One Place for Your Many Online Lives
FriendFeed is tearing down the walls between Web haunts such as Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, etc.
BusinessWeek, April 10, 2008 — Attention, attention! The latest tech darling has arrived, and it goes by the name of FriendFeed. Silicon Valley is buzzing about the seven-month-old startup, which offers a promising if somewhat messy new Internet service. Part of the interest comes from the blue-ribbon pedigrees of its founders, including Google (GOOG) alums Paul Buchheit and Bret Taylor, who honchoed Gmail and Google Maps.
But just as much of the hullabaloo stems from how the founders are addressing a growing issue online: the balkanization of the Web. People are socializing on networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace (NWS) and sharing pictures and videos on Web sites including Flickr (YHOO) and YouTube (GOOG). But all these activities have been walled off from one another, like separate digital worlds. To keep track of friends and colleagues, you have to log in and out of different services constantly.


