I doubt many of you are familiar with “Web 2.0.” It’s basically a term for websites and tools that are trying to replace many basic desktop functions or simply add a completely new interactive level to the Internet. Instead of people simply reading and viewing things on the Net, they become part of it by contributing to sites and showing off their individuality and experiences in the process. I’m a huge fan of Web 2.0 applications, though many of them are simply useless or headed in the wrong direction, but when I do see a good one come along I usually spend lots of time (or perhaps waste lots of time) on it. Sites such as Facebook use a strong element of Web 2.0 by creating a social network of people and giving them handfuls of functions to play around with. Flickr is another good example as it is more than just a photo-storing tool, it’s a network of photographers sharing and commenting on each other’s work. There is a variety of great sites I could talk about, but for now I will just discuss three of them…
MyFilmz – If you click the link you will get a great example of how the site works (my own list of films). Basically it lets users make a list of DVD’s they own. It adds functions such as “tagging” (this term is growing ever more popular with each passing year month) and lets users search each other based on movie interests. It lets you view lists by DVD cover or by movie information. Some of the film searching and adding could be fixed up a bit and the site itself is kind of confusing to use, but with a little patience you can figure it out in no time. While it may seem useless to some, collectors such as myself would love this sort of thing. Grade: B+
TravBuddy – This site is for anyone who enjoys traveling, reading about new places, or even for people simply trying to plan a trip and wanting to know some good sites to see in any particular area. It lets users create a profile and then add “travelogues” of places they have been. You can add photos, journal entries, and also add suggestions for places to eat and things to see. I just recently discovered this one and I have a feeling I’m going to spend much time browsing through it and creating logs of different trips and vacations I have been on. The layout is so incredibly easy to use and anyone could figure it out. Check this one out. Grade: A+
Last.fm – This is an incredible site that is growing in popularity every day. Not only does it offer FREE customized radio stations based on artists and songs that you like, it also logs what songs you listen to in iTunes and Windows Media Player with the installation of a couple of plugins (little program add-ons). While I’ve had some trouble getting my WMP plugin to work and log my music, the iTunes one works fine. By clicking on the link you will find my profile of songs I’ve been listening to. Please keep in mind I haven’t had this thing installed long so it looks like I don’t listen to much music and when I do it’s all the same stuff. Plus it’s not logging my WMP music, which is the majority of it. Give it another month and it’ll be much more complex of a list. What’s great about this site too is that you can create codes for blogs (which I plan on doing) that will show the last few songs you’ve listened to. Pretty nifty, eh? Grade: A