I love Friendfeed. However, I am far more enthusiastic about the platform's robust RSS and search capabilities than its current value proposition as a universal social aggregator. I find it generates too much noise at times, but when you tap its search/RSS tools you have a killer app.

As I recently noted Friendfeed's imaginary friend feature is incredibly powerful. In addition, so are its advanced search capabilities. Combine them and this is where things get interesting.

Here's an example. I haven't tried this yet. But my gut is that you can actually use Friendfeed to create a Google Coop-like scoped search tool just for Twitter.

Simply take the Twitter public timeline feed and add it as an imaginary friend. Now you can scan the full text of every tweet - even if Summize should go belly up one day. In addition, you can generate RSS feeds against this imaginary for any term you want to track. The public timeline too much for you? No problem. Just take your personalized Twitter friendstream feed and now you can data mine just your peeps.

This is just the beginning. Friendfeed benefits immensely from the network effect. The more individuals that aggregate their social streams with the service, the more it can be data mined and thus monetized - and its power grows.

So, for argument's sake, let's say in a year that even 50% of people who actively publish online aggregate their streams with Friendfeed. Suddenly you have a competitor that in utility could eclipse most of the vertical social search engines like Technorati, Google Blog Search and Summize. Friendfeed doesn't index the full text of blog feeds yet but I suspect one day they will give publishers the ability to opt-in.

Now, what if Friendfeed were to wrap Google Adsense contextual ads around keyword searches just as it becomes the de-facto source for searching the social web. Think that's big? I do. And that fact that Friendfeed's founders come from Google probably bodes well for such a model. Stay tuned.

Anyone who knows me well would never characterize me as a Renaissance Man, which from here on in I will call a Polymath to keep this post gender-neutral.

A Polymath is "a person with encyclopedic, broad, or varied knowledge or learning." It's an individual who knows a lot about a great many things. Leonardo Da Vinci and his famous notebooks, naturally, spring to mind.

I may know a lot about the digital landscape, but I could never be a Polymath. I blame the Internet.

Even though the web makes it easier than ever for an individual to stay reasonably informed about a great many subjects, my gut is that people go deep into their interests at the expense of being well rounded. The implications are significant for business and society overall.

The web is deepening specialization and giving rise to experts that become highly successful in a given domain. This is a trend that Seth Godin champions in his great book The Dip. In addition, it's what Markus Buckingham recently talked about with Oprah as a ticket to success in one's career and life. (For more, check out the podcast on iTunes.)

I have seen this vividly in my own life. I used to read three newspapers a day. I also never missed the local 11 o'clock news every night. I excelled at current events quizzes in school. No more. Since I started living in my feed reader, I became blissfully ignorant about the world, facing an ever-pressing need to stay current in my domain of expertise.

Case in point: when three New York City cops accused of killing a man the night before his wedding were acquitted it made national news. However, I had no idea that there was even a trial going on. Worse, I hadn't heard about the crime itself, which took place back in 2006.

So my question to all of you is - what is the future for the Polymath? Once this was a ticket to success. Now is it equally a way to fail in an increasingly specialized world? Do you know any Polymaths? They seem to be dwindling in number as we spend more time online.

Photo credit: "A-Rod taking a practice cut" by Dog Company

Recently, I was interviewed by Kellie Kass from Simply Communicate for an in-depth business profile called "How Did I Get Here." In the article, I share something I don't think I have ever talked about before: how I apply deliberate practice in my never-ending quest for insights into digital media, marketing and online culture. I decided to write about it now because I became more aware of my habits and because I believe it can help anyone become more successful.

Deliberate practice - at least as a concept - is relatively new to me. However, little did I know it's something I have been at for years. Perhaps the same is true for you. Regardless of your passion, it's something that - when applied - is surefire road to success.

The basic idea isn't rocket science. Basically, anyone with just even a little bit of natural talent in a given domain can master it in about 10 years by methodically practicing the essence of their craft two hours daily (including weekends) and measuring their progress from one day to the next.

The concept was developed by Dr. K. Anders Ericsson at Florida State University. It's becoming popular in sports and business. It's a big reason why Tiger Woods, Alex Rodriguez and Warren Buffet continually get better. They practice on building their strengths every day in a meticulous way. (The links on their names cite relevant stories. The best piece I have read on the subject is this one from Fortune.)

In my case, I've actually been applying deliberate practice in my work for at least five years now, perhaps longer. I have been an online junkie going back 20 years. However, I only started deliberately practicing my study of the web and online culture in 2003. It just didn't dawn on me until 2008.

Every day for five years I have spent at least two hours a day, seven days a week (usually early mornings and evenings) trolling through 500+ RSS feeds on business, marketing, culture and technology. I then parse these observations into insights that I share here but also through other venues you don't see - like content for clients and our staff. Here's my trend graph from Google Reader.

In the last few months I have become a lot better at focusing my attention and measuring my progress. For example, I often look back at my posts from the last four years to see where I was right or wrong so I can get better at what I do. Two emerging influentials who I believe take this approach are Louis Gray and Chris Brogan. I reference them both in my interview with Kellie.

The takeaway here for you is this: if you want to be an expert at something (anything really), you can! It just takes time. Here's the prescription: a) follow your passion, b) practice the essence of your craft in a meticulous, measurable way for two hours daily (for years), c) learn from data and adjust as you need to.

Google Reader has added a new feature called "Note in Reader" that lets you share any item from the Web, not just RSS feed content.

To share something, all you need to is is drag this bookmarklet to your bookmarks to get started.

Like Google Reader Shared Items, these new posts get rolled up onto a single page, which anyone can subscribe to. In addition, you can add notes, but it's not clear if these are searchable.

The new feature is similar to what Facebook, Friendfeed and others offer and moves Google Reader one step closer to being a social net for shared content.

• How to tag nearly anything anywhere in Leopard | Dennis Best (tags: OSX Leopard Tags spotlight lifehacks)
• Geek Tip: Keep Your iPod Cords Untangled For Free | geeksugar (tags: ipod iphone lifehacks)
• Is Your Consumer Using Social Media? - Advertising Age - Digital "Nine Profiles of Who Your Targets Are and Where They Might Be Online" (tags: Advertising socialmedia Marketing demographics psychographics)

• Chart of the Day: A Breakdown of Facebook Applications It's all about fun. (tags: Facebook Widgets Stats SocialNetworking)
• Nielsen: Mobile Internet Causes 13% Jump in Web Site Audience - ReadWriteWeb (tags: Mobile Stats)
• Free online photo editor with printing and slideshows (tags: Flickr Mobile Photography Web2.0 webapps)
• How-To: 10 Tips for Launching a Solid Podcast - MarketingVOX "These tips for launching an engaging podcast will help you build a loyal and responsive brand audience." (tags: Podcasting Tips)
• Five ways to improve your blog right now : Dave Caolo (tags: Blogs Tips)
• Web Worker Daily » Archive Email Tips & Tricks for Your Blackberry « (tags: blackberry Email Tips)

The following is also my column in next week's AdAge.

One of the most important skills executives need today is the know-how to manage and harness their personal information flow.

The Attention Crash is a crisis in global business that is getting worse every day. By 2009, the Radicati Group predicts that we’ll spend 41% of our time managing email. Now add to that the IMs, documents, Facebook pokes, RSS feeds, Twitter tweets and text messages coming at us and we’re officially way oversubscribed.

Unfortunately, the problem will not abate. Human attention is finite. It doesn’t scale. Worse, the pace of change today is so rapid there’s a huge need to stay digitally savvy.

The key is in wrangling your information flow. Here are three of my best tips.

Inbox Zero (www.inboxzero.com) - Blogger Merlin Mann has created a simple way to effectively manage email. His approach involves setting aside blocks of time for “email dashes,” quickly triaging messages and automating some of the processes with search folders – a powerful Outlook feature that most never use. Be sure to watch the video on Merlin’s site.

Invest in Search – When in doubt, let search tools - either on your desktop or online - do the work for you. The time you invest to set up these systems can pay huge dividends.

For example, I subscribe to around 500 RSS feeds in Google Reader. The great thing about my reader is that it’s searchable and acts as a personal database. So recently when my colleague asked me for March Madness online video statistics, was able to pull them up in seconds by searching my archive.

Make Unusable Time Usable – I read a ton. However, I have mastered how to stuff it into pockets of time that are normally “unusable.”

I get through about one business book a week by listening to them when I commute, travel and run errands. Most of the key books are available from Audible.com or iTunes. I am currently "reading" Groundswell by Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li.

In addition, I use Instapaper.com to bookmark articles I want to read. I can access this site from any computer or mobile device. I also keep a reading folder in my email nerve center that syncs up with my different devices. It’s even available when I am offline.

These are just a few of the best tips. For more “lifehacks”, check out my bookmarks.

• The Science of Thinking Smarter: A Conversation with Brain Expert John J. Medina "Neuroscience can show managers ways to improve productivity." (tags: science Productivity attentioncrash)
• Morgan Stanley’s March Internet Trends Report: Social Applications Dominating (tags: Trends Stats Web2.0)
• Who do people trust? (It ain’t bloggers) (tags: Forrester Marketing research Blogs trust)
• Edelman Studios :: We're partnering brands with innovative ideas from content producers. (tags: Edelman Video crowdsourcing Advertising Marketing)
• In search of a GTD solution - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) Mail/iCal with IMAP are still working for me. (tags: GTD OSX Leopard Mail.app)
• A workout for sitting at your desk Five exercises you can do in your office while sitting by your desk. (tags: Fitness workplace)

There's been an interesting discussion over the last few days about Twitter's reach. WSJ reporter Kara Swisher surveyed her dinner party and found out that no one there uses the micro-blogging site. Meanwhile Gina Trapani on Lifehacker is running a survey asking if Web 2.0 benefits only the tech elite.

Now let's look at the data. According to figures just out from Hitwise, Twitter is the 439th largest social networking site and 4309 overall. To be sure, growth is booming. But the site is still niche.

So all of the signs generally point the same way. Most of the social networking and online communities are definitely geek havens. MySpace, Facebook and YoutTube are three that have gone mainstream. So does that mean these smaller sites, like Twitter, are not worthy of a brand's time? Hardly.

Geeks are by far more influential than any other online contingency, except the big media. Geeks pass the puck from Twitter to blogs back to Twitter. Eventually it hits Techmeme, Saul Hansell at the Times takes notice and then the whole world knows.

That's why smart companies like JetBlue and Zappos are legitimately engaging on Twitter. It's becoming a front line for customer service. At a minimum, every consumer facing company should be monitoring the chatter. Even better, participating can cut problems off at the pass or even better foster evangelists. The numbers may never tell this story. For more, see Chris WInfield's mini case study.

In our SharePoint Report 2008 we discuss SharePoint's shortcomings and strengths in the search space. While SharePoint 2007's search capabilities have been improved over the 2003 product, it's still not "enterprise class" for a variety of different reasons.

Clearly Microsoft saw this same shortcoming (both in SharePoint and it's overall search offerings) and announced that they were going to acquire enterprise search vendor Fast Search and Transfer (more information on FAST can be found in our Enterprise Search Report 2008).

For SharePoint users, this brings up a few opportunities and issues. In a previous blog post about the SharePoint conference, I highlighted the presentation that FAST employees gave. This presentation showed nifty new Silverlight-enabled search Web Parts. These Web Parts demonstrated several capabilities that FAST brings to the SharePoint world, like: content spotlighting, multimedia search, and taxonomy management.

The last capability is one that I believe would be particularly interesting for SharePoint users, since taxonomy management represents a challenging area for most SharePoint implementations -- SharePoint taxonomies are very rigidly based on physical structure of the SharePoint sites and leave little flexibility for a more logical taxonomic structure (Redmond folks would argue that the content query Web Part might help, but it's not a solution). That said, what Microsoft hasn't really provided is good guidance on what users can expect to see and any migration path between SharePoint search and FAST. Unfortunately, that really hasn't changed: Microsoft has not release any roadmap for Fast's integration, though you could argue it's still early.

That aside, what could the FAST acquisition mean to SharePoint customers? Here are a few of my thoughts:

• The FAST acquisition was officially completed today. This is a good thing, since Microsoft can now get down to the business of integrating the company's technology with the rest of Microsoft's products. However, it's not clear what, if any, impact this acquisition will have in the very short term. Judging by the Groove acquisition, which preceded the SharePoint 2007 release by some months, an acquisition after the release will not yield any updates in the core product until SharePoint vNext (probably around 2010 or so) and beyond. However, I'd be willing to bet that some elements of the demo given at the SharePoint conference make their way to sites like Codeplex or as free downloads on Microsoft's site.
• The former CEO of FAST will assume the role of VP of Enterprise Search. His responsibility will include all search products: SharePoint search, Search Server Express and Fast ESP. So I guess the "Enterprise Search" moniker might need to be removed or rewritten on the SharePoint search page; FAST is, by far, the new "enterprise" search product at Microsoft. What's interesting here is that Microsoft has historically brought Office-related technologies under one roof; just look at what happened to SharePoint specifically -- that product was once it's own product group. As they integrate FAST, it would appear that this announcement suggests Microsoft might break out search into its own dedicated team and make SharePoint a "customer." This opens up the possibility of decoupling SharePoint from any particular search technology -- perhaps a pipe dream, but we can always hope.
• In a blog entry on the Enterprise Search blog, Microsoft stated that the FAST offering will continue its Linux and Unix support. The blog entry was quick to reinforce the message that Microsoft does not want to support or wish to invest in Linux or Unix solutions. While they would like to "delight a core part of Fast's customer base," they are openly hoping those customers will convert to Windows and .NET. This does call into question whether this Linux/Unix support will be long for the world. In the short term, however, Microsoft can boast a better product from which to launch a play to be a real contender in the enterprise search space; see our related blog entries and article on FAST here. In the long term, Microsoft will have to come to grips with the fact that enterprises will continue to leverage non-Windows technology and if Microsoft wants to benefit from that revenue, they should consider continuing Fast's support for those technologies (their recent earnings announcement, and the subdued guidance for the year, may reinforce that message).
• Microsoft won't support SharePoint on Linux <gasp!>. This is probably not a surprise to anyone who is even vaguely familiar with Microsoft. However, the fact that FAST (currently) is supported on Linux may introduce greater content aggregation and, certainly, search capabilities within SharePoint. Let's hope that Microsoft sees it that way.

In general, the FAST acquisition, for SharePoint, will likely have little impact short term. Over the longer term, it's clear that the Office 14 version of SharePoint will be substantially improved in the search area (depending on the SharePoint product team's willingness to implement the new technology). I would personally like to see some add-ons in the near term, since that would improve search within organizations that may have both tools.

Stay tuned for more on this topic as the integration progresses.

About a month ago, I wrote about three career tracks that won't exist in a few years - at least as I see it. Now let's take a look at three emerging digital jobs that will become increasingly important in the years ahead.

The Chief Customer Experience Officer (and those who work for her)

Want to know if a company is a good witch or a bad witch? It's easy. The web knows. Google, the media and online communities are littered with tales of companies that have exemplary products and customer service. However, it's often easier to find those that have been vilified for the opposite. That's the thesis of Pete Blackshaw's forthcoming book - Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3,000.

Here's an experiment. For fun, enter any company into this special Google search engine I set up and let me know what you find.

Brands are increasingly recognizing that customer experience is everything. They will follow the model that Zappos and others set in optimizing online and offline channels. Digital touch points, for many companies, will be the most critical. Since August 2006, customer experience job listings increased 57%, according to simplyhired. (User experience is directly related and equally important and I believe will increasingly become more integrated with the total customer experience.)

 "customer Experience" trends"customer experience" jobs 

Digital Storytellers

Harvard Business Review last month noted that most executives cannot articulate the objective, scope, and advantage of their business in a simple statement. "If they can’t, neither can anyone else," HBR posits. That's not good.

Remember, much of the developed world is coping with The Attention Crash. If a company can't tell pithy, authentic stories in the right places at the right time to the right people, someone else will. For more on this, I highly recommend the book Made to Stick.

Search may change that. Google is downplaying SEO and increasingly rewarding those who create quality content. This includes the pros/media, amateurs and brands. Blended Search - which integrates noteworthy videos, news and images with web results - is winning over users, according to Jupiter Research.

Net, as Jason Calacanis notes, there is a big market for people who know how to create or cultivate compelling content that pulls in people. To that end my employer is starting up Edelman Studios - a virtual content house that will identify online talent and pair them with brands. Many in the Hollywood community, ex-journalists and advertising/PR creatives will orient their careers in such a direction. Don't be left behind. There's plenty of need here.

Super Crunchers

Here's another book recommendation for your summer reading list (sorry, I read a lot so my clients don't have to). It's called Super Crunchers. In the book, the authors explain through case studies how companies that are able to mine through mountains of data and make it work for them usually win. Another great book on this topic is Moneyball, which I have written about before.

The digital space is the most addressable media and marketing platform ever. However, most marketers are not “quants” and data is largely under utilized by many companies.

Data mining and visualization tools reduce risk, make business more efficient and measurable. Great rewards will come to those who know how to dig into data and make sense of it all and can parse that into insights that help companies optimize the dollars they put online. Be that guy or gal.

Those are three emerging careers on my list. What's on yours? The one topic I did not cover is developers, who I suspect will continue to remain in high demand for years to come.

• Are You Spending Your Time the Right Way? - Harvard Business Online's Conversation Starter "A three-step plan for allocating your time wisely—and strategically." (tags: timemanagement Productivity timeboxing lifehacks HBR management)
• Consumers Using Social Media to ‘Vent’ about, Research Customer Service (tags: Stats PR Blogs socialmedia)
• Remember Podcasting? Listeners Do. - eMarketer "Although the audiences are small, each listener or viewer is very interested in the subject, and the audiences should therefore carry commensurately higher ad pricing." (tags: Podcasting Podvertising Advertising Stats engagement)
• Management by Baseball Fundamentals "Like a baseball player trying to score a run, a manager has to touch all the bases and do it in sequential order." (tags: baseball Sports leadership management)
• The Internet Goes Green (comScore Voices) "As buzz continues to grow around the green movement, the Internet has become a place for the growing environmentally-conscious population to congregate" (tags: environment goodpurpose Stats)
• 10 killer texting tricks "t's not just for kids. You can track flights, get driving directions, transfer files to your phone and much more." (tags: sms lifehacks Mobile)

Are You Spending Your Time the Right Way? - Harvard Business Online's Conversation Starter "A three-step plan for allocating your time wisely???and strategically." (tags: timemanagement Productivity timeboxing lifehacks HBR management) Consumers Using Social Media to ???Vent??? about, Research Customer Service... Steve Rubel

Our new SharePoint Report explains how one of the core challenges with the platform -- dating from inception through to MOSS 2007 -- is that the needs of a collaboration service often conflict with the requirements of other information services, particularly around website publishing.

One example: like many other portal vendors, by default MOSS wants to insert a lot of extra code and non-standard mark-up on every page to create an interactive collaboration dashboard. As this MSDN brief on how to performance-tune a MOSS 2007 WCM site warns, "Office SharePoint Server, by default, is not XHTML compliant." This has manifold implications for website publishing, not the least of which is accessibility.

Can you fix this? Yes, with an experienced developer carefully going into the innards of the tool at various levels to replace code. Not particularly friendly.

Of late, Redmond has been touting its "Accessibility Kit for SharePoint." At least one avid researcher points out that the fix remains incomplete. (Link thanks to Martin White.)

As Web CMS Report readers know, some competing web content management packages quietly suffer the same problem. At least with SharePoint you can read all about it publicly. But Microsoft casts a huge shadow on this space, and their relative disregard for core web standards just lowers the bar for everyone else.

• Inside Windows Live Messenger:: i’m Initiative donates $1.3M in its first year (tags: Collaboration IM CaseStudies Marketing Microsoft)
• Lessons from GE's Approach to Productivity - HBR Editors' Blog (Note - GE is an Edelman client) (tags: Productivity GE)
• Trendpedia (beta) " Compare trends in blogs (type in brands, products, people, or topics)" (tags: Trends Tools Search Blogs Stats insights)
• Ross Mayfield's Weblog: Putting People in the Wiki Socialtext turns its wiki into an enterprise social network. (tags: SocialNetworking Socialtext enterprise2.0 Wikis)
• Twist - see trends in twitter (tags: Trends twitter Stats microblogging Tools visualization insights)
• twitter.zappos.com Love this approach - shows tweets from Zappos employees and you. (tags: Marketing curation zappos CustomerService CustomerEvangelism)
• Beginner's Quick Start Guide and Tutorial to Using Twitter (tags: twitter tutorial microblogging)
• Passed vs Past "Too many get these words mixed up." (tags: Writing)
• Welcome to Webware 100 Awards 2008 CNET's 100 top Web apps for 2008 (tags: 2008 awards webapps Web2.0 CNET)

Inside Windows Live Messenger:: i???m Initiative donates $1.3M in its first year (tags: Collaboration IM CaseStudies Marketing Microsoft) Lessons from GE's Approach to Productivity - HBR Editors' Blog (Note - GE is an Edelman client) (tags: Productivity GE) Trendpedia (beta)... Steve Rubel

Our partners in Denmark, J. Boye, have just published a white paper, Wiki in the Enterprise.

There are many useful nuggets in the research (including a handy project check-list), but what I liked best about the paper is that it clearly contrasts the real value of wikis in a workgroup setting with the thorny challenges that wikis present enterprises once they evolve beyond a single departmental implementation. Have a look.

"Recycling" information (a.k.a., "content reuse") is a critical goal for most content management systems. On this Earth Day 2008, I thought it appropriate to share another green movement that's emerging in the content management industry. While researching SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions for The Web CMS Report 2008, I talked to several customers who stated "it is greener" as a reason they decided to choose a hosted solution for their enterprise.

Granted, it was not the decisive reason -- apparently getting out of the IT business is more compelling than saving the planet -- but it was the first time that I heard it as a factor.

Many observers consider SaaS greener to the traditional installed approach because SaaS providers host multiple "tenants" on the same servers. This more efficient approach requires less energy and releases less CO2 than if each tenant were running their own servers.

So it should come as no surprise that two of the four SaaS CMS vendors we cover, Clickability and CrownPeak, both promote their offerings using the "greener" message. Clickability promotes their Four Green Tenets of the SaaS Model, and today CrownPeak announced a site devoted to helping other companies achieve carbon neutrality.

In an era of increasing server virtualization, this argument holds less water, at least within larger enterprises who are increasingly mastering virtualization. But for the mid-market customers that most SaaS vendors target, energy savings could become quite real. The bigger benefit may come in not having to employ people to babysit your Web CMS servers -- quite literally reducing the carbon-based footprints in your enterprise...

Of course, SaaS isn't for everyone. Bringing the wrong solution into your enterprise can generate a lot of hot air and steam, too, so consider all factors here.

Happy Earth Day.

Last week I appeared on the Brian Lehrer show talking about my role with Edelman Digital and how I track trends. We cover marketing pollution and tips on how to manage information overload with desktop search, RSS, simplified GTD and the Gmail Personal Nerve Center.

This topic of "Information trapping" is one I plan to write about more. This is becoming the most critical skill that information workers need to survive overload and The Attention Crash. This is especially true for all of us who are addicted to the social web. Enjoy. If you're scanning this in a feed reader, the video is here.

Marketing Guru Steve Rubel Talks with Brian About Info Overload from Brian Lehrer Live on Vimeo.

Last week I appeared on the Brian Lehrer show talking about my role with Edelman Digital and how I track trends. We cover marketing pollution and tips on how to manage information overload with desktop search, RSS, simplified GTD and... Steve Rubel