DISQUS

Michael Markman (Mickeleh) · 1 year ago

"Exchange Rate"? Where are the kiosks where I can turn in 10 likes on Friend Feed for an actual comment on a blog?

Daniel J. Pritchett · 1 year ago

10 likes on FF can mean hundreds or thousands of additional eyes seeing your headline if not the first few comments on FF. Engage those users where they are most comfortable (i.e. FriendFeed) and then you can post a followup later if something great grows out of the comments.

Don't assume those hundreds or thousands of people would have read your post and commented on it had it not been shared to begin with.

Louis Gray · 1 year ago

Michael, the only downside of making CNs as virtual currency is that
this market has been tried and failed in the Web 1.0 timeframe.
Remember Flooz or Beenz and all those silly "fake money" companies in
the late 90s? The second I start implementing real exchange rates, CN
is bound to hit rock bottom, and I want to avoid that to preserve
Allen's reputation.

As for exchanging 10 likes on FriendFeed for a single blog comment, I
often will go through my FriendFeed lists and make likes because I
know it expands the exposure of people who wouldn't otherwise be seen.
It's interesting after a particularly active run to go back into my
own discussion list and see the additional likes and comments that
have surfaced in the wake. Often, I'd bet folks go back to the
original site and participate. FriendFeed is among my top referrals
every day, trailing only Google much of the time.

centernetworks · 1 year ago

I can't tell if this is a sarcastic post or serious. But you know what, your chart is pretty damn close to reality. I've said this so many times before - for bloggers who (are or are trying) to earn a living, the further you get away from the original blog post, the less you are doing to support the blogger. I see very little to no traffic from FF, even after the Scoble hits it with a "like". I would take a hacker news over a friendfeed any day. At least then people will come read my content on my site.

In a worst case scenario, someone reads my content in google reader, then goes to comment on it on ff. As I've said before, FF is nothing more than a conversation stealer. And now you have this crop of new conversation stealers like Shiftyr, SocialMedian, etc.

I've written enough about this topic before. I know it's impossible for the Gray/Scoble camp to see - no worries. It is interesting to watch Scoble run around town pushing FF links - he just did it last night on TC.

I wonder if he has a CB radio setup - "scoble we have a 10-92 at Mashable, respond urgently". 10-92 = blog post with commentary on FF but no link to the commentary... FF hq dispatches Scoble to take care of the situation - in fact that might just make a funny video :)

Thanks for bringing back the original CN green logo - aah the old days :)

Daniel J. Pritchett · 1 year ago

Allen,

For my small blog the conversations on FriendFeed are usually much busier and more rewarding than the conversation on my own site. I'm sure this is frustrating for someone who blogs for a living but in my case I'm just happy to see the conversations sprout.

I am pretty sure that the 5-10 FriendFeed comments I get on a given post are comments that just wouldn't have happened because most people wouldn't bother going to my site.

Rather than worry about great news discovery sites like hacker news or friendfeed "stealing" conversation, I'm going to welcome the increased audience and spend time trying to figure out how to thread these separate conversations together.

We've already got the great FriendFeed comments plugin available for WordPress and I include that on my template for a bit of cross-pollination. ReadWriteWeb does it as well!

I understand that the "just scrape the comments into your site" solution isn't always viable and certainly won't scale beyond two or three scrapers but in the end these new conversations are something to be valued.

Please don't turn into the Jack Valenti of blog comments!

Louis Gray · 1 year ago

Allen, I've been thinking about the issue for some time, clearly, and
I know your concerns have quite a bit of merit. There's a certain
level of effort and investment needed to engage with blog authors to
enable conversations, and the best way to do that today is through
comments. I did present it in a fun tone, but I'm glad you see the
chart as being close to reality, with some exchange rates to be moved
up or down of course.

I wouldn't say it's "impossible" for the Gray/Scoble camp to see your
comments on these new sites being conversation "stealers", as you can
see from the post, I'm listening, and I know Robert (though there is
no Gray/Scoble camp) sees your comments too. But where we differ is
that I do recognize the change and I don't think you can proverbially
unring that bell. The conversations are taking place in more diverse
places, and I think it behooves the blog owner to be aware and
participate.

Thanks for letting me use the logo, and I give you 1 CN point for your
well thought out comment here this morning.

centernetworks · 1 year ago

I am just waiting for the leaderboard! :-P

I will have more on this later - when I say "gray/scoble" camp - it's because I think both of you are on the same side of the issue... it's ok, I will win you over, don't worry.

Daniel J. Pritchett · 1 year ago

Everyone reading this post needs to be aware of the excellent splinter discussion cropping up on FriendFeed! There's also a "Find on FriendFeed" link at the bottom of the post.

Jeff Tippett · 1 year ago

Great post here. Has me thinking more about my personal habits for sharing. So, instead of just tweeting (which also ends up on FB and FF) about the post--I'm also commenting here. Thanks for all the data.

Jeff Tippett
jefftippett.com

Chris Nixon · 1 year ago

How can I cash in my credits? Or is this some sort of Karma thing? I have to agree, it's great when somebody promotes your content, but it's even better when they take time to engage.

Scobleizer · 1 year ago

Going for some CN here! :-)

Louis Gray · 1 year ago

You're up to 1.3 CN given your like and comment on FriendFeed. Want to rack up the CN? Blog about it. :-)

Scobleizer · 1 year ago

If a CN were actually worth something I might bother with it. Heheh.

unclaimed · 1 year ago

I think if you want to "put food on a blogger's table" it's probably better to find a tasteful way to incorporate a donate button on her/his blog or use a subscription model rather than asking the "audience" to work. If you or Chris Brogan or Scoble were reading my blog (if I had one I was actually "working") and you Google shared or Tweeted links, that'd be worth at least as much as hundreds of visitor comments. Hmmm, I've used too many quotes. :)
So, long story short, your philosophical system doesn't weight comments by who makes them, yet that would make a huge difference. In the meantime, certainly some of the "great post" comments are made by people hoping to be seen. I'll make this one unclaimed to prove there's no agenda.

Hobby Press · 1 year ago

I need my 10 dollars now. My paypal is....

Louis Gray · 1 year ago

Of course it will matter who the commentor is, to the blogger. But to the person making the action, the effort matrix does not change. While a visible person's Twitter account may reach more than their comment, it is less personal. Besides, even I wanted to, I can't change from me to Chris Brogan and back again between actions.

Jeremy Toeman · 1 year ago

How many CNs do you get for a Schrutebuck?

Jeremy Chone · 1 year ago

Liked this

(What the CN for this?)

Anyway, joke aside, I like this chart, would be nice to have a service that keep track CN ratings.

Jeremy Chone · 1 year ago

also, it would be nice for the blog community to be able to track these external CNs back to the original content. Perhaps using the ping/track back, not sure, but services like friendfeed should find a way to give a little bit more link love.