If I ran Hulu, I’d charge $4.99 a month to subscribe to a show with ads, $7.99 a month without ads.  You’d get the newest shows plus the entire back catalog.  And, here’s a biggie – I’d let you watch it on your TV.

Short clips would stay as-is – the ones that go viral bring enormous amounts of attention to their respective shows.

I’d make a free iPhone app available so that you could watch the shows you’ve subscribed to on the go.

Now, it’s probably a longshot that you’ll see any of these moves made, at least not in the near future.  These would put Hulu head-to-head with the same cable companies that pay to carry the networks.  But if I ran Hulu, I’d worry less about maintaining the status quo.  I’d worry more about the future and I’d make sure my business was ahead of the curve, not playing catch up.

So I pushed it back.  I’d rather have the app include all the functions I want on day one.  It really kills me to do it – I’d love to get Abuzz out there – but I know it’s the right thing to do.

First tough decision of the year.  What else will 2010 bring?

You wouldn’t believe how many people have asked, “What’s socialmedian?” or “What’s Strands?”  A guy behind the counter at a gas station in Hershey once asked me what BarCamp Harrisburg was.  And because I love this stuff, I don’t mind talking a bit about it.  Have I sent potential users to any of these sites?  I really have no idea.  There’s no Google Analytics for real life.  The potential is there, though.

So send more shirts out to more people.  Don’t just give them away in the Bay Area – send them everywhere.  You’ll generate some good will and possibly create an evangelist for your product.  If you want an example, look at this post.  I was more than happy to link to a few companies and I’ll be more than happy to talk about them in the future to anyone who asks.

How much did it cost them?  One t-shirt.

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.

Betrayed.

Earlier today, FriendFeed sold itself out to Facebook for a reported $50 million.  What will Facebook do with FriendFeed?  No one knows for certain, but many suspect this was not a purchase of FriendFeed but instead a purchase of FriendFeed’s tech and talent.  Much like Twitter acquired I Want Sandy a few months back and later shut it down, this might not bode well for FriendFeed users.

I’m a bit sickened by FriendFeed’s willingness to sell.  I can’t quite put my finger on why, but I have a few theories.

Maybe it’s the way the early FriendFeed adopters contributed so much and are now getting so little.  Robert Scoble and Louis Gray, for example, evangelized the hell out of FriendFeed and did so for good reason – they loved the service and thought it could do big things.  My idea of a big thing was not selling to Facebook, but I’m not sure how Louis and Robert feel.  And it wasn’t just Robert and Louis but tons more.  If I named every single person who talked up FriendFeed like it was the light bulb, I’d be writing here for days.

Maybe I hate this move because I will miss the FriendFeed community – the people I’ve met, shared laughs with and learned from.  What happens to them?  Do they vanish into thin air?  I don’t know.  For those who want to keep in touch, find me on Twitter (@shawn) or send me an email – shawnfarner (at) gmail (dot) com.

There’s one last reason I could be disappointed by this – maybe I thought the FriendFeed crew was above selling themselves out.  Maybe I thought they wanted to innovate on their terms.  After all, these guys left Google to strike out on their own.  That led me to believe that they were going to do their damnedest to make sure FriendFeed became all it could be, and by that I mean more than just a few new buttons in Facebook.  Guess not.

I’m sure a lot of others are let down by this news and are standing at the same crossroads, too.  FriendFeed is saying it still wants to be my friend (for the time being), but I’m not sure if I can do it.  If Facebook decides to keep FriendFeed intact, that will take some of the sting away but it won’t repair the trust – and what’s a relationship without trust?

Aaron Brazell (@technosailor) said something yesterday that really struck a chord with me.

“I’m really tired of the meta and the echo chamber. There’s so much happening in this world that actually matters. We’re on the edge of global economic collapse. There are companies starting and failing. There are people trying to figure out where their next meal is coming from. And we keep fucking talking about this fucking meta social bullshit. Honestly… I’m tired.”

How right is he?  There are probably enough “social media experts” to create a new country – all of them covering the same news and spouting out the same tired buzzwords.  There has to come a time where we say, “There are people who get it and people who never will.  It’s time to move on.”  Time to use these tools to further the causes we believe in.  Use them to promote the things we’re passionate about.  Use them to better the world and better ourselves.

I can’t talk about social media anymore.  There’s only so much you can talk about.  And what’s the point?  Why debate the possible ways Twitter can monetize?  Are you getting paid to do that?  I’m not.  Twitter hired someone specifically to solve that problem, so if you like working for free, I encourage you to keep the debate going in a public forum.  Is that really your passion, anyway?  What were you into before all this social media madness came to be?  Go back to it.  Go back to what you know. 

Imagine yourself twenty years from now. Zoom out and view the entire timeline of your life. This period of “Web 2.0″ and “the social web” will be but a small blip that people barely remember.  The meta talk will long be forgotten because it has little-to-no impact.  Now imagine what could have been done if you had used social media as a tool instead of subject matter.  You’re into knitting? Create a knitting blog.  Create a community around knitting.  In twenty years, who knows, perhaps you’ll be credited with turning the knitting world on its ear.  You’re into flowers? Blog about it.  Take pictures.  Have “garden meetups”. Use your imagination.

I’m going back to what I know.  Most of my blogging here from this point forward will take a more personal tone and will discuss the things that I love.  A big one is community service.  On the right sidebar, I’ve added an “Upcoming Service Projects” widget.  When I am made aware of service projects in the area, I’ll add them to the calendar and they’ll show up there.  If you’re a Google Calendar user, you can also add it by searching “Central Pennsylvania Community Service” in the public calendars.  For future Central PA Tweetups (not tonight’s, don’t have much of a list yet), I’ll also try to make everyone aware of any service projects that are coming up in the near future.

There’s a whole, wide world out there – so many hobbies and passions just begging to be covered.  Let’s stop talking and start doing.

Thanks for the wake up call, Brazell.

They are equipping every employee with dual monitors, realizing that two workspaces ultimately allows work to be done more efficiently.  They are also hooking employees up with wireless keyboards and mice – less cords make a world of difference as far as I’m concerned.  They have a Jabber server installed and each employee has a Jabber client installed on their machine.  Every employee is on each other’s buddy list, allowing communication to be quick and silent.  This eliminates shouting across the office, buzzing through on speakerphone or actually interrupting someone in person.

If you are looking to make your office more efficient, take some notes from this company, but lend an ear to a few more of my suggestions.

1. Migrate from Exchange/Outlook to Google Apps for Domains. Email and calendars accessible absolutely anywhere, no VPN required.  Google hosts it for free.  How can you beat that?
2. Reach out to the world. Start a company blog, interact with your industry on social networking sites, take a video camera around your office and upload the video to YouTube.  It is undeniable that most people would rather deal with humans than with a faceless empire, given the choice.
3. 20% time. I’m a big fan of this Google idea.  Basically, one day out of a week, an employee can work on whatever they choose.  I know this is more useful to a software company, but there is a ton of upside to all kinds of businesses adopting it.  It is never a bad thing to get an employee brainstorming.  Great things can happen.

I doubt many companies will adopt 20% time, but hey, worth a shot. :)

Unfortunately, I feel that being fully immersed in the startup world and the ever-changing landscape of the web has put him out of touch with those who will make or break many of these ventures; the every-day guys and gals.

That isn’t a knock on Robert at all.  I’m totally envious of what he gets to do, and if things go my way, maybe one day I’ll have as many eyes and ears on me.  You can call my BS if you want, but if I had to choose between being a voice among tens of thousands of voices in the Valley or being one of just a few here, I’d choose here.

I’m located within spitting distance of a state capital that is severely lacking in web presence.  There are not many people on Twitter in Harrisburg – how else would a college student be able to chit chat with local news reporters at will?  We have very few serious bloggers, but these bloggers consistently scoop our newspaper writers on a regular basis.  There aren’t many people here who get it yet, and to me, that’s exciting.

Those few of us bloggers/early adopters that do exist here have the opportunity to do something great, something not a lot of people can say they’ve done.  We have, in our hands, the opportunity to transform an entire city.  We have the chance to completely change the way this city communicates, consumes media and sees the world as a whole.

I would guess that 97% of Harrisburg’s citizens have never heard of Twitter.  They’ve never heard of FriendFeed.  Some might think that Google is the only search engine in existence.  These people use email, AIM, Myspace and Facebook.  They read their favorite sites using bookmarks, not RSS feeds.  They find new music through the radio and word of mouth, not sites like Last.FM or Pandora.  The early adopter pace is just too fast for them to keep up.

I do not look down on these people at all.  Many early adopters seem to think highly of themselves for having been on something “first”, before it was cool.  I do not think that way.  For me, these people are not a heavy anchor holding us back.  Instead, they are the sails.  When they flock to a service, then you know you have something special.

I look foward to helping introduce them to this new world.  And Robert, next time you go to Tel Aviv, save me a seat?