LiTc: Tools of Web 2.0

Sorry for the long delay. I’ve had this written for a while, just never got to typing it up.

New Web 2.0 startups are created every day. It can be tough to discover which ones are really worth looking at and using. In this post, I will discuss the Web 2.0 tools I use and how I use them in my life.

I’ll start out with the easy ones. I use Facebook to keep up with friends, Flickr and Viemo to host my best photos and videos, digg to find “stuff”, delicious to store my bookmarks, LinkedIn to maintain an online resume, and last.fm to log my music. I use these applications the way they were meant to be used. Most Web 2.0 tools have clear intentions, while others are more complex. I will discuss in detail three services that I feel have more complex applications. I will look at Google Apps for Your Domain, Twitter, and Tumblr.

Email

Gmail

I use Gmail for my custom domain, kabrenlevinson.com. Basically, I get to use all the Google tools (Gmail, Docs, etc) with my own email address. I do not use a local client – I have fallen in love with the Gmail interface and absolutely how Gmail manages my mail. I try to keep zero (0) items in my inbox. I either files messages away under one or more labels (I have “Action,” “Hold,” “Friends,” “Family,” “Tech,” and “Work”) or delete them. Keeping my inbox clean and organized allows me to figure out which messages I actually need to read and lets me find messages from the past more easily. Gmail’s labels are also far superior to the usual folders you would find in any ordinary email client – with Gmail, you can apply more than one label. I also have Gmail set up to send and receive email from many different accounts (kabrenlevinson.com, Nerd News Radio, school email, and others). I enjoy being able to access my email from wherever whenever I want.

Gmail Settings

Documents

Google Docs

Though there are other services that offer free online word processing and document storage, Google Documents still works best for me. I have never written an essay in Google Docs, but I’ve used it to store PDF’s, .docs, and spreadsheets. I enjoy the seamless integration with Gmail and the easy-to-use sharing feature. At the moment, I share about three of four documents used for planning events and group trips. Google Docs is also great for writing collaborative essays; instead of emailing a .doc around many times, Google Docs only requires that you manage a single document.

Communication

Twitter

While I regularly use SMS, email, AIM, and Facebook for messaging, Twitter is quickly becoming one of the most convenient communication tools in personal, group, and public domains. In addition to maintaining a network of people with whom I mostly have conversations, I also use Twitter to develop ideas and theses for essays and projects of my own. Being able to strip an idea, particularly complex notions, down to 140 characters can at times reveal the _real_ message behind the thought. Some say that Facebook is Twitter but better, but Facebook does not support a constant flow of conversation among individuals and groups. Being on Twitter is like being in a big coffee shop where people are conversing with everyone else. Twitter also shows it strengths at conferences, large meetings, and lecture-style classrooms. Oh, Twitter also has an amazing search tool.

Twitter Search

Sharing Items

My Tumblr Dashboard

Though many services make it clear and easy to share text, images, movies, quotes and conversations, nothing makes it as simple as Tumblr. Tumblr allows one to post items to their own “tumblelog” as well as view the posts of others who they are following on a dashboard page. Tumblr makes it effortless to post an idea, blog post, or photograph without doing “work.” While posting items to a Wordpress is tiresome, using Tumblr’s bookmarklet makes it hard not to share items. Sometimes I use Tumblr like delicious – I post things that I find interesting.

Conclusion

This is only a beginning for Web 2.0 Applications and how they can be used. I have detailed the services I use most and discussed the ones that I find to be the most influential in my life. In the next, and final, post in my “Life in the Cloud” series, I will talk about what is missing from Web 2.0 and offer some thoughts on the future. As always, email or Skribit me suggestions, thoughts, ideas, and more.