Benjamin Golub to Benjamin's feed, FriendFeed News
Dear FriendFeed community, We wanted to let you know that FriendFeed will be shutting down soon. We've been maintaining the service since we joined Facebook five years ago, but the number of people using FriendFeed has been steadily declining and the community is now just a fraction of what it once was. Given this, we've decided that it's time to...
Oh, and because of character limitations, Benjamin had to continue in a comment:
start winding things down. Beginning today, we will no longer accept new signups. You will be able to view your posts, messages, and photos until April 9th. On April 9th, we'll be shutting down FriendFeed and it will no longer be available. We want to thank you all for being such a terrific and enthusiastic community. We're proud of what we built so many years ago, and we recognize that it would have never been possible without your support. - The FriendFeed team - Benjamin Golub
Not only does the service have a character limitation, but apparently there's no easy way to export data from the service - something that, say, Google has allowed for years.
Of course, these limitations are not surprising, nor is the announced closure of FriendFeed. After all, save for one feature revision that I know of, no new development has taken place at FriendFeed since Facebook acquired FriendFeed and its people in August 2009. In a way, FriendFeed is kind of like a time machine. Look at the services that you can incorporate into your FriendFeed - Google Reader, anyone? - and the services that aren't even listed.
I'm sure that a Louis Gray or a Josh Haley or a Johnny Worthington or a Mark Wilson will wax prosetic on the significance of FriendFeed, but it's fair to say that FriendFeed profoundly influenced how we share and interact with each other today.
Let the tributes pour in. Heck, even MG Siegler might have something nice to say.
