socialmedia

Web 3.0 Dead Already?

Rest In Peace Versions Of The Web

I just finished reading a very thoughtful post written by Bill Snyder, A Preemtpive Strike: Death to Web 3.0 (and 2.0 while we’re at it). In his post, he makes quite a few valid points. One of those points is the fact that companies abroad are jumping aboard the web 2.0 bandwagon. It doesn’t matter what the company does, or what the company sells, that company needs a social network, and a Twitter user account even if they have no clear understanding as to why. As I have stated in numerous other conversations, social-networking is out of control but the good news is, the users themselves will determine which ones stay and which ones fall by the wayside.

Bill also makes another excellent point about the definition of web 2.0. Is web 2.0 one thing, or is it a series of concepts? I tend to agree with Bill in that the term describes a series of concepts. Since the web 2.0 O’Reilly definition was published, users have been coining the term Web 2.0 as a variety of different things. Whether it be the use of AJAX, website design or social-networking. Has anyone ever tried to explain what Web 2.0 is to a noob? It’s practically one of the hardest things on earth to describe because everyone has a different sense as to what it actually is.

Bill also states that Web 2.0 did not replace Web 1.0 and the web is not based on version numbers. Tim, I think your related to Bill! In any case, if you dissect a number of websites, web based applications, and quite honestly, anything that is related to web 2.0, it’s quite obvious that the web is still the web and the underlying code is still the same. So why are we still using the term web 2.0?

The whole point of defining Web 2.0 was to figure out where we are. Unfortunately for those who like buzzwords, we are everywhere. The whole point of discussing Web 3.0 is to figure out where we are going. Well, here’s the news: We’re not all going to the same place, and that is the beauty of this medium (or perhaps these mediums). The possibilities are endless and will continue to defy labels. We are just at the beginning of this “internet thing,” and what comes next is going to be many things — some will die anonymous deaths and others will change the very nature of the way we communicate.

I couldn’t agree with you more and I am definitely looking forward to what lies beyond the horizon of the web, however it will be described or defined.

Which Class Of Twitter Users Are You In?

Twitter.com LogoChris Brogan has published an interesting article where he reviews his use of Twitter and comes up with a few different classifications of Twitter users.

Out of the different classes of Twitter users that Chris presents, I have determined that I am within the Announcers vs. Conversationalists class.

Announcers vs. Conversationalists

This is a current hammer-target for Eric Rice. He’s railed out about people (including me) using Twitter as a promotion engine. I understand this, insofar as some people do nothing but twitter links to their blog posts, their flickr pictures, and whatever else turns them on. (Note: I will Twitter that I posted this article when I’m done writing it).

But conversationalists know to use a mix. They talk with other Twitter users, using the @ function to make sure people see the threaded conversation. They engage with the flow of people twittering around them, building a social sculpture, and engaging in what Jeff Pulver calls amorphic communications. Conversationalists reach into Twitter and move people back and forth.

In the beginning, Twitter was a social networking tool that I believed I could use as a promotional stepping stone for my blog. I added all sorts of people to my friends list because I knew, most people would end up following me simply because I chose to follow them. After using Twitter for a few months now, I have changed my way of thinking. I still use Twitter as a tool to share postings on my blog that I think are good conversation starters, but I also participate in conversations with those I follow. I’m also beginning to follow only those people that I actually have an interest in.

I’m currently being followed by 54 people while I’m actually following 84 people. I wonder just how many of those that are following me actually give a damn as to what I post on Twitter. I am also starting to wonder if I should delete everyone that I am following and start over from scratch. Now that I have a sense as to the correct way of using Twitter as a social tool, I think I should either start over, or I should fine tune my friends list.

Thank you Chris Brogan for the inspirational post. It’s really made me step back and realize how and why I’m using Twitter.

If you enjoy what I write on this blog and you have an account on Twitter, consider adding me http://twitter.com/jeffr0 I need more social-media, social-web, web2.0 people to converse with. Outside of the Internet, no one has a freaking clue about Web 2.0 or any of the cool stuff going on in the Cyberworld.

My First Podcast Sort Of

Talkshoe.Com Podcasting Made Simple

Every Monday, Pete Balasch Jr. hosts a show on Talkshoe called Internet Marketing And SEO Tips. About 2 weeks ago, Pete decided to do an apprentice type show where he takes a generally inexperienced user and teaches them about SEO and the different ways a new user can gain ground on search engines. This past Monday, as I was waiting for the show to start, Pete informed me that his guest couldn’t make it. Since I was the only one in the room, he asked me if I’d like to do a show and be a special guest host. I said “sure”.

The show which you can listen to here, EPISODE18 – The SEO Apprentice Course Week 3 turned out to be rather informative. In the show, I gave an audio review of InviteShare, along with an explanation of how it works. Pete and I both discussed the effects of Web 2.0 on search engine optimizations along with a new term that has been created called Social Media Marketers. Think of SMM’s as the SEO guys who apparently get the gist of Web 2.0 and social media. During the middle of the show, Highway_Of_Life the new co-host for PHPBBWEEKLY joined in and gave us some valuable information concerning Google’s Supplemental index. This segment alone is enough to warrant a listen.

Last but not least, we covered PingBacks/Trackback URLs, the No-Follow link attribute, blogging in the blogosphere, using Twitter to update multiple other services and sites, and general SEO tips. If you happen to listen to this episode, I’d love to hear your feedback as I plan on having my own Talkcast/Podcast show in the not so distant future.

Use 15 Bookmarking Services With 1

OnlyWire.com Use One Bookmarklet Instead Of 15Consolidation of web services is the next big thing on the web and OnlyWire is on the bandwagon providing a service that allows one bookmarklet to take the place of 19 others.

Online bookmarking really took off once del.icio.us hit the web. del.icio.us offers a way for users to store all of their bookmarks in one place on line, sharing of bookmarks with friends, and also allowed a way for users to check out what their friends were bookmarking. Since the launch of del.icio.us there have been a countless number of other bookmarking sites to hit the scene such as Blue Dot, Furl, Diigo, Spurl ect. You may have developed a favorite amongst all of these different offerings, but what if you could use nineteen different bookmarking services through only one? That is precisely what OnlyWire allows you to do.

Synopses:

OnlyWire provides users with a bookmarklet which is tied into nineteen different bookmarking services. Once you add something to OnlyWire, that bookmark is then added to each one of the other nineteen bookmarking services you actively have an account on. Note what I just said. You must have an active account on one or more of the nineteen bookmarking services that OnlyWire is tied into if you want your bookmarks to be published on those sites.

Why Bother:

You may be wondering why anyone would ever have nineteen separate accounts on nineteen separate bookmarking sites? Having an account on each of those services and then using OnlyWire to publish to all of them at once allows podcasters, bloggers and content producers to easily expose their content to a wider audience. I’m not saying that you should be exclusively using this service to only bookmark your content because that is a form of abuse, but there is nothing wrong with occasionally tagging your own content every once and awhile. This will generate an increase in traffic on your end and having your content on those nineteen services provides at least nineteen more back links to whatever site it is your promoting.

Creating An Account:

Creating an account is pretty simple. Provide a username, password, type in the associated CAPTCHA image text and off you go. One thing worth noting is that OnlyWire will automatically bookmark OnlyWire.com and the OnlyWire Sponsor site on each of the bookmarking services you are participating with. The good news is that OnlyWire will only bookmark the Sponsor link once.

The Boring Part:

Once your account is created, it will automatically be logged into OnlyWire.com. Near the top of the SERVICES page, you will see an area designated for BOOKMARK TOOLS: These tools are the actual OnlyWire bookmarklets you will need to use to publish items to your account. Unlike Blue Dot, OnlyWire allows you to bookmark pages that contain Frames and ones that don’t. Most sites however, are generally void of frames so you’ll most likely only use the Save Page (NO FRAMES) bookmarklet. On a funny note, OnlyWire uses the acronym (STD) to describe the bookmarklet that saves pages with no frames. The bookmarklet is safe to use, so don’t worry about catching anything!

Also on the SERVICES page their will be two columns of text boxes, one for usernames and the other for passwords. Each set of boxes is for a particular bookmarking site. Be sure to fill out the appropriate details for each service your apart of or the OnlyWire bookmarklet will be unable to post to those sites. This would be a good opportunity for you to create accounts on each site you don’t already have one with by clicking on the link to the left of the text boxes. I managed to create accounts on all but five of the services listed. Those sites I couldn’t register with were apparently having some account registration issues that prevented me from getting an account. If this happens to you, just skip them.

Using The BookMarklet:

Using the bookmarklet couldn’t be any easier. Once you come across a piece of content on the web you would like to bookmark, simply click the Bookmarklet button in your browser. Usually the title and the website link will appear automatically. Always add tags to your items. These tags play an important role as they allow members of each bookmarking site to find your content. Think of tags as keywords and keyword phrases that users would type into a search box to find your content. You can choose whether to keep your tags private or not, but if you want to shoot yourself in the foot be sure to mark them as private. You don’t have to, but it is generally a good idea to put in a snippet about the particular item you are bookmarking. Those who find your content will be grateful for the short description.

Final Thoughts:

OnlyWire is a great service as it allows users to consolidate at least 19 bookmarklets into one. Not only does this save time and energy but it could potentially help you clean up your browser window by allowing you to get rid of the individual bookmarklets you may have from different bookmarking services. As I registered an account to all of those services I didn’t have an account on, I noticed that each one came with it’s own browser plugin/bookmarklet which would of made my FireFox browser a mess.

Using OnlyWire in the proper way should really benefit web masters as it allows them to really push their content to a wider audience. As noted previously, if you use OnlyWire to only bookmark content on your own site, you are generally abusing the service which puts your account at risk of being suspended or banned. Bookmark your own content sparingly. Also try to play an active role in these social bookmarking communities by adding users as friends, sharing bookmarks, bookmarking the same things your friends are bookmarking ect. After all, it wouldn’t be Web 2.0 without having a good bit of social interaction within a community.

Learn More:

If you would like to learn more about OnlyWire, I suggest downloading and taking a listen to Pete Balasch’s episode 15 of the Internet Marketing And SEO Tips Podcast. This episode covers OnlyWire and why web masters should seriously consider jumping on board and using the service.

If you prefer one bookmarking service over another, please tell us why in the commenting section.