So, FaceBook has acquired FriendFeed. This immediately got people speculating as to why FaceBook, with all those hundreds of millions of happy users, would want to buy FriendFeed. In short – FaceBook didn’t want to buy FriendFeed!
FaceBook bought talent – Not a platform
FaceBook is huge and has no need to buy in the relatively tiny number of users that FriendFeed has. So, this was not an acquisition of eyeballs.
The FriendFeed software is (as any geek will tell you) awesome; but that’s the problem. Geeks like us LOVE it, but it’s not usable enough for mainstream use. Although far superior to Twitter technically, FriendFeed lacks the instant usability that sites like Twitter offer.
So, I don’t believe FaceBook bought FriendFeed for the platform either.
FriendFeed does have one extremely valuable asset though – Talent!
In buying FriendFeed, FaceBook has just acquired the services of four extremely smart people; Bret Taylor, Sanjeev Singh, Jim Norris and Paul Buchheit. Before founding FriendFeed, these guys worked at Google and helped develop services like, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Groups.
Their market value is huge and that’s what I believe FaceBook is paying for.
In a press release accompanying the acquisition, FaceBook confirms the value it places on FriendFeed’s co-founders – saying they will; “hold senior roles on Facebook’s engineering and product teams.” The remaining 12 FriendFeed staff members will also be joining FaceBook, as part of the deal. At the time of writing this, there’s been no mention as to what FaceBook has paid for Friendfeed.
What do you think about the FriendFeed acquisition? Let us know!
I like them both, bit facebook is too bloated for my daily use. On one hand I want to follow my friend, on the other there are tons of useless toys/apps popping up everyday, and I am tired of removing the streams.
I want to be informed, that’s true, but it became boring to see the useless feeds in a crowded window.
FriendFeed seemed to be great tool to have to have some serious `search` functionality (and at the same time keeping in touch with tech savvy people), but now its future is in doubt. At least I doubt that FriendFeed will continue to function.
Mess stuff…
I think a lot of FriendFeed users are concerned right now, that the place will start getting flooded with ads and useless surveys etc.
I don’t think anyone really knows what’s going to happen in the medium to long term, but it’s going to be interesting to watch!
RT @thetechnewsblog: Why FaceBook REALLY bought FriendFeed: http://bit.ly/Bs2hA
RT @thetechnewsblog: Why FaceBook REALLY bought FriendFeed: http://bit.ly/Bs2hA
It’s Facebook btw, not FaceBook. Anyways, yeah, I never really got the point of FriendFeed, though I would’ve been using it if it could auto add imaginary friends so that really all my contacts from all the networks would appear on the stream…
It’s FaceBook here btw.
I think he was simply trying to be helpful in pointing out that the branded name actually doesn’t capitalize the “book” part. In truth, it doesn’t capitalize any part of the name (unless you’re looking at the page title) so it would really be “facebook.”
Incidentally, friendfeed is the same way.
Your reply to henasraf has led to me dismissing any future links to or mentions of The Tech News Blog. He was certainly correct and non-confrontational, and you returned a “my house, my rules” kind of response. It came across as ignorant and juvenile.
Just sayin’.
It’s not The Tech News Blog – it’s …. :)
Yeah I can see why he needs imaginary friends;)
I only signed up with FriendFeed yesterday and then it goes and gets bought by Facebook – it’s clearly a sign that I levitate towards mergers. I haven’t even imported any friends yet!! That said I like the look of it.
Buying talent can often be more important than the product in question and you’re probably right here – they’ve gained some real experience there!
Keiron,
I’m wondering, with your track record, if someone’s about to launch a takeover bid for The Tech News Blog. I think this was wise business by FaceBook – unless they paid an insane amount for these guys.
Not sure how great the news is for FriendFeed users though!
RT @thetechnewsblog Why FaceBook REALLY bought FriendFeed: http://bit.ly/Bs2hA
RT @jimconnolly: FaceBook & FriendFeed: http://bit.ly/c1qts (I wrote this)
RT @jimconnolly blog news FaceBook & FriendFeed: http://bit.ly/c1qts – good review and p.o.v.!
I saw the reasoning very quickly. Facebook has been struggling to keep up with technology, but they already have the audience. Friendfeed has been pumping out awesome technology, but just can’t get that audience. It’s a perfect fit.
If facebook did just do this to absorb friendfeed’s talent, then I don’t see friendfeed sticking around for much longer. I would expect to see some pretty significant changes to facebook though.
It will be very interesting to see how they develop from the point of acquisition. I just don’t see facebook buying friendfeed to make the friendfeed platform better.
@DavidSpinks
David,
Thanks for stopping by the blog! I agree, each company has something the other needs. Regarding a bigger audience; I was just on FriendFeed, asking if other users had noticed the same surge in subscribers that I have sene in the past 12 hours. Seems many of them have. Here’s a link to the thread: http://friendfeed.com/jimconnolly/167d237f/feedback-please-anyone-else-noticing-surge-in
FaceBook have bought some superb talent, but like you – I don’t think they did it to improve FriendFeed. We shall see!!
Facebook did not need to buy Friendfeed to wipe out the competition so the talent grab makes sense. Nice post.
Thanks Eric!
RT @tweetmeme Why FaceBook bought FriendFeed | The Tech News Blog http://bit.ly/wtoh8
RT Why Facebook REALLY bought FriendFeed: http://bit.ly/Bs2hA I wonder what changes we will see here, if any #fb
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I haven’t really messed around with friendfeed that much, but the functionality is noticeably more complex than either twitter or the facebook stream. Nevertheless, I doubt facebook would integrate that specific tech into their service, as you’ve said.
I also don’t see facebook blatantly shutting down friendfeed. If nothing else, I don’t think they’ll even bother touching the service. They bought the talent, as you said, and there seems to be no reason to irritate the new community that they’re now working with.
Corey,
I find FriendFeed really easy to use but I know I am in a minority. I don’t think FaceBook are thinking of shutting it down any time soon; but I’m pretty sure they never bought it to invest in it. I would LOVE to be wrong here, but when I see people like Louis Gray and Scoble sounding so pessimistic about FriendFeed’s future, it makes me wonder.
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