Startup Chatter by Donna Bogatin

 YAY? Just what the world clamors for? A “new” Twitter, aka FriendFeed. 

The erroneously branded “creator” of Google’s misaligned “do no evil” corporate slogan, Paul FriendFeed Buchheit, may still be preening in his “angel” wings, as he ridiculously did for a Conde Nast Halloween-costume fueled “editorial” spread, but the latest round of blogger “love” for his first foray beyond a “Google employee 23” claim to fame will undoubtedly give way to a fickle blogosphere “change of heart,“ same as Robert “tech geek blogger” Scoble flits from one short-lived early adopter embrace to the next, without leaving nary a “Dear John“ letter in his wake.

(SEE: “The next Google? NOT Created by Ex-Googlers“) 

How IS FriendFeed the blogosphere’s next Twitter? Let me count the ways:

1) Deft exploitation of ex-Googler coattails,

2) Shrewd seeding of “A-lister” endorsements,

3) Giddy crowd incitation of DO evil speak in 140 characters or more,

4) Spam engendering platform for non-stop self-promotion,

5) Backchannel for backstabbing.

The most blatant similarity between FriendFeed and Twitter, however, is an unrealistic, VC-fueled catering to non-paying “target” users in lieu of implementation of a real-world, business-model based revenue-generating plan. SEE: Twitter ‘Cash Flow’? When VCs Are BAD for Web 2.0 Startup Business

What’s more, in (not so friendly) FriendFeed-Twitter fashion, the Buchheits and Scobles of the world do NOT really promote a truly “social” blogosphere, despite their “branding“.  SEE: NYT’s Saul Hansell Calls Bloggers’ ‘Conversation’ Bluff, So Do I 

In the words of venture capitalist Paul Kedrosky, the Silicon Valley style VC industry is backing companies that lack widespread investor appeal, like “YouTube clones and dating and social networking sites”:

The stuff they’re investing in is idiosyncratic, it’s fun and appealing to them, but Wall Street doesn’t care.

The real “smart money”–Wall Street–has its own notion of “A-listers.”