We were discussing various well-established and hot-out-of-the press web 2.0 (pardon the overused buzzword) applications and social networking sites each other actually use and like with a colleague. I came to think that there are more of them than I thought before listing them out. In no particular order:
And then there are a few that I haven’t ended up frequenting for one reason or another:
- NetVibes – there are only so many web based widget/RSS aggregators one can stick to; for now Personalized Google wins for me because of some Google app widgets I need which are not as good in NetVibes yet
- StumbleUpon – haven’t had that feeling of “oh, gosh, I have this free hour to spend and really don’t know where to start reading the internet” in a while
- Digg – there is only so much news one can take, would it be socially filtered or not; Digg tends to be too US-centric and thus less relevant for me than some other sources.
And then of course are the are the blogging/publishing tools, like Google Analytics and Feedburner in my bookmarks, but this is another topic.
But… Why?
I am a huge believer in transparency. In social interaction, in communications and in business more specifically.
I am a growing believer of giving. Donating your time and knowledge to a cause without immediate, measurable, directly monetizable result. And just putting (at least some of) the valuables you have out there for others to come, use and build on it. Think of CreativeCommons and web 2.0 services exposed via interfaces that allow mash-ups here. I mean sharing and value-creating usage, not just technological “openness” such as a blind rally for all the source code in the world being open for just the sake of it.
And last but not least there is the geeky interest into where the web and it’s participants are heading. Where does the human nature with the appropriate dose of applied technology lead us to the unexpected? When and why do the really down-to-earth, pragmatically useful everyday tools emerge from the web 2.0 hype wave?