Web 2.What?

Since my previous post was all about sites you’ve forgotten about, it seems fitting this one be all about ones you can’t live without. However, now I want to address web tools. I was just thinking the other day, I self-taught myself HTML when I was 13 and built a couple web site back in the day but of course it was a tedious, time-consuming effort. So after the novelty wore off, I gave up on building web sites because I never really wanted to be a web developer. However, I remembered just how rewarded and accomplished I felt to have my own little piece of real estate on the World Wide Web…

And look here I am again! However, this time, I built the blog from nothing in a couple of hours. First I bought some hosting and a domain. I went with a hosting provider that self-installs Wordpress, so piece of cake… then I picked out a template, tweaked it a little and voila! Really *anyone* can do it. Really freakin’ cool when you think about it!

So on to the point, here are some web tools/apps/sites I just couldn’t bare to live without.

Wordpress

I think I just explained this one pretty well, but I would also pick Wordpress over Typepad, Movable Type and Blogger (yes, I’ve used them all!) because I just find it amazingly versatile and you can set up your blog ‘quick and dirty’ as I did with this one, or spend a lot of time making it absolutely how you want it (which is what I *want* to do with this one day). Also I’m constantly amazed with all the plug-ins, and constant updates. It’s just great.

Feedburner

Because what’s the point of talking if no one’s listening? I love the details Feedburner provides and tracking subscribers. Paired with Google Analytics you’ve got a full picture of who’s visiting your site, and after following for a while you can start to get a solid grasp on what works, what doesn’t, etc.

Google Analytics

Back when I learned to build web sites, as best as I can recall there wasn’t really much to measure your traffic aside from those stupid hit counters which never seemed to work. When my parents ran their own business I maintained the web site and I remember they had paid some company a lot of money to produce these “reports” about the traffic. Which were about as easy to read as a Japanese dictionary. While there are some great analytics tools out  there today, Google Analytics is fabulous…AND free. The great thing is, even if you don’t really know too much about analytics, Google makes it so easy to understand, within a couple of hours of poking around you will feel like a pro!

Youtube

Can you even remember life before Youtube? It’s only been three years, but for many of us, it’s changed the way we use the Internet.It used to be such a pain for the average person to post a video. I remember working on an e-newsletter for my college, and the administrative staff wanted to put a video in it. I remember spending hours trying to figure out how to convert file formats, compress the file as much as possible and posting a link on the landing page that subscribers would have to click to download the video file. It was ridiculous.

And finally… My *all-time* favourite…

Twitter

Twitter has literally changed the way I communicate. (Now it is only in 140 character intervals!) but seriously, via Twitter I am able to quickly find answers to probably any question I can imagine, “meet” people in my field or with similar interests around the globe and network/get to know each other without it being creepy or overly personal–which I love. I could go on all day about how handy I think it is, the versatility and many uses… but it’s Friday, so I’m out of here! (Oh yea, if you aren’t already, don’t forget to follow me!)

So what tools have changed the way you live/work/socialize? What could you absolutely never live without again?

So if you’re even a little bit like me, you’ve probably signed up for a few community/social media sites and have never gone back. And in my case, by a few, I really mean a TON. Not purposely, sometimes I sign quickly when I’m busy, intending to check it out later, and never make it. Sometimes I just poke around a while and decide it doesn’t appeal to me. Sometimes I just downright hate it (though rarely, I’m pretty easy to please!)

Anyway, what I thought could be fun if I named off a few sites that I am a member of, but don’t ever visit. Also I’d love for you to jump into the comments and tell me either a)Why i *should* get involved with one of my abandoned sites, or b)What sites you’ve done the same for. I think it could make for an interesting list!

Here goes:

SocialMedian

Socialmedian is even trying so hard by sending me emails everday! And I think it *sounds* like a really cool concept, but for some reason I haven’t been back. I think one day someone added me as a friend or whatever they call it, and I had difficulty logging in, and that was the end of that. The deal is it’s a personalized news service, and you can share your news with others. I think I could get into it, but haven’t yet.

Plurk

I actually really like Plurk, and log in from time to time, but the problem is I have over 600 followers on Twitter, and about 25 on Plurk. Which one would you use? However it does seem that Plurk has a loyal following… I’m just not a part of it.

Identi.ca

Sooooo identi.ca is just like twitter, but with less features, and doesn’t look as nice? Yea, not sure why I haven’t given it much of a chance. Like probably most of its users, I signed up when Twitter was having service issues, but since those have been resolved, it’s barely crossed my mind.

Delicious.com

OK I was a die-hard del.icio.us fan, but some where along the way, dropped it all together. In fact, I’ve only been to the site once since it was re-branded as delicious.com. Is the social bookmarking trend dying down or is it just me?

Ok that’s what I’m starting with. Let me know which sites you’ve abandoned. I will probably update this evening.

**Update** Here are some I’ve added since this page originally went up:

MySpace

One I can’t believe I forgot is MySpace–which actually prompted this post! I joined MySpace a couple years ago, before Facebook was public–because many of my personal friends were using it. However, I always hated the interface and ugly layouts and embedded music on pages, so I was happy to abandon it! Sadly I don’t think I was the only one, because you seldom here anything about it anymore. However out of the blue yesterday I received a “MySpace Newsletter” (which I don’t remember ever seeing before) so I guess they’re finally trying to get things together again. Either way, I’m done with it.

FriendFeed

As a few people have mentioned in the comments, FriendFeed is another one that’s fading. I really like the idea of FriendFeed — aggregating all your services, but I just couldn’t figure out what I was suppose to do on the site… Because I’d already read all the updates in Facebook, Twitter, etc. I suppose I don’t regularly use enough services to make FriendFeed completely worthwhile.

StumbleUpon

One nobody has mentioned, but I just realized I’m not using nearly as much is StumbleUpon. Which I absolutely ADORE, and I have no idea why it fell off my radar. I suppose because I’m not using my iMac as much, I wonder if there’s an iPhone app? (If not… there should be!)

MyBlogLog

I used to LOVE MyBlogLog! And it used to bring great traffic to my blog, but it fizzled out somewhere. I think when I started Web 2.What? it did not have the same momentum as when I’d started out with MBL while it was still new and I lost interest. I go on from time to time, and just feel like there’s of members just trying to drive traffic and it’s lacking a community feel. *shrug*

Also be sure to check out the comments….

So I’ve been without Internet for over a week now! I’m calling tonight to get it set up, but in the meantime I wanted to post a few quick updates from the Web 2.0 world…

• Sixent - Is a new social networking platform launched by Ottawa-based Ramius Corp. I’ve been meaning to write a full review, but for now, I really like it and it’s gaining some great momentum… So check it out and don’t forget to add me as your contact! Oh yea, also when I was playing out with it I created a Web 2.What? group too, so join in and post a comment for suggestions of what I should do with it!
• In other Ottawa Web 2.0 news, Overlay.tv officially launched last week out of Beta and has been creating a media storm. Check out the coverage on Tech Crunch featuring a vid with Ashton Kutcher… 
• LinkedIn now has a discussion feature for its groups! Previously if you were a member of any LinkedIn group, you were probably wondering what the point of it was… Well now you can discuss with other group members. A definitely long-awaited feature.
• Google announced the launch of Google Chrome. A new browser that promises to be faster and more efficient than any other. In fact they have a cute little comic explaining how that is. I haven’t had a chance to download it yet (having no Internet except for iPhone) so if you’ve tried it, drop a comment and let me know what I have to look forward to.

That’s all that comes to mind for now, but I’ll have some exciting news to announce very shortly…