Baa. Baa. It doesn't sing like South Park's Blame Canada, but it has the same comic and satiric bite, with more than a little truth hidden (or not so hidden) in the message. Steve Gillmor has taken the now-normal Twitter ups and downs as a jump point and cast those who see an answer in FriendFeed to task with his TechCrunch post, Blame FriendFeed. In only the way he can the Gillmor Gang/NewsGang Live/TechCrunch master and Internet version of Samuel Beckett, with his always provocative sense of comic bobbing and weaving, mixed and mangled in with what's really going on, Gillmor has managed to wring the necks of every puppet in the suitcase, as well as the Twitter titans to be.
In the quest for the ultimate real time stream that Twitter teases us with and FriendFeed fantasizes it can become (that happening is like Hillary Clinton thinking she could campaign without including her husband-not likely), there's a combustible comic energy behind the whole thing that makes the still early adopter path we're tracking each other along a little more bearable.
Yes, there are real problems to be solved, and, I'm guessing, real choices to be made in the middle of it all. FriendFeed may indeed come out on top in the long run, simply because the gang behind Twitter can't seem to pull it all together technologically speaking, and customer communication wise. I still think they'd be better off sending out a Tweet each afternoon saying that Twitter is going to take a siesta and for all of us to just go away. As it is we have to anyway, but not by choice. In in my little corner of the world, I don't go searching FriendFeed to see who's going through Twitter withdrawal during the siestas. In fact, FriendFeed works as a "look back" for me while Twitter works a "look now." FriendFeed's hideous UI is like looking into my cabinet of DVDs when I want to watch a movie. There's so much there (yeah, I subscribed to it all, just like I bought all those DVDs) that I quickly walk away before focusing on what I might want to enjoy. Honestly, I prefer to consume FriendFeed through RSS, again, as a "look back."
While it is still way too early to make any judgments, I'm don't believe FriendFeed would succeed, or have taken off, without Twitter. I do think Twitter, (self attempts at Twitter-cide excluded) would survive without FriendFeed. No Chevy without Ford. No Barack without Hillary. No Comedy without Drama.
As Bill Hicks once said:
I'll show you politics in America. Here it is, right here. 'I think the puppet on the right shares my beliefs.' 'I think the puppet on the left is more to my liking.' 'Hey, wait a minute, there's one guy holding out both puppets!'
South Park - Blame Canada - Click here for more free videos
