Mashable

I recently found the Mashable website that describes itself as the world’s largest blog focused exclusively on Web 2.0 and Social Networking news. For those interested in the latest uses of Web 2.0 technology then this is a site for you. For example, some of the articles that I read on Mashable are:

Social Networking God: 350+ Social Networking Sites

-Truly amazing all the social networking sites that are available these days

Twitter, Facebook, Digg: Can You Join Too Many Network

- The answer is "Yes"

Social Networking Articles

I found the following article on social networking this morning:

Kids On Facebook - Where does Facebook’s Business Model Fit into Protecting our Kids?

More Social Networking

In reviewing more social networking sites this past week I stumbled across an article from Network World that included 10 sites for 2009. Some of the ones from that list that are worth taking a look at are:

• Qik: video version of Twitter that lets you quickly most video captured on a mobile phone
• Boxee: a dashboard tool that gathers video from all the major video places on the web
• Loopt: made popular on the iPhone but not available on some other smartphones allow you to find your friends assuming they have a phone with GPS.
• Blip.fm: a music version of Twitter that allows friends to share music lists
• Power.com: a dashboard that interfaces with MySpace, Facebook, Hi5 and displays on a single screen.
• Hi5: the most popular social network tool outside the US. Similar to Facebook.
  

Social Networks

As part of checking out all the social networks I came across a great utility "ping.fm". This handy service allows you to update all your social networks from one interface. In addition, to providing this service, ping.fm provides an extensive list of all the social networks available on the web. Over the next few weeks I will be testing more of the social networks that are available. So far I am trialing:

Linkedin: great for keeping in touch with business colleagues
MySpace: an ok service but with way too man advertisements
Facebook: a very intuitive service with a friendly user interface
Blogger: the best blog solution available
Twitter: a neat concept that combines instant messaging, sms texting, and micro-blogging into 1 interface but has had stability issues of late.

Testing Out Websites IT Pros Should Know

NetworkWorld posted the following websites that IT pros should know for 2009 so I thought I would give them a try and then give my 2 cents.

NetworkWorld.com says that savvy IT executives need to connect to the latest innovations on the Internet if they want to keep up with their 20-something employees and improve business performance. They suggest:

1. Linked In, the de rigueur Web 2.0 site for IT professionals that has 30 million members and a host of new features that make it the most productive networking site on the web. JDW Comment: A must have service for any business professional wanting to keep in touch with colleagues and business contacts.
   
2. Google Apps for Business, a software-as-a-service or cloud computing option that's the future of enterprise IT departments. JDW Comment: A very nice solution for small business that want to minimize costs to their startup and on-going IT costs.
3. VMware Communities - Chances are you’ve already embarked on a server virtualization project, and continued consolidation of your servers is a key money-saving goal for 2009.
4. Secunia.com, a site that aggregates security vulnerability information from leading vendors, providing you with one-stop shopping for the latest news about security bugs and the software patches available to fix them.
5. Green Grid, a website that offer advice to make sure your data center is energy efficient and saves money.
6. Twitter, a real-time messaging service that provides an easy way to keep your staff and co-workers informed about where you are and what you're doing. You can also sign up for the latest technology headlines from Wired, Slashdot and others. JDW Comment: Still trying to figure out the attraction to this service but I am willing to give it a try.
7. Yammer - If Twitter seems too frivolous to you, try Yammer. It’s essentially Twitter for the office. The benefit of Yammer is that it’s a private communications channel for coworkers to share quick messages about what they’re working on, get questions answered or blast out news.
8. Ruby on Rails - Ruby on Rails is one of the best open source tools to appear in recent years. This Web development framework lets you create working applications in a matter of hours.
9. Enterprise Mobility Matters - Like it or not, the latest smartphones – the BlackBerry Storms and Apple 3G iPhones (Slideshow: Smartphone showdown: iPhone vs. BlackBerry Storm) – are headed toward your corporate network.