I probably should have talked about RSS Feeds before tossing the FriendFeed concept out there. Feeds themselves are everywhere, and have changed the way the web works. There's a chance you're already using them even if you don't realize it. Just about every customizable "home" or "start" page now gives you the ability to choose your content. That content is usually delivered to your page via RSS feeds.
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and although it's simple overall - the possibilities are as complex as you want them to be. But basically, the RSS feed takes content from a static location (a website, blog, online photo or file storage, etc) and puts it in a form that can be subscribed to, and can be broadcast to all subscribers.
Before newspapers, you'd have to go to each source (author of each story) to get your information. Someone had the great idea to put all that information in one place, and deliver it to you every day. Can you imagine trying to keep up with situations or events by checking with every source, and then seeing a newspaper for the first time?
After that, it seems like a huge waste of time doing it the old way.
Just like now, going to websites is a huge waste of time.
So, from here you can take your feeds and have them routed to the interface of your choosing. (cut and paste the link URL) There are software feed readers, online feed readers, widgets and gadgets that can customize your content delivery in a way that works for you. I use multiple resources to get my RSS feeds that I keep up with because some of them are more important than others. Some of the content I monitor is important enough for me to be physically notified if there is something new or something that meets predetermined criteria. Other content that I care about is put in a place that i can easily go through, share with others and comment on.
From a security prospective, I'd like to see access control, alarm monitoring and even video systems run RSS feeds along with their usual reporting output. That way, on the operational side you could easily take advantage of existing feed management services to get the information you need, where you need it and when. What would you rather do, install proprietary software on your Blackberry or use an existing feed reader service to handle your feeds? (don't worry - you can make RSS feeds secure with username/passwords)
FriendFeed is a service that takes all the RSS feeds published by your social networking and media sites, then aggregates them - publishing one combined feed. But that's not all, FriendFeed itself has become something of a social networking site because you can subscribe to other user's feeds through their interface. In fact, you can subscribe to a feed comprised of feeds, comprised of your friends' content. They even let you create "rooms" that can be shared with like-minded individuals. You can automatically publish feeds in that room if it fits the groups interests, or users can specifically add items the rest of the group would find interesting. That member list becomes a directory where you can find other members' other social networking account info.
That was the idea behind the Physical Security Online room in FriendFeed.
