My Travels Through the Social Networking Awards
I didn’t participate in the Social Networking Awards that were presented by Mashable so I can’t complain about the winners - just like if I don’t participate in the presidential election I can’t complain about the president (I did vote so I can complain!). The one thing I can say is I have checked many of the sites out, even joined some, and I have a few thoughts to share.
Disclaimer: These are not serious thoughts so if you are looking for an indepth take on social networks and such then this post is not for you. If you want to learn a little bit more about me, read on.
Mainstream and Large Scale Networks Category. I was surprised to see that Multiply beat out MySpace in this category. I am a bit too old for MySpace but I do know it is popular with the younger crowd. I like Multiply, even set up a page there, but my friends didn’t join and I hung out their alone. I’ve had a hard enough time getting my friends and family to read my blog. I don’t have many tech-savvy friends! I do need to network more with my peers.
I think Vox will do well this year among less tech-savvy people because the blogging platform is so easy to use and it is easy to network with people who have the same interest as you. I like their Question of the Day because it gives a topic to write about and brings the community together more. Of course I haven’t kept my blog up on Vox, I’ve been too busy with Infomania World. (My last post was Halloween, oops.)
Widgets and Add-Ons. I haven’t played much with the widget sites listed. I did join MyBlogLog and I am starting to network with other bloggers. I should put their widget on my blog to show my latest visitors.
I guess people really like avatars and that is why Zwinky won. I prefer posting my photo over an avatar. I don’t need to hide, though if you want you can check me out dancing as an elf here. I don’t mind making a fool of myself every once in a while.
Slide is Mashable’s choice as best widget and I can see why. I did sign up for the service but I haven’t made a slideshow yet. Maybe I’ll make a slideshow of my cat to show how he went from a 9lb, short-haired cat to a 15lb, long-furred beast. I’ll do that after I network on Multiply and write some posts on Vox.
Social News and Social Bookmarking. I excel in this category. I have an account with every site listed. I am devoted to del.icio.us. I bookmark sites like crazy so I can share them with you. It also is a great way to find out what others are tagging. Some day I am going to have to go through and reorganize my categories, I have way too many. I guess I’ll do that after making my slideshow.
I didn’t get into Trailfire much but maybe that is because I really haven’t participated much in social networks. I think I will look back at Trailfire though and see what trails others have been making. Maybe I will make some new friends there.
Digg is digg. I look to see what people consider news, especially in technology. I don’t think I will ever be a top digger or anything. I also like stumbling around sites with StumbleUpon late at night when I can’t sleep and losing another game of Spider Solitaire isn’t appealing.
Sports and Fitness. I can’t comment here at all because I am not into sports. My father loves women’s sports like softball, golf, tennis and volleyball and talks about them all the time. I get enough sports that way, I don’t need to join any social sporting sites.
Photo Sharing. I have photos up on Flickr and other sites not nominated (like Fotki and Picassa). My cat Jack has pictures all over the web. I can’t believe I haven’t signed up for Twango. There actually is a site out there that doesn’t have pictures of Jack!
Video Sharing. What I want for Christmas is a video camera! Then I can post videos of Jack being lazy all day long on YouTube. Actually, I wish I thought of YouTube a couple of years ago so I could be a billionaire. I love browsing through funny videos but I don’t do much on any of the video sites.
Gotuit, the people’s choice, does look interesting, especially the ability to tag scenes. It’s nice not to have to watch a full clip if I don’t want to, only what I want to. I’m going to visit this site more in 2007.
Startpages. If you have read any of my previous posts you know I use Netvibes. For me it does what I need it to do, give me the news and sites I want to have ready access to. Some people prefer Pageflakes, as proven by it being the people’s choice. I took a quick peak at yourminis and it has a really nice GUI. I think I’ll check it out a bit more as something for my father. I think he would like the graphically layout and sidebars.
Places and Events. I joined HeyLetsGo because I live in a Boston suburb. Right now they only deal with Boston, San Francisco and New York. I haven’t gone to any events but out of all the social sites I like this one the best. It shows who is planning on attending an event and has some really neat parties listed. Of course I have to pull myself away from my computer and meet people face to face. Maybe in 2007…
Music. I’ve already covered music. My favorites are Pandora and last.fm. I like Pandora because of the new music I discover and last.fm because of all the information I can find on bands and artists. Between these two sites I have expanded my music library exponentially. I now have british pop, indie, goth rock and sadcore in my library. Right now I am listening to Beck, just finished listening to Yo La Tengo and have Muse enqueue.
Social Shopping. I would think since I like shopping that I would be active on shopping network sites. I’m not really. I belong to Kaboodle, Crowdstorm and ThisNext but prefer the forums at FatWallet and browsing deal sites like Dealnews and dealspl.us. Oh well, I guess I am not a social shopper!
Mobile. Another topic I am not active in. I think mobile goes to the younger generation. Correct me if I am wrong. It’s just that the screen is too small on my phone and my fingers are not nimble at text messaging. Even the smartphones I had trouble trying to type something. It’s hard to teach this old cat new tricks.
Niche and Miscellaneous Networks. I, or my cat really, belong to Catster though Jack hasn’t been very active lately. He’s just too lazy. If you have a dog you can always have him join Dogster. Dogs tend to be more active and social than cats.
Wow, I can’t believe I have covered all the topics in the Social Networking Awards. My travels tell a few things about me.
- I tend to join things but not follow through. My interest doesn’t seem to stay with many of the social networking sites out there. Maybe I am joining the wrong ones.
- I don’t watch sports.
- While I can appear outwardly social, I am a loner for the most part. I tend to do things on my own - I like to travel alone - though I make a lot of contacts along the way.
- I need to become more active with other bloggers. Problogger’s group project and MyBlogLog have introduced me to more people in a few days than I have met all year. I plan on becoming more active in the blogging community.
I hope you have enjoyed your travels with me through the Social Networking Awards and learned something about me. Merry Christmas to all who celebrate.
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