What’s a blog? 

About 5 or 6 years ago, the Blog Explosion hit the web.  Everybody and their sister had a blog.  There were plenty of sites that would host your blog for you for free, and people just went crazy…for a while.

But there was a small problem, all of a sudden there were too many blogs to read, and people got tired, frustrated, and confused.  There were a lot of interesting blogs to read, but the reader had to go and find that blog site everytime they wanted to read it.  A vacation here, a case of the flu there…and all of a sudden you weren’t reading their blog any more.  But then you remembered that blog 6 months later so you go out to read it and it hasn’t been updated for 4 months because everyone stopped reading it and the blogger just gave up…because no one was reading.

It happened to me, plenty of times.  We all have good intentions, but life just get’s in the way.

So along comes Web 2.0.  The whole concept behind Web 2.0 and New Media is for you the reader/consumer to consume the writers content ON YOUR TERMS! 

How?  RSS (Sound Familiar)  But this is kinda cool, you can actually have all of the blog posts of just about ANY BLOG on the web come to ONE PLACE -- FOR YOU!

RSS

And Here is the video on how to use the Reader that I use -- Google Reader!

This definitely changes things.  Now you can read cool blogs on Quilting, your favorite NASCAR driver/team, your Faith, anything.  You just have to find the blog that you want to read, and click the little RSS button, and you’re set!

The New Thing is called Micro-Blogging.  And the biggest site for it right now is Twitter!

Another video to explain something pretty difficult in plain english (Thank You so much Lee!)

Twitter is pretty cool! You can setup a free account at http://www.twitter.com .  You only get updates from people that you FOLLOW! I am on it EVERYDAY, so if you want -- you can Follow Me by Clicking Here!

There is a lot more Web 2.0 around the corner!  New technologies are coming on the scene EVERY WEEK! 

If this is new to you, there is a LOT of INFORMATION to take in!  Here is what you should do:

• If you don’t have an RSS Reader, go here to Google’s site (here is the link) and setup your Google reader.
• Then find the SUBSCRIBES menu on my blog, and look for the Add to Google button.  Click on it, and have it added to your Google reader!
• If you have an iGoogle portal (also Free), you can add the PowersZone blog to it as well!
• Then go out and find some other blogs, and start subscribing to them as well.

HEY (Late addition)  If you just want the blog posts sent to your email address, just fill in the Subscribe by Email form on the right!

If you have any questions, or just want to say “Hey”, leave a COMMENT below!  It would be much appreciated!

Take Luck!

Mike

Just recently, my daughter and I were conversing about school, friends, etc., and she started telling me about a discussion she had with a friend.  Apparently this friend of hers is the same age as my daughter, and she and her family had found out there was a sexual preditor living just a few houses down from them.  My daughter told me about how it was “gross”, and used words like “sicko” and “perv”!

My mind immediately started racing.  Where in town does this girl live?  Is it near us?  We need to check? (My hand was hovering over the preverbial panic button)

So I tried to ask my daughter in a very cautious manner (so I wouldn’t alarm her) where her friend lived.  Her answer:

Toronto, Canada!

Aparently her friend was on one her social networks, and they clicked because they had the same likes, dislikes, etc and they were near the same age!  Of Course, Social Networking!

Now Social Networking has been around basically since the inception of the web, so it’s not really new at all - but it has expanded with the advent of Web 2.0.  Now there are sites where you share a lot more about yourself, and you can choose who can be your friend and vice versa!

Now for the cool videos!  The folks at The CommonCraft show created these videos that absolutely knock it out of the park!

Social Networking

Some Social Networking sites include:

• MySpace
• FaceBook
• Linked In (Great for Business Networking)

Social Media

Social Bookmarking

Here are some Social Media and Bookmarking sites:

• StumbleUpon
• Delicious
• Furl
• Digg
• Reddit

Here’s what cool about social bookmarking, most blogs and web 2.0 sites have the little links (like the one’s formed in a row below this post under the words “Share and Enjoy“) so all you have to do is click on the appropriate link (like the Delicious icon) and it takes you directly to the site with the link and you just have to “tag” it and you’re all set.  You can go back to it later, or you can share that with your friends!

There is a lot to take in.  My suggestion is to start very small and work your way into it.

If you have questions, concerns, or comments -- please feel free to leave them below!

Mike

I don’t know about you, but I typically don’t have time to hit every website and blog that I want to see.  Now up until about 5 years ago, I would have to go to each website/blog that I wanted to read/review.  I would start out wanting to read 20-30 different blogs, but would typically pair it down to 2-3 because I didn’t have the time.  I would also play “catch-up” games and usually missed out on something cool when I did.

Well an interesting thing happened in the past couple of years.  Web 2.0!

Web 2.0 is basically a universal catch-phrase that covers a lot of different technologies and web culture changes -- but it basically means that the web has grown up a bit.  The basic idea (according to some gurus out there) is that Web 2.0 allows YOU to consume whatever web content you like -- Blog Content, Videos, Social Networks, etc., and you consume it on YOUR TERMS!

What does that mean?  Well, if I want to watch YouTube videos, I can now watch it on my smartphone, my pc, my iPod, or even on my PSP (Playstation Portable), Xbox360 or on my Wii!   It’s my choice!  Not like the old days when I would have to go to a website to read it.

Even though I still typically do go to websites to browse and review, once I find content that I really like - I SUBSCRIBE to it!  That is what gives me options.

Our friends Lee LeFever and his wife Sashi run the CommonCraft Show and you can find their great videos on YouTube and on their site!  Watch their video below! 

If you want to subscribe to the Powers Zone blog, you simply have to click on one of the little icons (There is one for Google Reader) on the right in the Subscribe Box.  Then follow the simple directions!  I put most of mine right on my iGoogle, MSN, & My Yahoo site.

Now technically these are called RSS Feeds, and that’s what it does -- it “feeds” the content to you wherever you want to read it.  There are also sites that do a good job of managing your feeds for you (a bunch of them are in the subscribe area on the right!).  iTunes and Zune are both very popular and are used for Video and Music feeds. 

The first step is Awareness.  There is a whole lot more to Web 2.0, but this will keep you busy for a little while!

Take Luck -- Mike