1. Discovery.  Google Reader features a “Discover” function, but only prompts titles of blogs with content similar to my aggregate feeds.  On FriendFeed, the entire experience is rooted in discovery…quickly located a book on the transportation infrastructure of the U.S., simply by sifting through discussions in my community (further reading showed this user also loves Jambalaya).
2. Comments.  Many FriendFeed discussions on the Web have mentioned the ability to comment on various media outlets (Tweets, shared items, videos, etc) from a centralized location.  Hopefully, a little more praise will not delude the conversation.  Following conversations via an comments RSS is frustrating, especially when participating on a Mashable! or TechCrunch sized blog.
3. Locating Interest. The ability to connect with other FriendFeeders with specialized interests is simple.  After about 15 minutes consuming on FriendFeed, I noticed several users who repeatedly selected “Like” on specific topics.  Easily identify people with specialized knowledge is an invaluable benefit and will hopefully grow with the network.

I am still not ready to completely disband Google Reader for FriendFeed.   This new method, however, streamlines my daily reading experience without the need for unreliable plug-ins.  If Google remedies nagging problems such as locating Shared Items outside of my email network and following discussions on specific posts without sifting through thousands of entries on comment feed - I am willing to listen.  Until then, more time on FriendFeed!

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The collective knowledge of the event is rapidly providing existing companies in a number of spaces.  Is differentiating worthwhile or possible?  Is an improved interface alone reason to switch services?  Is an immediate revenue model necessary?   What are we selling?

Could be a wash requiring revisiting other ideas…

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1. What Is Popular Where. Post band names and location prompting various social networking tools. Generating buzz for events, ideas, people, etc. User Generated Content.

2. Wife 2.0. Professional women need to source “domestic” tasks to reliable services. Sparks local small business by connecting families with service provider.

3. Napster for Textbooks. Spread txtbooks for Kindles and other Personal readers instead of popular novels.

4. Homeless/Unemployed Job Link. Private employment agency 2.0. Sources positions to local employers and provide tax information, work history, etc.

5. Updated Forum System. Well designed, OpenID structure for personal communication outside of SMS, blogging, chat, etc.

6. Community Calendar. Compile events from different sources with different formats. A fourth party system for event management providing a standardized format for any occasion.

7. Community Need Coordination Tool.

8. Social Networking for Dead People. Deceased are no longer capable of participating in social networking..lol. Connecting dead people via work, interests, family members, accomplishments, photos, etc. Helps tell the story of people who came before us…examples: Locate other community members from the town your grandparents grew up in.

9. Recycling Electronics. Extracting components of used electronics is difficult and dangerous. Certifying recycling centers for the special requirements.

10. SMS Advertising Platforms. Distributing coupons, events, specials through a subscription based mobile platform.

11. 20 Seconds of Fame. Video Twitters. Algorithms recognizing voice to add keywords without additional user contributions.

12. Electric Car Taxi Service.

13. Free Wii. Games confronting social issues.

14. Competitive Sustainability. Connect business waste with the materials needs of others.

15. Facebook Application. Sell books from a facebook profile using a combination of Amazon affiliate program connected with Visual Bookshelf.

16. Visual Representation of College curriculum. Plan academic careers based on your goals prior to enrolling.

17. One number for all cabs.

18. Forum consolidation for Video Game Guilds. Video games currently use early 90s backbones with messy interface.

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Community - Building relationships produces the best results.

History - Started seven months ago in July, inspired by BarCamp.  Bloomington follows locations as diverse as Boulder, London, Atlanta, Seattle, etc.  The national average for female participation is 11% (Bloomington is much higher).

Shares - Gain one share on Friday, 2 for completing Saturday, and 2 at the finalization of the weekend.  2 extra are provided for completion.  50% is reserved for Founder’s stock.

Tips for the weekend.

1. Build Community

2. Fix It - Identify problems and fix them.  Don’t make life difficult.

3. Have Fun.

4. Get Involved - Actual work on the project provides the most fulfillment.

5. 10 minute maximum - The weekend essentially produces one year of a startup.  Limiting problem discussions to 10 minutes removes figurative months of wasted time.

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Twitter: andyangelos
Bloomington Startup Weekend NING Community
Bloomington Startup Blog
Probably some additional sources like a Ustream feed or periodic podcast. Will notify later.

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Even limited feature applications such as Google Docs and Spreadsheets are slowly winning my loyalty.  The shift to both applications - despite obvious inferiority to Microsoft Office and Zoho - is primarily for convenience and collaboration.  The process of composing a document in MS Word, selecting save, uploading the file into an email, creating an appropriate subject heading so the recipient will recognize the message, etc is 2-3 steps longer than the same task in the Googlesphere.  Who cares that spell check is subpar and custom formatting is limited?  As Richard MacManus of Read/WriteWeb suggests, the number of users who care about these functions is decreasing at a steady pace.

To prevent a complete metamorphosis into a Google fanboy, I am consciously striving to make 2008 a year devoid of Google search (too bad next year does not end in an -ee sound so I could create a slick slogan like “Google free in ‘03″).  A difficult endeavor, but I hope to persevere through the following search alternatives - each of which capitalize on my existing, ever-expanding social networks:

Eurekster provides custom search portals entitled “Swicki’s.”  Building a swicki allows users to customize a search community with relevant resources including blogs, videos, images, etc.  Colorado based Lijit provides a similar service, which is visible in the left sidebar of this blog (already making progress!).  Both services construct tag clouds based on searches within your created community, continuously refining the results.

Another solution is available through Mahalo - the human powered search project of Jason Calacanis.  Mahalo Greenhouse provides the backbone of the search engine, allowing people to submit result pages for $10 - $15 depending on quality.  Relying on Greenhouse contributor’s to populate and refresh the search engine is most likely an arduous process, but the engine is already beneficial for ephemeral information.

Longtime Google competitor Ask.com is also an option - especially if I want my search information to remain anonymous.  Turning on the “AskErase” feature deletes search queries and related data from Ask.com servers, prohibiting cataloging of my IP address, User ID and Session ID cookies for later use in advertisements.

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