Facebook Furthers Attack on FriendFeed, Adds Comments to News Feed
Posted by Nick O'Neill on July 31st, 2008 9:41 AMLate last night Facebook updated user newsfeeds under the new profile design. The move was expected as Mark Zuckerberg gave a first preview during the f8 keynote last week. The new feature enables users to filter through “Top Stories”, “Status Updates”, “Photos” and “Posted Items”. This means that users are now going to have access to many more news stories beyond the pre-filtered ones that Facbeook chose to display. There are two significant changes to this update.
FriendFeed-Like Commenting Added
One of the most significant changes is that there is now commenting on certain news feed items directly from within the feed. This is one of my initial complaints when Facebook launched commenting for the mini-feed. My guess is that we will start seeing a lot more commenting taking place as the new site design is rolled out to more users. One downside of this new feature is that not all stories can receive comments. It appears that you can add comments to all posted items, none of the photos, some of the status updates and certain stories within the “Top Stories”.
While it is not a total addition of comments, this is yet one more step that Facebook has made to totally duplication all of FriendFeed’s functionality. As Facebook adds the ability to import from more sources, they will eventually replace FriendFeed for mainstream users.
The Return of Story Preferences
Facebook removed the first iteration of preferences on news feed stories which simply displayed at thumbs up and a thumbs down. This time around Facebook has gotten a little more specific. You can now choose whether or not you want more or less stories about a specific user and more or fewer instances of a specific type of story (e.g. Posted Items, Events, Photos, and Videos). One thing that users can’t choose to reduce the frequency of is Fan Page additions. My guess is that this is due to Fan Page news feed stories are related to Social Ads.
It will be interesting to see if this new version of the news feed preferences will succeed.
Conclusion
It’s clear that the Facebook News Feed has received a total makeover. There is now the addition of comments to stories and the return of preferences. Facebook moves closer to full FriendFeed functionality with each new feature. Given the site’s reach, this could soon totally eliminate the need for using the FriendFeed site by mainstream users. It will be interesting to see how the FriendFeed - Facebook battle plays out. If FriendFeed plays their cards right they could end up getting acquired by a competitor of Facebook.
If they don’t play their cards right, I honestly think they could be rendered useless for most users.
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July 31st, 2008 at 9:54 am
I’ve seen commenting on my feed for quite a while for Google News items… and I have yet to see anyone use them…
July 31st, 2008 at 10:54 am
I’ve seen commenting on my feed for quite a while for Google News items… and I have yet to see anyone use them…
July 31st, 2008 at 10:57 am
So glad they finally added these features. I’d given up using FB in a meaningful way - too many friends & too few ways to sort them out. This is a great step in the right direction. Though more to be done.
July 31st, 2008 at 11:02 am
All the above new features are nice but why they change the latest friends status updates that appeared on the right side of the News Feed? They were really useful in seeing friends statuses at a glance…
July 31st, 2008 at 11:57 am
So glad they finally added these features. I’d given up using FB in a meaningful way - too many friends & too few ways to sort them out. This is a great step in the right direction. Though more to be done.
July 31st, 2008 at 12:02 pm
All the above new features are nice but why they change the latest friends status updates that appeared on the right side of the News Feed? They were really useful in seeing friends statuses at a glance…
July 31st, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I think commenting has been there for a few days actually — Sarah Perez and I had a comment thread going on Facebook about the new X-Files movie on I think Monday.
That said, strangely, commenting only appears one *some* of my news feed items. Most status updates have a comment link, for example, but a handful don’t. I can’t seem to figure out how Facebook is determining which items I should be allowed to comment on.
July 31st, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Yes, this new addition definitely puts FriendFeed in direct competition with Facebook but what I think is good about this is the fact that Facebook actually has the power to bring lifestreaming to a mainstream level, while FriendFeed (no matter how much I love it) simply has no such power.
July 31st, 2008 at 1:30 pm
The comments have been around for at least a few weeks — the new design just makes them more visible.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:09 pm
I think commenting has been there for a few days actually — Sarah Perez and I had a comment thread going on Facebook about the new X-Files movie on I think Monday.
That said, strangely, commenting only appears one *some* of my news feed items. Most status updates have a comment link, for example, but a handful don’t. I can’t seem to figure out how Facebook is determining which items I should be allowed to comment on.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Yes, this new addition definitely puts FriendFeed in direct competition with Facebook but what I think is good about this is the fact that Facebook actually has the power to bring lifestreaming to a mainstream level, while FriendFeed (no matter how much I love it) simply has no such power.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:30 pm
The comments have been around for at least a few weeks — the new design just makes them more visible.
July 31st, 2008 at 7:45 pm
So… my facebook account was deleted today by the admins.
This is pretty silly, as the only reason I’ve really used the site in the past few months is to pay for ads.
I wonder what’s going on there. I guess it’s impossible for me to get my account back though.
July 31st, 2008 at 7:48 pm
I don’t think there’s ever been a question in my mind that Facebook is competing with FriendFeed.
The newsfeed has been the central attraction of FB’s networking features (OK, OK, along with pictures and events) for some time, and I think FB is in a tough spot because disparate services like FriendFeed, FlickR, AIM, and Twitter could replace the centralized system much like the modern internet replaced AOL.
July 31st, 2008 at 8:45 pm
So… my facebook account was deleted today by the admins.
This is pretty silly, as the only reason I’ve really used the site in the past few months is to pay for ads.
I wonder what’s going on there. I guess it’s impossible for me to get my account back though.
July 31st, 2008 at 8:48 pm
I don’t think there’s ever been a question in my mind that Facebook is competing with FriendFeed.
The newsfeed has been the central attraction of FB’s networking features (OK, OK, along with pictures and events) for some time, and I think FB is in a tough spot because disparate services like FriendFeed, FlickR, AIM, and Twitter could replace the centralized system much like the modern internet replaced AOL.