Facebook continues to inch closer to competing with FriendFeed. Today the social network announced eight more services that you can import into the Mini-Feed on your profile. These include: YouTube, StumbleUpon, Hulu, Pandora, Last.fm, and Google Reader.
As we noted last month, you can’t really compare the services directly because whereas Facebook is simply aggregating the data and allowing you to do nothing with it, FriendFeed is predicated on conversations about this imported data. Still, one could imagine such a feature may be coming one day to Facebook as well.
Facebook also differs in that this importing of data is a very small feature of its expansive social network. One could have easily thought Facebook would kill a service like Twitter when it launched its Status Update feature for profiles, but that obviously hasn’t happened yet.
Previously, Facebook allowed you to import data from Flickr, Picasa, Digg, Yelp and Del.icio.us. I personally didn’t see too many of my friends using this feature, but perhaps the large expansion will help. I, for one, know that the Google Reader import will be useful to me as will the Blog/RSS import. However, unlike with FriendFeed, you can only import one blog/feed, which will force users to choose between their favorite sites.
One of the interesting additions here is the online premium video streaming site, Hulu. Apparently anytime you rate a show you watch there, it will be ported into Facebook. It would be a lot cooler if you could hit a button to embed an episode into your mini-feed.
We attended the small Facebook event earlier this week where the company showed off the upcoming profile changes. As we noted at the time, Facebook made it clear that there would be more of an emphasis on importing third-party data into the site. Consider this a first step.
FriendFeed continues to expand its service as well. Yesterday it rolled out a new “Rooms” feature, which allows for more focused conversations.
1:28 pm
Facebook Tries to Take the FriendFeed Concept Mainstream said:
[...] MG Siegler notes, the one big thing Facebook’s implementation is lacking right now in comparison to FriendFeed [...]
2:38 pm
Facebook Tries to Take the FriendFeed Concept Mainstream | World News said:
[...] MG Siegler notes, the one big thing Facebook’s implementation is lacking right now in comparison to FriendFeed [...]
3:13 pm
Facebook Adds More Feeds; Aggregation Space Heats Up « The Real McCrea said:
[...] early coverage and analysis by VentureBeats MG Siegler with a piece entitled, “Facebook triples the number of services you can import into your feed — moving in on FriendFeed?“. Subscribe in a [...]
4:07 pm
Facebook Tries to Take the FriendFeed Concept Mainstream | moraaz.org - feed all tech! said:
[...] MG Siegler notes, the one big thing Facebook’s implementation is lacking right now in comparison to FriendFeed [...]
8:47 pm
Keep Your Eyes On FriendFeed: It May Be The Google Of Social Networks » Webomatica - Technology and Entertainment Digest said:
[...] we have Facebook with their social stream and just today, they’re talking about pulling activity from more websites into their walled garden. Sound familiar? FriendFeed does exactly that. Is Facebook scared of [...]
11:19 am
Keep Your Eyes On FriendFeed: It May Be The Google Of Social Networks | 胡作非为 said:
[...] we have Facebook with their social stream and just today, they’re talking about pulling activity from more websites into their walled garden. Sound familiar? FriendFeed does exactly that. Is Facebook scared of [...]
11:12 pm
The only thing Twitter has to fear, is Twitter itself » VentureBeat said:
[...] you to create a stream of your data outside of Facebook’s walled garden. The recent steps by Facebook to emphasize importing 3rd party site data into your News Feed, suggests this comparison wasn’t far [...]
12:45 am
Facebook Tries to Take the FriendFeed Concept Mainstream | Alex McFarlane said:
[...] MG Siegler notes, the one big thing Facebook’s implementation is lacking right now in comparison to FriendFeed is [...]
10:31 am
Facebook adds comment to the Mini-Feed. It’s like FriendFeed is looking in the mirror » VentureBeat said:
[...] You see, it’s confusing because soon Facebook is rolling out the exact same functionality. Something which we foresaw last month after Facebook tripled the number of services from which you could import data. [...]
12:05 am
All of Facebook’s a stage, and its users merely players? » VentureBeat said:
[...] bugs. I’ve been looking at the new version for the past 24 hours and I still cannot get my imported items to show up correctly. Look at the image below. It’s apparently a glimpse at the code Facebook [...]
10:44 pm
Spotted: FriendFeed Beta — coming soon » VentureBeat said:
[...] Facebook encroaching on FriendFeed’s turf with feed importing and now comments, and with AOL buying FriendFeed competitor SocialThing, it seems to be the right [...]
10:44 pm
Spotted: FriendFeed Beta — coming soon » VentureBeat said:
[...] Facebook encroaching on FriendFeed’s turf with feed importing and now comments, and with AOL buying FriendFeed competitor SocialThing, it seems to be the right [...]
2:26 pm
Google finally ready to take Jaiku seriously? » VentureBeat said:
[...] but if it hopes to compete with the likes of Twitter, FriendFeed and the now status updating and feed importing Facebook, Jaiku is going to have to make inroads to show it can be taken seriously once again. Tags: [...]