Web 2.0

The term Web 2.0 first became popular at the O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004. This term refers to the way the internet has changed so users can interact with other users or change website content. Some examples of Web 2.0 is web-based communities, hosted services, web applications, social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashups, and folksonomy.

Many Web 2.0 websites typically have similar features and techniques. An acronym that was created to refer to these features is SLATES. SLATES means Search, Links, Authoring, Tags, Extensions, Signals. Search is pretty self explanatory meaning finding information through keyword searches. Links means connecting information together into a meaningful information ecosystem using the model of the Web, and provides low-barrier social tools. Authoring is the ability to create and update content, which is what websites like Twitter and Facebook made popular. Tags give the ability to users to categorize content through key phrases. Extensions are the software that makes the Web an application platform as well as a document server. Lastly signals is the use of syndication technology to notify users of content changes.

All of these features are new techniques that the internet has made popular. Many people are opposed to the term Web 2.0. These people believe the internet was destined to adapt these values in the first place. It does not matter who is right or wrong, I believe the internet is going in the right direction and I can only imagine what Web 3.0 will include.

Facebook

In the March 2010 issue of the magazine Fast Company, there was an interesting article on the social networking site Facebook. Facebook was co-founded by Mark Zuckerberg (who is the face of the company), Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, and Chris Hughes out of a Harvard dorm room.

From these humble beginnings, Facebook has developed into the behemoth that it is today. Facebook currently has over 350 million users (according to Wikipedia), with hopes of surpassing Google's 800 million users in the future.

How do they do it? Facebook finds employees who are driven by their love of innovative technology and they encourage interaction amongst their employees. They also put each employee through a six week "boot camp" upon hiring to teach them the ropes of the various parts that make up Facebook, and require all (generally) employees to attend an all night meeting about every other month. This allows employees to feel free to throw ideas on the table, interact with coworkers, and helps each employee realize and understand how hard their coworkers work to bring ideas to fruition. Also, Facebook staff are required to work on every part of the site at one time or another so that they become familiar with different areas of coding, and how it all ties together.

What are some of the potential problems associated with Facebook use? There is the obvious one - content that you post on Facebook can be seen by potential employers who may decide not to hire you because of views expressed in your posts, or pictures that you upload to your profile. So beware of what you put on Facebook! There are also issues such as the recent malware problem that some users of the application "Farm Town" experienced. According to an April 12, 2010 article in PC World, a Shockwave Flash advertisement has been redirecting users to a site that sells fake antivirus software. Then today, ironically enough, I personally had an issue with Facebook. I received a request from a friend to go to an application that claimed to have riddles. So, trusting my friend and being curious, I clicked the "accept" button, and it immediately sent the same request to all of my Facebook friends without my permission. Then, it took me through a series of never ending advertisements, never providing an answer to the opening riddle. Here's hoping that it was simply annoying and not dangerous to my computer, or the computers of any of my friends (I did post a warning, so hopefully they will catch that before being dragged into the same farce as I was!).

Despite these issues, I will still continue to use Facebook. It has allowed me to reconnect with several friends that I had lost touch with, and even with a cousin who put me in touch with my biological father who I had lost touch with 20 years ago. I will simply try to use caution and common sense when utilizing the site.

Viral Marketing

Last week on Thursday we discussed the case about the small vineyard that was using Web 2.0 to market their product. If you weren't in class or didn't read the case, what they did was give people a case of their wine and instructed them to throw a party and blog about their experience. They used social networking sites to share the pictures and stories with others on the internet to get their product out there and recognized. This is a prime example of how viral marketing can be an extremely useful tool for companies to sell products without spending a lot of money.

Take for example the movie Snakes On A Plane. Imagine getting a phone call from a strange number, answering it, and having Samuel L. Jackson talking trash to you telling you to go see the movie. This is exactly what happened to me, and I thought it was absolutely hilarious. To read about it, click here. It made headline news as one of the most effective, questionable viral campaigns.

This is just one simple example of how Web 2.0 can be used at minimal costs to a company to advertise their products to people.

Interface

I interact so much everyday. It has become a way of life for me and everyone else around the world. I think everyone has at least one tech interaction everyday. I have several between school work and personal life.

One of my favorite interfaces for interaction is Twitter. It is basically a social networking client that gives people all over the world a way to connect. You can update your twitter to say what your doing, what you plan on doing or upload media. Twitter is most enjoyable during big events such as the Superbowl, the Grammy Awards and any other awards shows. Seeing everyones comments are so funny.

The world of social networking has it positive and negative aspects. Facebook has reunited so many people and built so many relationships. It also starts trouble by letting people be something that their not via the internet. Overall, I am happy with the direction that interaction is going in our society today. It makes our lives easier and is time and cost effective.

Anna's 6th Post

Social networking sites have become extremely popular in the past five or so years. From Xanga, to Myspace, to Facebook and Twitter, it seems like everyone uses them at some point. They are a great way to stay in touch with friends and family far away and share pictures. A recent article explains that these sites peaked in December, although I don't understand why because that is such a busy time of the year. It claims that the time spent on social networking sites increased 82% in the past year.

The same article tells that of these types of websites, Facebook is the most popular and 67% of social networking users are on Facebook. Not surprisingly, the majority of the people on social networking sites come from the United States. Australia takes the title of most time spent on these websites though, averaging about 7 hours a month per user. Honestly, that doesn't even seem that high because i know so many college students who are probably on Facebook an hour a day. The United States spends the 2nd most amount of time on the websites.

Although it doesn't seem like that much time is being spent on these websites, it is really scary how the amount has increased in the past year. From December 2008 to December 2009, the time spent on Facebook in the United States doubled and Twitter use rose by 368%. Although I'm in full support of these websites, I think everyone needs to realize that computer interaction will never be the same as face to face interaction, and it is important to get out of the house, move around and interact.