Friendfeed and aggregator

Friendfeed accepts Facebook's friend request. link

I think it is the best things happened to Facebook for a long while. I had said it long ago (2 years?) that Friendfeed completes my social network needs.

I was feeling excited when Friendfeed made its first Facebook app. Now, I could aggregate my online identity into a single place for friends who cares. And, I wished to see the deeper side of my friends too (what book they put in their Amazon's wishlist, what do they blog, what do they digg etc.) The critical mass of facebook made it so useful (if Facebook's platform where more friendly to FriendFeed applications)

Technically, aggregation is the way to go for the ultimate network effect. However large you're, you cannot cover everything.

Sure, if everyone plug-in to you, it will be easiest. (Facebook's app, Windows app, iPhone app)

And, some of the major Waterloo in technologies happens when a large company believes that they can makes existing best of breed change for them, and makes it the only option. Examples are WinFS, where they designed it to be useful when everyone changes their file format in order to join WinFS. Oracle's Database Filesystem is another. Same for Cardspace and other identity service.

Google search (and Desktop search) is the most representative a successful aggregation. Instead of requiring how a webpage should look, Google, the Aggregator, invests in the bridging, gopher, and pull in everything. It works better for standard conforming page, but still works for other. Desktop search (from both companies) is much less than the vision of WinFS, but then it works because it doesn't require you to change Microsoft Word's file format for it to be useful.

I predict Google Wave is another major Waterloo. The UX of Google Wave is superb, and the scenario is simply convincing. But instead of aggregate, it requires you to embed the Wave app and dictated Google as the only storage. It would be nice to them and user if they can pull it off, but I doubt it. Unless the figure out a way to include the best of breed to come or already out there, I don't see that they can go very far.