I think everyone keeps getting hung up because they are viewing these applications as if they were just another variation of what average users are used to – as if we were discussing a new search engine or email application. The reality is, even though we have become more and more used to sharing bits and pieces of information quickly from just about anywhere, the “anything, anytime, anywhere with anyone” capability that these new tools offer if completely, absolutely, unquestionably different than anything the world at large is used to. Once these tools become a part of our everyday lives (years and years away mind you) they will completely alter the way we live.

Different types of content will no doubt be shared by the same source so it is hard to hide those items we don't want to see without also hiding those we do. This is why we need semantic or tagged based filtering – perhaps then we will extend our range of discussions without fear of upsetting those around us.

I'm a social media junkie. But I don't talk about it *all* the time, even to other people who share the interest. I have the same interest in football/soccer, in movies, in sci-fi, etc. Those articles are rarely commented on or form the basis of discussion on Friendfeed, even by those people who puport to be big fans of the service. They seem to be fans only so far as they spend a lot of time discussing social media, and failing to utilise it more widely themselves.

So I signed up for FriendFeed, got a steaming faceful of primping tech gossip, repeated and repeated endlessly off into the horizon… and haven't bothered to pay much attention to it since.