http://slyoyster.com

TechCrunch is reporting that Facebook has just acquired FriendFeed.  Details of the aquisition are sparse.

Obviously Facebook has already built out some of FriendFeed’s functionality so there is some overlap, but there are still numerous ways FriendFeed beats out Facebook’s News Feed setup. One of these is the way stories are ‘floated’ to the top as new users comment on them. And FriendFeed’s system is truly real-time, unlike Facebook’s feed which users have to manually refresh.

But the biggest win here for Facebook is the FriendFeed team, which includes an all-star cast of ex-Googlers. Perhaps best known of these is Paul Buchheit, who is responsible for creating Gmail, pioneering some of Google’s early (and incredibly lucrative) advertising products, and coining Google’s “Don’t be evil” motto. Other ex-Googler co-founders include Bret Taylor, Jim Norris, and Sanjeev Singh.

Shockingly, I don’t use either of these services as much as I should and in Friendfeed’s case, not at all.  My problem with Facebook is that it doesn’t understand it’s own usefulness by trying to emulate Twitter. 

Facebook = a digital rolodex; Twitter = realtime media wire.  It’s that simple.