the least. I loved it. You made some great points, connections, and the comparison between us was dead on!

UI definitely factors in and does help me to not entertain Friendfeed as much as Twitter. I do love both though. I guess, I have more to say to my followers on Twitter than about the content on Friendfeed.

Now I’m going to go take the test again.

By: bhc3

bhc3 — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:27:56 +0000

@Elliott: The information discovery aspect of FriendFeed is what keeps me coming back there. And I think you’re hitting on another aspect of the differences between Twitter and FriendFeed.

Eric Berlin blogged that Twitter was becoming his new RSS reader (http://tinyurl.com/4pqhny). FriendFeed has become my primary RSS reader.

And it was great to meet you in person as well. Glad we’re connecting online!

By: bhc3

bhc3 — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:22:16 +0000

@communicatrix: Now there’s an interesting take. I hadn’t considered UI as a factor. I also like your sense that a preference for Twitter or FriendFeed is difficult to unpack. I think it’s going to take time for the reasoning to emerge. With Google Search, it seems like people understood their preference pretty early: (1) really good at returning relevant stuff; (2) simple, clean UI.

FriendFeed and Twitter are a little more abstract than that.

By: Elliott Ng

Elliott Ng — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:16:33 +0000

I’m an INTJ on Myers Briggs and a male. But more hooked on Twitter than FriendFeed. I feel like FriendFeed is more like a social Google Reader–focused on information discovery. Twitter is more like a cocktail party, except I can lurk in the background without feeling like a wallflower.

Interesting thought provoking post but not sure I agree yet. BTW nice meeting you in front of LouisGray’s booth at Web2Expo!

@elliottng

By: communicatrix

communicatrix — Fri, 02 May 2008 14:12:35 +0000

Hmm. Hmm.

I test on the “I” end of the intro-extro spectrum (INFJ, every danged time), I also have that extra “x” chromosome that Corvida has and I like Twitter way more. It’s a difficult preference to unpack–I’ve been thinking on it for a full five minutes now, which is, like, an ETERNITY in internet time.

This may sound nuts, but I think a major factor in my preference might be UI. FriendFeed is just so damned ugly and cluttered. I felt the same way about Google Reader (vs Bloglines) until I got Jon Hicks’ skin for it; now I’m happy with the superior features of GR and I can stand to look at it.

Maybe we can get Hicks to skin FriendFeed; maybe that would tip it for some of the ladies.

Again, hmmm…