Despite Robert Scoble's constant evangelizing of FriendFeed (we pay him and we don't get half the love!!), it remains a niche service. Since getting to know Robert, I have taken the time to understand FriendFeed. He is right about its potential: it is unlimited. But unfortunately, their current path will continue to keep it marginalized.

 Here is the crux of the issue: is FriendFeed a social network or a feed service that aggregates other social networks?

 Right now they are both. This is a losing strategy. They need to go full force on the latter.

Here is why doing both does not work. In terms of being a social network or microblogging service Twitter and Facebook have won. They are the engines that will drive most of the basic communicating. The good news is there are two (creating aggregation needs). And, they don't own all the relevant content. Blogs, flickr and other services are still very much alive. So, the opportunity is there to help people consume all of these better. FriendFeed tries, but fails. Why? I can't see all my twitter friend updates or all my Facebook friends, only those that have FF accounts. And, when it comes to blogs, the content creator determines if it shows up on Friendfeed, not the consumers. What? Content has to be pulled not pushed.
 
All this said, FF still has a huge opportunity. If they did the following, I would spend a lot of my Internet time on their site:
 
1. Realize your competitor is TweetDeck and Tweetie, not Twitter and Facebook. Kill your actual standalone microblogging engine.
 
2. Import all Twitter and Facebook friend posts - no FF account required.
 
3. Allow users to import their RSS feeds so they come in the steam as well. Potential side effect: become the de facto blog comments site.
 
4. Adjust the user interface to allow multiple streams (as customized) to flow on one screen. We all can't have screens draped across our house a la Scoble.
 
5. Create standalone apps or make it easy for your partners to do it
 
6. Just make the service plain easier to understand and work with.
 
I spend a ton of time on Tweetdeck and my RSS reader. This move would replace all of those. Why? Scoble has the key insight on why FF is so powerful. Their voting, searching and commenting is awesome and hugely powerful to users. The "like" system is much better than retweeting and much more efficient. The searching is highly customizable. I can set up a search to see posts by my friends that have 5 or more "likes." This guarantees I will see the key stories. This is Twitter and RSS with a community filter. Very powerful. And, the commenting means you can have real discussions on point and in real time right below the topic. Much better than the replies concept in twitter. All of this is why you are 10x better than tweetie or tweetdeck. This is a market you can lead. And, it will matter.

Now, there could be technical trades to be made. You might not be able to get the real time stream from twitter. But, updates every few minutes are not bad. There could be other issues. I am not an expert on the technologies and APIs. All I know is FF will remain a rarely visited site for me until it does more with its strengths and abandons its weaknesses.

It is not Pakistan. It is not the banking crisis. It is not even education.
 
It is healthcare. The future of our prosperity, the ability of America to wield power, our standing in the world, and our capacity to afford to educate our young all depend on us solving this one. Without solving it we cannot afford to tackle the other ones. I think most of America is clueless on how bad the healthcare mess is.
 
I am going to spend some of my reading time to getting smart on on it. I suggest you do too.
 
Here is why:

Look at the yellow and red. THEY are the issue. The purple (or interest) is just an echo of their impacts. Any budget forecast looks the same for one reason: healthcare burdens are looming and overwhelming.
 
Social security can be solved (raise retirement; tax benefits on the wealthy). Healthcare has no easy answers. It it strangling our public and private sector. Yet, any suggestion of reform gets all of America in a panic. I am here to tell you: change is coming. Or, we are doomed.
 
The situation looks the same for businesses. Their costs are either ballooning or they are passing them on to employees, lowering real income.
 
The debate is about to heat up. All of us need to get more educated on this issue.
 
Here are some of the things I want to figure out:
 
1. Why do we spend 2 times more than Europe per capita but live slightly less?
2. What value do insurance companies add to the equation?
3. How does the legal system contribute to the costs?
4. How do we deal with the ethical issues around treating very old members of society (e.g. heart surgery for a frail 90 year old)?
5. Where are we overspending or over treating (ie where can we save)?
6. How do we create incentives to ensure preventative care?
7. Is the system of creating supply for doctors flawed?
8. How do we trade universal healthcare needs with incentives for invention?
9. Do we know how well our treatments work? Is the default to act misinformed?
 
Know any good books or articles on the subject? Would love suggestions.
 
I don't have any firm answers. I am open to any proposal, Republican or Democrat. But, doing nothing is not an option. We have to all open our minds to the right set of adjustments. Will let you know what I learn.