TASK1b: Web 2.0

After reading the Course Reader on Professional Communication Technologies my mind was spiralling. I had to start taking notes as I was reading, as idea after idea kept popping into my head so as not to forget everything.

The document suggests that Web 2.0 allows the social network user to become the creator whereas this is not entirely true. We can only become creators within our limits  with the resources we have. Like children in a playpen if we are given toy blocks we can build, which we could not do if we had been given balls.
An example of this, people have been petitioning for a dislike button on Facebook for years because we cannot just create one ourselves. We have no dislike button to press until the REAL creators create one.

I personally have a number of privacy settings on my Facebook page.
Mostly I would be quite happy for anyone to see what I am getting up to, but with most of my information I cut it down to only friends' friends being able to view me, rather than have it 100% open to the public. But this is still a huge number of people that I don't know being able to see things about me. More than I could even imagine.
With people who are my friends, I categorise into different folders of how I know them; college; family; work;  a play I have done etc.
With those I then have more privacy settings. There are many things that I would be happy for my college friends to see, but not necessarily my grand parents or teachers   By restricting their view I can become the manager of my Facebook page.

Web 2.0 does not make us the creator of our virtual world. It makes us the manager.

I live away from my parents, most of my friends and the rest of my family. Using sites like Facebook or Skype is mostly how I keep in contact. I still make phone calls but with Skype you are able to see people that are across the other side of the country or even world, for free! Where as phone calls or even sending letters would be far more expensive. Sharing photos allows me to show everyone how and what I am getting up to. It also allows me to see how my friends and family are and what they are getting up to.

Not only do I use these sites for social use, I also have professional accounts. This allows me to contact different people in a casual way while still upholding a professional persona.
Twitter is a new and up and coming social site, where people can follow whoever they want. Almost every company is starting to have a twitter page where it can let people know what's going on. Radio one, for example, everyday it 'tweets' about who is coming on the show, or what competitions they have on, or what to look out for.
I use it in the same way, I have followed many different film makers, and theatres, and play writes etc, I 'tweet' about what I am getting up to within the working industry, where I am performing or I message people asking about their work or if they have anything coming up. It is so quick and easy to send someone a tweet that they are more than likely
to reply to you. This then could become an ice breaking conversation topic. 'oh yes! I tweeted you!'

Another great trend is YouTube. Many people including friends of mine not only use this as a social site but also on a business basis. Many of my friends regularly put up clips of themselves singing in the hope that someone influential will see it and help them to branch into the industry. You can also tell people to look you up on YouTube. It's a huge free database of work that you have done, showing what you can do. So everyone is jumping onto the band wagon so that they can get a slice of that pie.

A perfect example of Web 2.0 is YahooAnswers. This is where anyone can post a question and others answer it. The motivation for answering questions is that you receive points for the more questions that you answer. If someone votes your answer as the most helpful you receive more points. The more points you receive bumps up your ratings. You also need to answer a certain amount of questions to then be able to ask a question.
However, some of the answers on the site can be unreliable (as anyone can answer them) but with  most of the information, you can learn quite a lot from it.
The way this site has been set up, yahoo answers have set up the frame and the people do the work for them for free!
I am constantly typing in questions into the search box as it is more than likely that someone has asked that question before. A huge stream of answers follows it and most of the time I find out what I wanted to know.

Web 2.0 has revolutionised the way we live our lives. It has even become part of our vocabulary, 'he Facebooked me,' I Tweeted her, ' 'We Youtubed it,' things that one hundred years ago could never be imagined and there can only me more changes to come. Being connected with thousands of people is just a click of a button away. And with all the touch screen technology the whole world is now at our fingertips.