Social Media News

Twenty-first century social media has transformed traditional views of web-based socialization; revolutionizing the privileges of user-generated content; as each user is allowed the opportunity to become his/her own unique media –- broadcasting themselves to a gathering of viewers of similar interests, yet diversified in many real ways. With newly created networks coming into focus each week, users have become devoured with a plethora of choices as they seek a place to unite with a sense of belonging. Augmented new-age social media, has forced sites like Myspace to become merely a distant memory; a site that at its 2006 peak boasted a population of over 75 million unique users –- responsible for 4.5% of all web visits in the United States. With minds encumbered by the luminosity of newly created networks, the question becomes which one is the right one; each offering distinctive subjectivities and functions. Devoid of limits, a single user can create membership to a sundry list of networks; hundreds if he/she pleases –- even with custom booklets, on this path, simple navigating among each would prove to be a labyrinthine task; not to mention maintenance of a sustainable foundation would illustrate daily/weekly impossibilities. To social media geniuses and advanced users who are affiliated with a few dozen networks; the answer rests within one simplified network is known social site –- Friendfeed, existing as a social media aggregator and the best networking for social communications.

Conundrums of possibilities exist with a diverse subculture of interests for each social media user, who possesses a single goal to expose themselves to variants while establishing socialization at each angle; to whom the modernized form of networking speaks –- by the creation of aggregators. Through widespread global use, respect of networking professionals, and its increasing popularity; Friendfeed is highly recommended when it comes to making the choice of which social network to establish residence at — as with Friendfeed, a user is without limitation he/she may join as many or as few as they wish without mayhem and stale site use. Working on the principal of collecting information from multiple sites, aggregator Friendfeed, an extensive collection of social data is fed into and displayed on a single page; information collected on each Friendfeed account becomes manageable and is then able to be fed out to a choice of sites –- through simplistic customized settings, users can choose what information gets sent out just as they reserve the choice of which sites to send the data from.  

Diverse in its usage, a single basic account can easily be created for a place in modern day media; however, most users use Friendfeed to the fullest extent of its capabilities. As a social media journalist with account membership at over 150 current or upcoming social sites, Friendfeed remains my top recommendation to all; especially those users who are connected with many networks –- aggregation is possible without any functions being limited or lost. With membership, it is of grave importance to utilize Friendfeed to ones advantage by becoming a glutton of all features provided, remembering that the features were created and tweaked for users to take full advantage of. In five easy steps, users can set up a functional account with Friendfeed and get started once membership is created and verification if completed via electronic mailing address; this address will be used if a user chooses to review updates, at this time becoming your real-time personal guide to what is happening with ones account.

First, is it most important to start by establishing a foundation of friends; each linked user page reserves the special title of subscription, just as a subscription would be for a newspaper and/or magazine for knowledge in the most current of events.  To obtain a user updates and connect, simply click subscribe; also to show how advanced and atypical Friendfeed is, those on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and blogs served by a Atom/RSS feed accompaniment can easily be imported to ones homepage and seen by others though settings by adding a custom RSS feed. On the right side navigational menu a user simply clicks “add/edit friends”; the returned page will allow the user to see all friends, create lists to sort friend by type, and by clicking “browse/find friends” a search can be performed for a person of interest. It is highly recommended to group friends by type, assorted categories will appear in the right navigation bar and each separate category can be accessed to show the friends within that specific group –- I personally recommend this as it is much easier to sort through user-generated content for the establishment of friendly communication, without missing a single thread/post made — this grouping also has the added benefit of easily sharing/liking and/or commenting on a thread/post.

Second, take steps to import as many social networks as possible through settings; at current Friendfeed allows importation from 56 social sites and unlimited Atom/RSS feeds –- with 2010 updates that number is expected to rise. This will allow content to filter into Friendfeed, even if updated on other sites; for the millions who use Twitter easily this filtered content can be exported out to Twitter in seconds –- the same amount of time, it takes for a sites information to be imported to Friendfeed.

Third, one should make a profile to uniquely identity themselves, due to the character limitation on profiles this is a perfect place to list descriptive keywords observing the popularized SEO statagy and/or include my second popular socialization recommendation of the functional site, SocialURL –- a site that allows each user to write a full description of themselves and list contact information, as well as to upload all sites of existing membership. In a simple short URL, your profile and sites will be handed out; taking place of the one, two, or two hundred links one may have to share.

Forth, posting content on Friendfeed is simple; each post is of 350 characters and can be copied to Twitter by clicking a check box, all threads/posts can be modified by the author for any reason at any time –- each post/thread can contain links, video, photos, documents, audio, slides, mp3s, and other files with a number being properly supported. I highly recommend using the copy to Twitter (CC) box, sporadically, but a change of settings can send a copy of each post to Twitter if the user desires; as well as import any Friendfeed comments, liked posts, medium import, and also export any social media import to Twitter. In addition, for users who find themselves needing more than 350 characters a short post/thread can be created and supporting information can be added via “comment” which are without character limitation; an option also awaits a user to export these comments to Twitter if desired –- however, confusion at Twitter may be yield as when a user comments on other users content that too gets sent to Twitter, so use this feature with caution.

Fifth, and final accounts to Friendfeed can be fully utilized by adding yourself to the hundreds of user-generated groups or simply create your own group(s); these groups range from various subjectivity and can house a single member or thousands of members per topic –- popular topics include but are not limited to social media, technology, computer gadgets, current events, celebrities and gossip, politics, debates, environmental issues, parenting, pregnancy, advocacy, etc… Each user can create unlimited groups of choice subjects by following the simple steps that allow for full customization of group name and group shortened name; each group can be public to all members, private to invited members only, or standard in which the owner posts messages on a public medium and users freely comment. Groups can be accessed in the lower right hand navigational menu by clicking “browse/edit groups”; searchable by keyword interest, created by clicking “create group” and managed as this page will allow one to see all membership.

As a top network of global proportions, the establishment of friendship and building of a network is quite easy; unlike Twitter Friendfeed was built on the key foundation for the active real-time trade of conversations — by connected and unconnected users. A distinctive goal for all social media users, especially those who have a business of their own, socialization is a significant point and Friendfeed can increase the weight of networking dramatically. Healthy tips for establishing communication via Friendfeed are as follows.

→ Pay close attention to your “home” and “best of the day” timeline as well as all customized groups made, as these are remarkable hyperlinks for those with the thirst for knowledge. One user-generated content of interest is spotted a user has three choices, all three can be completed for a better established impact; comment on the material, like the material, or share/forward the material so that it appears on your page sourced to the author. Strategic to building a network, any of these functions increase the chance at making a new subscriber and increasing your database of subscriptions as well. Remember that to keep a subscriber maintaining the two way transfer of information has to be made.

→ For self-generated contact that gets “liked” by Friendfeed members take the careful time to visit them; by clicking the username to retrieve their homepage. Scan their profile to get to know them better and look at the page for interesting content. Add them, if they are of interest. Personally, I add all users who “like” my content, only if they have properly utilized the social medium; sadly I cannot see private accounts so with regret I cannot use my digressions to subscribe to their pages –-  digressions are key in every aspect of increasing networking. Remember, that the high compliment is to have your content liked, thus return the compliment by liking their content. Once a subscription is properly established, timeline updates make this easy to keep up with – remember to always group new individuals by subject. Also, this works in the same manner for “sharing” a user’s content or having a user share your content; both are of great compliments –- as well as grounds for a starting friendship.

→ Don’t be shy to check out those who have proceeded you in a “like” to the content of interest; as this gives you a list of like-minded people. Explore their pages, add them if they are of your interest and properly use Friendfeed. Remember that Friendfeed is a network built on social communication; comment on, like, and/or share their content for a compliment to the material.  This behavior, kept up, increases network building simplistically as most times friendship on this medium is a two way complimented street.

→ Don’t be shy to answer users questions or participate in groups and open discussions – even if you do not know the user, this will allow you the change to get to know the mature friendly network of Friendfeed. By socializing well this will increase your exposure on Friendfeed and increase the chance that another member, with like-minded interest, will find the comment interesting and add you to his/her subscriptions. Remember this medium is a two way path, do the same for other interesting users; based upon the small comment reviewed. Remember to keep this up, one can do this during daily breaks, on the weekends, or a few times each week as weekdays are the most active –- some may even do such a few times a day, for greater exposure.

→ Know that just as you can subscribe to a users page updates, you can also increase your knowledge and network by subscribing also to their comments and their “likes”. To subscribe to users comments allows for socialization by joining in already existing like-minded discussions; to subscribe to “likes” will yield more knowledge as a vast assortment of content is liked by a large network of users. Personally I recommend subscribing to both, of course remembering digressions. I would not advise subscribing to these if a base friendship is not established; either by having the user comment on or like/share your content a few times; as it may appear nosy, again use digressions when making this choice. Subscriptions can be made by clicking on the “liked” and “comments” hyperlink on a users homepage; simply click subscribe and remember to group these also — personally I have created distinctive categories for “Friend’s Comments” and “Friend’s Likes”, you may thank me for the organization later as the “home” timeline gets quite busy with the more content you add.

→ Groups are a great way to make friends and gain like-minded subscribers; this is also a prefect section to share links if you are a journalist, writer, or blogger; but first you need to check the guidelines for the group as some  groups do not allow self-promoting –- and this will be seen as self-promoting. Be active in the group and check out your peers as their pages may yield something unique; I have found uniqueness quite common on Friendfeed as this social medium is a medium for just about everything.

For more Information & Friendfeed Tools:

FFHolic — A Directry of Friendfeed Users & Content Shared

Support Group — Friendfeed for Beginners

Notifier — Get Notified of New Content Being Posted on Friendfeed

Bookmarklet — Surf the Web and Share Interesting Content

(Copyright © Social-Media-News 2009)