Reduce Social Network Hair-Pulling with a ‘Pause’ Button

FriendFeed introduces a new feature on their beta site: a “Pause” button “fake following” mode, which lets you follow someone without seeing their updates. In a similar vein, productivity guy Merlin Mann proposes that all social networks build in a “Pause” button, which would protect you temporarily from a stream of unwanted updates for a certain amount of time without de-friending folks. Along with a “Pause” button for social networking, we also want a “Snooze” button for email, tasks, and reminders.