what are you doing? making friends and having fun!

Add comment July 24th, 2008

a couple of years ago, when i was in a management training program, i was encouraged to try 10 techie things. to take a plunge. and then to make my fellow co-workers and staffers do so.

i lost the list, but joining facebook, linked in and myspace probably were on there. same with setting up rss feeds and blogging. not all of this was new to me, but as someone said to me this week, “i learn by doing. i don’t learn by reading a book.”

one thing many of our staffers have learned this week is how to build social networks on ning.com. it’s pretty easy and entertaining (photos! videos! customized colors!), but it does take time while you experiment, i have to say.

this is meant to prepare us as we anticipate launching a seamless way for readers to submit content and connect with one another, especially in our rock river valley communities. no date attached to this yet. stay tuned.

p.s. regarding the headline inspiration, back in the 1980s, we used to say we were “making friends and having fun” in key club in high school. now kids are friends on the web with hundreds of people.

you’re the expert, kind of

Add comment March 8th, 2008

“is user-generated content dead?”

when i saw the newsweek web exclusive’s headline, i thought, “whoa!” but if you read the story, it’s really hinting at web 3.0.

at first the web was all about the authoritative sources feeding you the news. web 2.0 meant users submitted the content and chose how they wanted it — the wiki world, so to speak. now we may be headed toward something in between, with experts vetting the netizen world to provide human analysis for better search or better, more credible content.

newspaper web sites are well-positioned for this web 3.0 era, because we’ve never been the wild west in the first place. we bring together the power of our readers and our journalists.