Topic: Social Networks and Networking
Prosumer media, also known as user-generated content (or blogging in the context of this discussion) is the foundation on which the business of each of these three panelists is built. Mena Trott of Six Apart, Mark Fletcher of Bloglines, and Rich Skrenta of Topix.net field questions about the business models related to blogging, the future of user-generated content, and the pressure to innovate while dealing with the challenges of scaling to meet demand.
On-line communities built on social software let people connect, share, create and communicate. How different are these virtual gatherings from collaboration in the real-world? Can users be trusted? This thoughtful panel delivers company perspectives on successful community building through mail, messaging, blogs, wikis and telephony. The panelists find the web is transformative in some ways, but still often parallels real life; success lies in harnessing the positive creativity of the majority while moderating the harmful tendencies of a few.
As an experienced technology marketing expert, PodShow's Aaron Burcell is able to show that podcasts have become a unique and sought after form of user-generated media. In addition to PodShow's work to remove some of the technological issues facing podcasters, Burcell also talks about their efforts to collaborate with advertisers, giving content producers the ability to make good money. Lastly, he discusses the Podsafe Music Network and how it gives musicians the chance to reach a larger audiences directly, through podcast play and through direct download.
Craigslist is the electronic version of a flea market. Unlike the typical corporate site, Craig Newmark, founder and customer service rep for Craigslist, believes that the regular user is the person who can best police things and that the biggest mistake he could make would be a failure to trust. He admits that things aren't always perfect, particularly with spam and organized scams, but that by nuturing the good guys, the response will be positive.
Blogging is often associated with citizen journalism and new media sources for news and analysis of topics like technology and politics. However, according to Anil Dash of SixApart, many people who blog are doing it more to have personal conversations with friends, family, and people who share their interests. He argues that the ability for people to share personal information with others, who are interested in that topic, is the real power of blogs and that personal content holds as much, if not more, value than the so-called A-list.
How have communities on the Internet changed recently? Derek Powazek of Technorati asserts that, until recently, online communities resembled company towns where the voice of each participant was at the will of a single entity. Today, however, each participant has authority over their own node in a community, making the community as a whole more self-powered and independent. Powazek discusses the essence of the new community, as it is framed by current Web 2.0 trends.
Flock is a new browser designed with the modern web in mind. In this talk, Bart Decrem demonstrates a variety of cool features which the Flock team hopes will transform web browsing from the static consumption of documents to more active participation in a shared stream of integrated services, bookmarks, tags and blogs. This new paradigm of social web browsing is likely to appeal to early adopters looking to immerse themselves in the new, social life of the web.
The networked economy is transforming the way we capitalize business and culture. Yochai Benkler, one of the top thinkers on commons-based approaches to managing resources, weaves together several fascinating threads to argue that decentralization and collaboration are shifting the balance of power to the people in the production of knowledge, goods and services; creating an economy where resources are not owned and outputs are shared.
AOL is one of a handful of truly global web brands. Chairman and CEO Jonathan F. Miller talks to John Batelle about AOL's future needs and its transition to the Web 2.0 mindset at the 2005 Web 2.0 conference. Miller stresses the need for AOL to focus on balancing traditional and user-generated content, while maintaining its key position and web brand. This approach is made more difficult because, although AOL seeks to expand beyond its current technological and geopolitical boundaries, it continues to be faithful to its origins as an ISP.
The Metaverse: the social, media-rich, 3-dimensional Web. In this panel at Accelerating Change 2005, entitled "Building the Metaverse", two examples of the emerging Metaverse are demonstrated. Philip Rosedale, CEO of Linden Lab, shows off Second Life and David Alan Smith, creator of "The Colony", demonstrates the Croquet project. What emerges are two similarly powerful interactive systems that are allowing people to interact and be creative together in ways never before possible. As computation spreads ever deeper into our lives, we will all increasingly live in the Metaverse. When you can build the ideal world, what do you build?
