Faraaz told me that he built it because (paraphrasing) he often found himself bouncing between Google, Twitter, Wikipedia, Youtube, etc. to listen, read, etc., about what someone has to say. It's not that some of their content is hard to find, or that RSS, hashtags, usernames, etc don't exist, it's that the content isn't curated, and discovery takes time and effort. He definitely didn't create it because they don't have large enough audiences. Faraaz literally built this to fill a need he had. Personally, I think journalism might be an interesting use case for this.
I guess I kinda figured that would be the use case... but then thought about the different streams and data types, and realized that I consume data via a specific stream first, then by the creator second. So I'll go to YouTube and see what's new. Then to Twitter to see what is happening there with my favorite tags. I didn't really think of looking at all of one individual's output at once, regardless of platform. That use case causes me to think a bit about what I consume, why I consume it, and where. A tool for journalist's makes a lot of sense, research-wise. But for my use, I don't really want to eat my appetizer, desert, and main course all at the same time... I'd like to consume them in a specific order, and that's the way I (apparently) view my social media consumption, as well. I didn't realize that! Food for thought...
No, I meant following journalists rather than news outfits. I wouldn't go so far as to say that we are post-institutional, but I do think that individuals have ground to gain, whereas institutions have much to give.A tool for journalist's makes a lot of sense, research-wise.
i think this is a great idea. i think i must consume content (or try to) in a way similar to your friend. paul graham is a good example, and i'm not surprised he likes this, because he saw the need a long time ago, hence paulgraham.com, which does exactly the same thing without bells, whistles, and other people