New FriendFeed is Fast and Furious

FriendFeed recently released a new design that has caused a lot of excitement among those who use it. Many are extremely upset by the new layout and unable to keep up with the new real-time style. Others are ecstatic about this new method for realtime chat. We previously talked about the upcoming features and how the new FriendFeed looks like Twitter, but a lot has happened since then.

Too Fast, Too Furious

FriendFeed updates in realtime. You will actually see new items appear on the page, pushing other items down. You will see new comments appear on threads in realtime even as you type your own response. Even if you’re only subscribed to a relatively small number of moderately active users, things can get hectic pretty quick. Don’t worry, though. You will get used to it and you will grow to love the onslaught of information.

If you get overwhelmed, you can simply pause the interface by hitting ‘q’ or pressing the pause button at the top. Also, moving your mouse over an item will temporarily pause the feed. It will also stop completely once you open the comment box.

Tacky, Tacky, Tacky

Many people hate FriendFeed’s new color-scheme and layout. It focuses more on user avatars and has completely removed the service icons that let you know where items came from. These were apparently confusing less techy users. As many of us thought once we saw the beta, there will be skinning/themes available at some point:

“Visual design is clearly a very personal thing — the appearance of our new interface is loved by many, and hated by others (though most people are probably somewhere in the middle).This is why one of the goals of the new design was to accommodate skinning/themes.We don’t yet know the exact timing of the release, but we hope to have a version 1 of themes available in a matter of weeks.” -Paul Bucheit via ReadWriteWeb

So, even if you absolutely hate the new color-scheme, sit tight. Good things are coming.

The Voice of a New Generation

FriendFeed has been heralded as a new form of real-time communication. Many old-school techies argue that it’s just a copy of the old Internet Relay Chat network. As a veteran of IRC, I would have to disagree with that evaluation. Sure, IRC was first. IRC is real-time. IRC has most of the features of FriendFeed, but there are some key differences:

• IRC is simply a protocol like HTTP or FTP
• IRC is text-based, so kiss your images and video goodbye
• IRC does not have conversation threading
• IRC is not web-based
• Nobody knows what IRC is or how to use it

FriendFeed’s current incarnation may remind us of technology we’ve seen previously, but it’s simply not the same. It’s like saying Facebook is simply a newer version of Myspace. FriendFeed is doing something that I haven’t really seen before. It’s a combination of it’s implementation, features, and community. Go take a look and tell me what you think.

About the Author
Rahsheen has been a certified geek since before it was the thing to do. He started programming and tinkering in the 4th grade. Now, Rahsheen mostly writes on various sites about technology trends in social media and mobile. . He is also a musician, singer, rapper, writer, and producer. @rahsheen - +Rahsheen Porter - coachrah.com
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