I spoke to Caleb Elston the Toluu founder about this feature.  He said,

“We actually decided to build in this functionality when we found ourselves passing by feeds because we didn’t want to wait for the page to load or have to hit the back button. Since we weren’t always willing to take a risk on a feed to see if it might be interesting we knew other users wouldn’t either.”

This should save users time and give you a better idea of the content of a feed.  Caleb had discovered first hand that feed titles may be bad but the content worth taking a look at.  He mentioned that while testing this feature he had “already found a few more blogs I had no idea existed.”

I previously made a long Toluu enhancement list I titled “My Toluu Wishlist” based upon the great potential I see in the young application. Toluu’s development in the last month has seen dramatic speed increases throughout the site and many UI enhancements.  Toluu continues to roll out features.

If you tried Toluu early on I urge you to give it another try.  It is faster, much more responsive, and the UI is more intuitive.  If you need an invite I have some.   Leave a comment if you want one.

I read an article this morning titled “The Evolution Of Wordpress.”  Wordpress is the fabulous CMS software that powers this blog.  Hack wordpress a great blog that I read was commenting on the changes and improvements the Wordpress software has seen.

In the same way the advances in Social media are dramatic.  Systems, methods, and technologies that many rely on were not around or were in infant stages just 5 years ago. 5 years in technology terms is a enormous amount of time but in the real world 5 years is a blink of an eye.  The web as we know it has changed dramatically in the last 5 years.  Its modern inception is only a mere 15 years or so old.

Web applications have given this ‘have it now crowd’ nearly instant gratification.  I have commented before that I am amazed at the feature development of some of the current Web apps.  Just bursting into prominence in the last 6 months or so FriendFeed and Toluu continually wow me with enhancements.

Social Media Addiction

Do you remember life before a cell phone?  Perhaps the cell phone era is difficult to remember we have come to rely on them so heavily. Now when I leave my cell phone at home despite $4 a gallon gas prices I turn the car around and go back for the phone.

I think many of us have the same thoughts about social media.  We have become so attached to Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook, and any other social media application that application failure is devastating.

The twitter addicts have been hunting all over for a place to get their fix.  They have stirred the blogosphere into a buzz over start-ups like Plurk and identi.ca.

The twitter addicts seem to have become attached to Twitter in the same way they are attached to power, water, and other necessities of life.  They seem to be the most rabid.  But I venture to say that Gmail, FriendFeed, or Google Reader went down in the way twitter has I would be equally as frantic.  Social media addiction is prominent.

Declare Your Independence

I challenge you to declare your independence from Social media at least for some period of time.  Declaring your independence will assist you in breaking your cycle of addiction.  This should assist in the event that your favorite application goes down or becomes unreliable.  So take a break from social media.

Perhaps we should stop for a minute and smell the fresh air.  It is summertime. We should take a break and get outdoors.  We could take our families on vacation.  I recently saw a user friendfeeding on vacation from the beach.  This flickr image appeared in the friendfeed stream posted from the beach.  Could the addiction be anymore evident?  No friendfeeding or twittering during family time.   Take a break so you can appreciate and enjoy social media later.

Forget the blogging formulas.  Blogging is not an exact science.  That is why we are all different.  As human beings there are no 2 bloggers who write exactly the same. Writing / Blogging is an expression of one’s thoughts and ideas.  Some bloggers are good at it and some are not.

I read a post today from CopyBlogger titled “3 Things to Consider When Deciding How Long Your Blog Posts Should Be.”  There are no three things to consider when determining the length of your blog post.  The CopyBlogger post listed “TONE, POSTING FREQUENCY, and POSTING SCHEDULE” as the three things to consider.

I could not disagree more with the Copyblogger post.

Formulaic Consistency

The three things suggested seem to center around creating a consistency for your blog.  Consistency in posting, in style and topic, and in posting schedule.

If I read 100 feeds in my feed reader I do not expect consistency from all posts of the blogs I read. I like the fact that when I open Google Reader I will get a new post with a different take.  I do not expect consistency and really do not desire it.  I like variety, new, and different content from the same sources.

Consistency is one of the formulaic things that can limit content.   I want fresh content.  I want fresh ideas.  I want bloggers that I read to write when and what they want to.

Blogging Motivation

Another problem I have with the CopyBlogger post is there are not 3 things to consider when determining post length.  Blogging with a blogging formula seems to me to be a misplacement of motivation for writing.

Why do you blog?  Who is your blogging for?  Do you blog only for SEO?

I do not think content should be geared solely around SEO.  What will my readers like? What will be popular?  What is relevant for post success?  Those are questions that are not valid to me.

Forget the blogging formulas.  Are you blogging because you like to write or is there some other purpose?

The only thing I consider when writing a blog post is did I get my point across.  Do I need more words to express the point of the post?  If the answer is “Yes” then I continue to write and if the answer is “No” I am finished.

Mythical Blogging Rules

The CopyBlogger post stated:

“Many bloggers are afraid of breaking the “rules” because they want to succeed so bad. Conformism is a social more many are afraid to break across many spectrums; not just in business. But, sometimes success comes when you break all the rules.”

I agree in part.  You will be successful when you come to the realization that there are no rules.  The “rules” are a myth.

Forget the Blogging Formulas.  Write what you want when you want because the rest is just bologna.

Below is an Image of my FriendFeed Stats:

Mike Fruchter posted overnight “10 people you should follow on Friendfeed.”  I appeared as #5 on his list.  I am happy to say he is one better at #4 on my list.

1		Louis Gray
2		Corvida
3		J. Phil
4		Mike Fruchter
5		Robert Scoble
6		Hutch Carpenter
7		Sarah Perez
8		Steven Hodson
9		David Knight
10		Caleb Elston

I checked my stats (see above) and found that he was the top result in those that found me interesting.  I will try to post these stats around once a month to see how they change.

Find Me on FriendFeed - Franklin Pettit

I sign up for almost every web application/service available. I try the alphas and the betas. I use OpenID or create logins. My GMail is crammed with automated emails. Many of the services add social networking features. I add some of the same friend’s on almost every service.

I have user accounts on hundreds of websites. I am not claiming to be in the top 1% of early adopters either. I would venture I am in the top 50%. Off the top of my head I have tried, Social Median, Profy, Toluu, FriendFeed, Diigo, TripSay, TradeVibes, Jott, Xoopit, Yokway, RememberTheMilk, Skribit, Woopra, Newscred, Socialthing, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, and MyBlogLog many many others all in the last 6 months.

OpenID is a good idea. We all could use one less username and password combination to remember. But once you are signed up for the service my questions begin.

My remorse centers around several questions.

• When I sign up for a service who owns the data? Can I get data out that I put in? - The most annoying would have to be Facebook and their strangehold on user data. But generally I want the ability to export any data I put in.
• How many annoying emails will I receive? Can I effectively opt out of them? - If a startup begins without some set small set of options for email notifications I contend it is doomed for failure.
• Can I block users on the service? Can I import contacts from other services? – The Hide function on FriendFeed makes it one of the most useful applications around. Functionality that allows the end user to customize their experience even a little is a brilliant benefit.
• How do I quit the service all together? – What if the service is just not for me. I do not ever want another email about it. I just want to quit and be assured my data is destroyed.
• Is the application just a proof of concept? Is active development taking place? – Toluu is my greatest example of this. Toluu enhancements have been implemented and rolled out so quickly that there is no doubt that the application is in active development. Let me reiterate I understand the effort that scalability and keeping an application running takes. The development must continue and readily be seen by the end user.

Have you ever had subscriber’s remorse?

Louis has shown great interest and respect for the small unknown blogger.  Since March he has been profiling 5 Blogs a month.   March, April, May and June.  The small blogs he has spotlighted have taken off and many are must reads in my google reader now.  These blogs have included Hutch Carpenter, Charlie Anzman, SheGeeks, Julian Baldwin, Michael Fruchter, Mark Dykeman, Colin Walker, Alexander van Elsas, and many other outstanding blogs.

I am honored to be included in the list for July.  I am included in great company.  I already subscribe to two of them.  I have already been reading Nathaniel Payne’s NerdFlood and David Risley but can not wait to check out the other two as well.  Here is the list:

1) Bob Warfield / SmoothSpan Blog (smoothspan.wordpress.com)

2) Jesse Stay / Stay N’ Alive (www.jessestay.com)

3) Franklin Pettit / FPettit.com (www.fpettit.com)

4) Nathaniel Payne / NerdFlood (www.nerdflood.com)

5) David Risley / DavidRisley.com (www.davidrisley.com)

Thanks Louis for the link and mention.   I am honored to be in the company of your monthly featured bloggers.  I better get posting.  I currently have 33 open drafts in Wordpress.  It is time to finish some off and put out more content.

The much hyped download day was not without its problems as we remember.  But the record was set and FireFox 3 is great.

If you do not use FireFox click the button above and download it now.  I will admit I was a little late to the FireFox party.  Although probably still qualifying as an early adopter I did hesitate switching from IE.

The reason to switch is addons.  The FireFox wealth of browser extensions make it the must use browser for Windows.

The following is my everyday list of addons that I run.  If I had to pick one and only one it would be Tab Mix Plus.  I can not run FireFox without it. Tab Mix Plus gives you total control over your Tab behavior.

Here is my list of the current addons I am running.  Info Lister does a great job of listing the extensions and plugins you have installed.  As a result it was very easy to produce this list.

• Down Them All
• Info Lister
• Copy Plain Text
• Copy All URLs
• Better Flickr
• Better Google Reader
• Better GMail
• Greasemonkey
• Tab Mix Plus
• Colorful Tabs
• Ad Block Plus
• Nuke Anything Enhanced
• CoLT
• StumbleUpon Toolbar
• CookiePie
• MinimizeToTray
• PicLens
• Zemanta

I love FireFox 3 but unfortunately some of my favorite extensions from the list have not been updated yet.  FireFox without the extensions is still a great browser but the addons make it the only one I ever use.

Early adopters may give the application a try but unless the buzz takes off development may be very slow.  Toluu is not normal.  Toluu breaks the mold.  I keep writing about Toluu because of its changing growing feature set.  I also see the enormous potential for an application like Toluu.

Caleb Elston the Toluu founder has done a wonderful job at taking a different tact in assuring the success of his startup.  The difference is the continuing feature development.  He has continually made hardware and software developments.  The applications stability, feature set, and application speed are drastically improved from a mere 2 months ago.

Today Toluu rolls out another set of features enhancements aimed at improving the user experience.  The enhancements include UI changes to the Matches screen, the Contacts page, and the Subscribers feed view.

The matching view is improved with the ability to add contacts directly from the view.  3 filtering options were added.  All-Time, This Month, and This Week are now available as options.  “This month” and  “This Week” will display matches from new users from the past week or month.  The Matches UI also includes a total match count.  Caleb said about the matching,

“I was finding the page was getting stale for me and so I wanted to make it more useful.”

The contacts page was also improved to be cleaner and displays a total contact count.  Even small UI improvements are great for the end user.

On a feed page the subscribers tab was added in last round of enhancements to let the user see who was subscribed to that feed.  This view has been improved as well letting you add contacts directly from this view.

I talked with Caleb about these enhancements and this stuck with me;

“We hope these new updates will help people connect easier and in turn make their time on Toluu more fruitful.”

The simple little UI changes decrease the learning curve for new users, make existing users happy, and contribute to the overall feel of the application.  Toluu’s attention to detail and constant improvements make this application one to watch.

More enhancements are on the horizon for Toluu as well it seems.  Would you like to try it? Leave a comment I have invites.

Louis Gray recently wrote his feelings about the stages of an early adopter. Early adopters may be fickle at times but many are currently on the same page it seems in love with the lifestreaming service FriendFeed. I admit FriendFeed is the place to be in my opinion.

FriendFeed is currently the hangout du jour for early adopters. But the broad early adopter appeal for FriendFeed goes far beyond mere lifestreaming. The service has become a place for community, a sounding board, a peer hangout, an industry watercooler, and certainly many more things.

As a result FriendFeed is being used as a place for research, analysis, and early adopter community feeling on many social media issues.

Early Adopters are the heavy social media users of the Web 2.0 products. Start up developers like Toluu founder Caleb Elston are able to use Twitter, FriendFeed, and a specific FriendFeed Toluu room as an avenue for user feedback, feelings, and product appeal.

With a community freely giving feedback an opportunity exists via the web that previously did not. Web 2.0 start-ups can gain valuable user opinions earlier in the development cycle with no cost to the start-up by utilizing a social network like FriendFeed.

Blog Post Material

From the obvious department let me just state: If you need a blog post idea hop on over to FriendFeed. The conversation is on every topic and you can begin the conversation yourself.

Many have taken conversations that occurred on FriendFeed and expounded upon the conversation to become detailed blog posts. This is good. Fractured conversation on FriendFeed is often conversation that would have never taken place otherwise and leads to more content.

Taking Temperatures

In the realm of gathering research many are using FriendFeed for direct research by temperature taking the early adopters. I am seeing this practice grow. Mike Fruchter in particular has used the discussion for later blog post material.

I have seen him ask direct questions on several occasions directly in what I would describe as a user polling temperature taking method.

This is a fabulous concept. If you have a group of people that have similar interests all in the same place it certainly is a good opportunity to ask them a question. Asking a question like this one:

“Research post - What are your dislikes about del.icio.us? What features is del.icio.us lacking?”

This was asked today by Mike Fruchter and generated beneficial discussion to Mike for post research but could potentially be great feedback for the del.icio.us team. It also was very beneficial to other users like me who might want to weigh and measure a product like del.icio.us against its competitors.

I commented the following in the middle of the conversation to Mike: “I like the way you have been using FriendFeed for research and early adopter temperatures. It is a good idea.” His response:

“@Franklin thanks. Friendfeed has truly become a powerful research tool, in some aspects more powerful then Google. It’s amazing watching this rapid transformation take place.”

I agree with him the power of FriendFeed as a research tool is astounding. The current merit, usefulness, and value of FriendFeed seems to be nearly boundless with potential appearing limitless as well. Early adopter temperature taking is just another benefit of the simple but complex addictive life-streaming service FriendFeed.

The other day I read a great article by Sarah Perez on ReadWriteWeb titled “Info Overload: What Can We Do?” She discusses eliminating distractions. Here is an excerpt:

“Want to eliminate your distractions, it’s easy. Disable email alerts. Exit Twitter, sign out of IM or set yourself as “busy.” Trying to write? Launch Darkroom, Notepad, or Windows Live Writer. Then just work…in peace.”

As a programmer I use many different editors but still use Windows Notepad every single day. Although I like Notepad++ a lot. Link.

I had honestly never heard of Darkroom but quickly downloaded it as well. I liked that fact that it was a standalone executable nothing to install. Lean and mean. It does require the .NET framework 2.0.

The mention of Windows Live Writer reminded of two things: the technical preview version of Windows Live Writer I recently read about and a great article by Steven Hodson of WinExtra listing his 5 favorite add-ons for Writer.

If you have not tried Windows Live Writer I highly recommend trying out the technical preview.

• Windows Live Writer
• DarkRoom
• Notepad++