FriendFeed takes the conversation to IM

Get FriendFeed updates right to your IM client.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

FriendFeed introduced a new feature on Friday, giving members the option to get updates from the social network as soon as they happen through standard instant-messaging protocols.

Each IM contains the first few hundred characters of the post, along with a small permalink that takes you straight to it. Like the recently introduced live feed, the idea is that you can quickly track and respond to the activity of your friends while they're still around.

To help turn down the fire-hose of information, users can whittle down whether they want to see everyone's interactions, or just those from friends. This includes the option to track just newly posted items from any feed, or any comments posted to items they've submitted.

While this is useful for desktop users, it's also a nice way to bring the FriendFeed experience to your phone. If you've got a generous text-messaging plan you can reroute replies or new posts to very specific rooms to your phone if you know your carrier-specific e-mail address. Short of a phone application for the likes of the iPhone or Android phone, this is the easiest way to keep an eye on things without trying.

[digitalshaman]

FriendFeed has got the bandwidth & attribution equation right ... they don't host or store content !!! that should be the focus of the article - balancing privacy with piracy is another invaluable issue ... it would be nice for CNET to focus on how much it costs to host content and what the value is vis-a-vis different models ... you talk about it but ignore the elephant ... maybe hosting content that is subject to numerous potential liabilities is not the value-add but the ability to link services who have to deal with that issue makes FriendFeed closer to a "willingness to pay" model and no storage (i.e., kilowatt) cost ... http://www.friendfeed.com/digitalshaman