Task 1b - Professional Communications Technologies

Discussing Web 2.0

A very large proportion of today's society uses the web on a daily basis for many different reasons. It has become, and will continue to be a huge part of modern day life. On starting the module I was unaware of what the term "Web 2.0" actually meant, however after reading through the reading documents and looking at fellow students' blog posts, I feel that I have gathered enough information and now have a clearer understanding of what the terminology of the word actually means.

'Web 2.0 is the term given to describe a second generation of the World Wide Web that is focused on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online.'

Web 2.0 has fundamentally changed the way we interact on a daily basis with others and the rest of the world. There are so many different varieties and ways we can now communication with others through many web 2.0 sites. We take it for granted that at just a click of a button we can share something we may feel very strongly about on our own page. Things we post on the web now have the potential to become viral and can send out a message to the entire world. Many good charitable causes of late have done this, for example the ALS ice bucket challenge is one I saw daily on my Facebook newsfeed. It simply started with one person posting a video onto Facebook which then had a dominoe affect on others all over the globe. The online videos had such a positive outcome, not only raising money but raising awareness about the cause to such a wide audience with one simple click of a button.

With so much choice between all the different web 2.0 sites everything is so accessible. You can find your first friend from primary school, or keep in touch with relatives half way across the world and it's so simple to do. It is also now being used as a tool you can use promote not only just yourself but you as a business. It is becoming ever more popular with the younger generation to set up an account on Instagram or Facebook to use as a form of promotion and to create interest amongst a large audience. If you get a large enough following and a wide audience showing some interest in what you are posting it can work extremely well.

It is also used widely used for networking, I know from personal experience when studying at college we were encouraged to join the Facebook page "The Hustle" which is an online community of performers. The page is used to post auditions, jobs or house shares for other performers and it is also a great way to speak to new people from different areas in the same profession. Web 2.0 sites are such an easy and accessible way to share pretty much anything you want to. There are many pros to having the internet at the click of a button but there are also a lot of cons. I am thinking about going into a teaching career once I have completed my BAPP degree, and I understand that teachers can sometimes struggle with students crossing boundaries online; with regards to professional and personal relationships. This can be seen as a negative in the use of Web 2.0 sites as it poses difficulties in terms of keeping up a level of professionalism.

However it has also become extremely popular to use web 2.0 as a basis for a career. I am a big fan of Youtube as  a site, I use it to gather research and purely for entertainment in my personal time. There is a large community with a huge fan base on Youtube currently, where being a "youtuber" is now becoming a reputable career. It has created huge internet stars who have become immensely successful, simply from posting videos in the comfort of their own bedrooms. It can be anything from car enthusiast videos to beauty tips. I personally really enjoy watching the videos of "The Saccone Jolys", they are a non celebrity family which have been posting videos on youtube for over five years. They have become incredibly popular with well over a million subscribers through posting youtube videos of their family and their journey each day.  They have used web 2.0 as a platform to create a very successful lifestyle for themselves, and it is has now become their full-time job. This clearly shows the vast opportunities which are arising because of the growing popularity and use of the Web 2.0 platform. It is becoming apparent that people who take advantage of these opportunities can become extremely successful. 

"The original idea of the web was that it should be a collaborative space where you can communicate through sharing information." Tim Berners-Lee
Furthering on the subject of Web 2.0 it also has additional negatives. Every type of site that I use on the web is set to private; however I would never post anything that I thought could get into the wrong hands, or show me in a negative way. Even if your profile is private you don't know who can actually view what you're posting. I feel there are aspects of your life that definitely do not need to be posted onto a Facebook profile for the entire world to see. I feel especially as I am somebody looking into becoming a teacher you have to be very diligent in the way you use your social media. You have to constantly be aware of the content you are sharing with others, so that it does not impact your professional career in a negative way.  It is exciting however that the web is forever ongoing and ever changing and adapting with new technology being developed every day. I am thrilled I live in a generation where communicating and sharing our views on the web is such a huge part of our lives now. 

The use of Facebook for example has changed dramatically since it was first founded in 2004. I still remember creating a profile and not taking advantage of it's full capability for the first few years of having it. Over the years it has become hugely successful and now has more than 1.23 billion users. As consumers of web 2.0 we help it progress and develop. If you think of all the different types of websites you use daily they all have constant updates to benefit the consumer, some of which you probably don't even notice. Web 2.0 is tailored to you in more ways than you may even realise. I have recently noticed, for example, that when I browse on certain shopping sites on the internet, links to specific items I have been looking at are advertised on my personal Facebook wall. This is done through use of cookies, as the Web 2.0 sites learn and remember my search patterns, and what I'm likely to be interested in. It is used not only as a social hub, but also as a tool used by companies to advertise their products, based on the knowledge that Facebook has gathered from you surfing the web.  Underneath I have included a word diagram I found online with all the key words best used to describe all the different branches behind Web 2.0.

I feel that using web 2.0 sites on this course is something extremely exciting and beneficial for both me, and people of the younger generation. I am finding myself engaging a lot more than I probably would do if I was restricted to writing notes on dictation from a lecturer. After doing some research I am becoming very interesting into looking further into Web 2.0. I like how we, as students, are given the freedom to interpret,  and shape our own path on the course. I feel using the blog as a tool to progress through the handbook is a benefit to me (in order to consolidate my learning), and to my peers on the course who can use it as a source for ideas. It is also something I am personally finding really fun to write.