Good-bye Web 2.0, hello Social Media. This story from Mashable is about how the second term has now become more popular than the first, so Web 2.0 as a term is probably on its way out. Has Web 2.0 itself actually become established now? This blog was about exploring bits and pieces of it, and now I take many of those bits and pieces for granted. Cloud computing still falls apart at inconvenient times, but I'm relying on it to get through grad school. Not only could I find my new address through Google Maps, but it showed me the building itself at street level, where I could turn my focus around and see my neighbors. My heart and my book collection belong to Library Thing. Now that I finally have high-speed Internet, YouTube is no longer terra incognita.
But through all this, social media reigns. Just about everything I read on the Web offers me options for sharing with others, via Facebook, Twitter, or a dillion other sites. I've got an idea of what many of my friends did for the holidays because they posted to Facebook. The sites I shop from want me to be their fan on Facebook or follow them on Twitter. Welcome to the mainstreaming of social media.
