When I wrote about the age of the lifestream being upon us, little did I know what was about to happen just around the corner with Facebook's acquisition of Friendfeed. Call the title of my post the understatement of the century, for this incident has changed the game completely and immediately. 

While I attempt to wrap my brain around the implications for marketers, here are some thoughts from others:

"This is Facebook firing a shot at Google, not at Twitter. Twitter is mere collateral damage but Facebook knows the real money in real time is in search. FriendFeed has real time search. Google does not." -- Robert Scoble

"[L]ifestreaming is going mainstream!" -- Steve Rubel

"We’ve heard from one source that...the deal is largely a talent acquisition by Facebook, and less about the Friendfeed product. Friendfeed has 12 employees, and all but one are engineers." -- TechCrunch

"Facebook will get even bigger. This is why I have emphasized three main sites when building your social media base - Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The small sites will continue to get swallowed up." -- Shama Hyder

"Instead of having networks of Twitter users or network of Flickr groups, we can have groups that are united not by their platform of choice, but by their ideas." -- Michelle Greer (Best analysis and quote I've seen so far.)

"Since I first tried FriendFeed, I've admired their team for creating such a simple and elegant service for people to share information." -- Mark Zuckerberg

"Now, one has to wonder if it wouldn’t be easier if Google (GOOG), the cash machine of a search giant, finally ponied up and bought the most recent star of Web 2.0? That would be, of course, Twitter." -- Kara Swisher

In response to Kara's question, did anyone think there would ever be another outcome? It comes down to two players, Google and Microsoft. Now that the Blue Monster has its claws in Facebook, do you think for a moment that Google won't scoop up Twitter for some amazingly phenomenal price? The inevitability of this action seems as plain as the nose on my face. 

I'm going to spend whatever time I can today cogitating over this, for I think it's one of the singular most important events to happen in tech this year. One thing is for sure, lifestreaming has just taken on an entirely new level of importance. Just what remains to be seen.

Posted via email from Paul Chaney's [Other] Blog


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