It’s always hard to explain to people why sharing stuff online is so powerful. For one thing it’s getting easier, with del.icio.us etc. But the real power is in being able to harness the wisdom of others in finding stuff. Simply put, it’s the online equivalent of asking among your most knowledgeable acquaintances for helping in finding things — from a good barber to a good book, a good CD to a good funeral home. Anyone who has read The Tipping Point will know the importance of mavens (or was it connectors?) so it’s not rocket science that this is an amazing use of the Internet’s leverage. Why some people remain hostile to it baffles me.
Anyway, here’s another great communal sharing thing, written up well by Jim Regan: Do your own LibraryThing | csmonitor.com:
Book clubs and English classes notwithstanding, reading tends to be a predominantly solitary pastime, and truth be told, not many of us have ever considered listing the contents of our ‘personal libraries’ for either our own or anybody else’s entertainment. But the Internet keeps finding new ways of changing our habits, and LibraryThing appears poised to turn the cataloging of books into a form of communal recreation.
Definitely worth a read.
first, i have been struggling with a simple term to describe the content people are sharing with each other (photos, blog posts, video, music, mock ads, personal profiles) and i think i came up with a term i feel comfortable with called egomedia. regarding the concept of mavens, i have been participating in a project that seems to be creating a folksonomy from the ground up by its users containing only the SPECIFIC content they care about. i highlight specific only because all the other social bookmark paradigms save whole pages with. (i think saving whole pages is one of the best examples of web 1.0 vs where we are goin) please pardon the promotion but this has really been answer to what i have been looking for my pesonal use online. it just so happens a social engine is being created as an after effect. worth a look, even if just to see the kewl stuff i find online. i have interesting taste.
http://clipmarks.com/user/thebeatpoet/