Nothing lasts forever (and why I’m back to blogging)
Now that I’m one day out from Facebook’s acquisition of FriendFeed, I’m starting to see the move through a less emotional lens. Do I still feel like the FriendFeed team sold us out? Absolutely. Is it their fault, though, that all the work we’ve put into our FriendFeed accounts might vanish one day? I’m afraid not.
The fact is, nothing lasts forever, and the FriendFeed sale has made that more apparent to me than ever. Money talks, and not just for small startups but bigger companies, as well. If a product or venture isn’t making money, it either needs to start or it needs to disappear – that is what is in the best interest of the investors or shareholders. And unfortunately, while we the customers help these companies grow, they don’t answer to us.
I fear for the future, now. FriendFeed is not the only service I use on a regular basis and it certainly isn’t the only free service I use. What if AOL decides one day that the AIM servers aren’t worth keeping on? What if Twitter can’t monetize, its investors become impatient and it sells in a way similar to FriendFeed? The only platform I can truly depend on to stick around is my blog, which is why I’m going to bring it back into the fold again. The blogosphere needs to become a bigger piece of my conversation pie because, honestly, my trust in microblogging has been shaken.
If you’re a FriendFeeder with a blog, I would love to connect with you and toss your feed into my Google Reader list. Leave me a comment and maybe some other visitors will subscribe to you, too.
Remember again – nothing lasts forever. Especially things that are being given to you for free. Choose the place you converse and make connections wisely, because it might not be around tomorrow.