Links to relevant sites, articles, and resources.

Tony

Groups are a practical alternative to forums but they’re fading in popularity just now. They offer many of the benefits of a forum and can be restricted to ‘invitation only’ to offer more protection and exclusivity to the members. Subscribers can elect to simply read all the message online, have everyone forwarded to them or just see a weekly digest then chose any they want to read.

They’re free to set up and run in most cases and the most popular providers are:

http://groups.google.com/

http://groups.yahoo.com/

In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what's new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not.

For a review from the Guardian newspaper CLICK HERE.

The most notorious example of this phenomenon is Belle de Jour ‘the secret diary of a high class call girl’ which has also been made into a TV series by Channel 4 in the U.K. There is much speculation that the writer is actually a man, including this particular article http://www.timemachinego.com/linkmachinego/content/belle.html

HAVING THE WORK DONE FOR YOU.

Even better the web will allow you to get the best prices for your project from highly skilled and motivated freelancers from low wage countries such as India and Asia. The skill levels match anything a western professional can offer but average wages are around $20 per day.

You are sure to get a professional job matching your specifications and requests because the sites that broker these deals will mediate any disputes and ensure buyers don’t pay for shoddy work and the freelancers aren’t ripped off by false complaints. The following are some of the most popular sites:

·        www.elance.com

·        www.guru.com

·        www.elance.com

·        www.rentacoder.com

For more detailed explanations and large lists of Web 2.0 sites check the following links: 

Wikipedia guide at wikipedia.com/list

Or tinyurl.com/k2jhx if you have to type it into your browser. 

What is Web 2.0 article by O’Reilly 

Does Web 2.0 mean anything? By Paul Graham.

There are countless others who see this as just another opportunity to become famous, or notorious, just for the sake of it. Bryan Appleyard  wrote a recent Sunday Times article about the cult of Web celebrity which exposed the lengths some people will go to in a desperate search for fame.

Is this just another passing fad or is it here to stay? Find out at:

Hot today and gone tomorrow? 

You can also download or listen to the audio version direct from this page

For ideas on how to prospect for new contacts and business on social networking sites read this Janet Legere blog post.

 Who should you trust online and what personal information should you give out? Safety guidelines are posted at http://www.bebo.com/Safety.jsp

 CLICK HERE for Wikipedia’s Youtube article.

To show the power of this concept Wikidot are reviewing an ongoing video collaboration called wherearethejoneses where visitors write the episodes for the crew to film and post them on the web a few days later. The project is sponsored by Ford motor company

Take a look at these reviews:

From answers.yahoo.

internetmarketingmonitor.org

There’s a raging debate at Mediashift.

Nature magazine conducted a study on the accurateness of Wikipedia.

Have a look and make up your own mind but it is certainly a presence that cannot be ignored and its sheer popularity means that you will almost certainly read or hear articles or snippets that have come from this site.

Sites such as Epinions, and Helium put all articles up for review by all their members.  This self policing discourages many time wasters, maintains a high standard, and gives higher ratings to those who contribute the most relevant, original and informative material.

Appointed editors.

Lifetips invite people to submit work and tips for review before offering them the chance to write on the chosen speciality, pitch for paid work and ultimately have their own book published.

About.com invite people to be ‘guides’ and look after specific sections or topics on the site. Guides build and maintain topical sections containing articles, reviews, FAQs, tutorials, and their blog. Also a directory of the best content in their topic including links to other sites and a discussion forum where they act as community leader.

LoveToKnow appoint Expert Editors dedicated to a particular field or topic, to write and edit articles on each their focused channels. Editors review every submission and change to the site to make sure it provides useful information to visitors

To collect payments on your site use a card payment processing service such as PayPal. They will take care of the whole sales process for you automatically from accepting the order to taking the money from the customer to sending them the information to download the product for a commission of 1.9% to 2.9% + $0.30 USD (Correct November 2007).