I must admit it, I was disbelieving in Web 2.0. When these applications first came out, I kind of neglected them. I remember it well: my MSN space (however it was called) was a spam nest, as I was completely uninterested of what flavour was my classmate (incorrectly tagged by the application as "friend") party cake. I didn't give a damn. Google Maps was just a fancy toy. Amazon was just another book seller, and eBay sounded like a scamming center. The term WEB 2.0 then popped out. And it sounded like crap.
Then I slowly succumbed by them. I watched a YouTube video. I came to a link to someone's de.licio.us. Someone told me about Twitter. And I liked them.
The reason I am posting this is because I always disliked Facebook, until I started using it. All started, ironically, with a costest for Facebook application, in which I decided to give a shot. I didn't know anything about Facebook, except those annoying requests for giving hugs to people I did not even know, and those emails pushing me to block or concede.
Filtering the good contents of each site is quite a challenge. I know, the model of the long tail tells us that no matter what you do, you will always have crappy contents. But the garbage of one person is the treasure of another. The most those sites can do is to provide us a personal way to filter it. Some of them do it really well, while others have to improve it.
By Wordle
I still dismiss many many sites. I had to block I-don't-know-how-many join requests from social network sites that I am not really interested in. Until I know they are useful, I have more than enough with my Facebook (and probably a couple of sites more that I don't remember and I won't ever visit again). But all these "fancy tools" have an added-value hidden somewhere all those things you may not like. Try them before discarding them. You will be surprised on how useful you can make them be.
Then I slowly succumbed by them. I watched a YouTube video. I came to a link to someone's de.licio.us. Someone told me about Twitter. And I liked them.
The reason I am posting this is because I always disliked Facebook, until I started using it. All started, ironically, with a costest for Facebook application, in which I decided to give a shot. I didn't know anything about Facebook, except those annoying requests for giving hugs to people I did not even know, and those emails pushing me to block or concede.
Filtering the good contents of each site is quite a challenge. I know, the model of the long tail tells us that no matter what you do, you will always have crappy contents. But the garbage of one person is the treasure of another. The most those sites can do is to provide us a personal way to filter it. Some of them do it really well, while others have to improve it.
By Wordle
2 comments:
Well, I had to block many sites too. "Issuu" was its name, I think. Had something to do with social networking. I didn't open the link.
Something like the dot-com bubble is happening (oh! dejá vú!): developers are branding everything as web 2.0, everything is about social networking in the same fashion everything could be dot-commed 10 years ago.
Sure there are some shining stars (I recall only the ones I use): facebook, youtube and google maps. And boy do I use them. Practically all the pictures I take with my cam are uploaded to facebook; I even take the time to tag all of my friends, post some messages here and there... jaja, even post my "status" with random thoughts. Youtube I use to watch funny videos (but for funny watch funnyordie.com). Maps helps me reaching parts of the city (Mexico) I don't even know.
Where am I going? All these sites are succesful only in the way they add something to my life and not only to my experience in the internet. Only in the way they have a meaning to me. I'm not interested in seeing my buddies webpages, but rather know how they are. I wanted to watch not only funny videos, but the recaps of my favourite TV series... youtube was around the corner.
What is web 2.0... besides the crappy name (as if it was some sort of new technology): shifting focus. Whoever saw web 2.0 as merely ajax and some nice looks failed miserably. Whoever saw web 2.0 as their brand new marketing platform failed miserably too. (Well, if I'm a bit annoyed with facebook having small ads here and there, imagine it with a big banner). Web 2.0 is not about ajax, javascript or some nice looks. Web 2.0 is all about shifting focus to the communities, empowering users to generate content... empowering users to generate value for themselves. After all, the collective wisdom that resides in them can be as vast as Wikipedia... wait... wikipedia "is" collective wisdom.
I'll take a somewhat ridiculous example. The "Friends for sale" application facebook has. Virtually owning your friends with fake money with no purpose whatsoever is, for me, quite stupid. Yet it seems the app is a success. Why? Nicknames. It lets you put nicknames to the pets you own. Funny nicknames. Offensive nicknames. It lets people interact in a new way. (Well, I really don't believe I made my point clear).
Web 2.0 is about tapping the power of the user, is about adding value to the user. It's not about a unique identity on the web (and forgive me all you followers of the OpenID initiative)... I'm ok as long as I have my facebook id. It's not about reuniting every single person in the world. Its only about letting me see my friend's pics. Let me reunite with some friends from junior high.
Well, I hope my feedback is useful 4 u.
See ya!
Carlos
Empowerment, I couldn't find that word on my head when looking for it.
What still shocks me is the tremendous success some "applications" have having IMHO little value. Maybe I underestimate the communication power that has "poking someone", but my guess is that other people can see the value on that. Don't ask me...
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