@dvocable

The mass media have an element of being ’social’ today. While the traditional media – read newspapers, TV, online news portals – are increasingly trying to add ’social’ elements in their makeup, there is also a rush of new media startups that swears by the content generated by their readers or users. The prime constituents of this new media or web 2.0 as called otherwise are blogs, wikis, memes, social networking, online forums and so on.

More and more consumers, audiences, and readers are using these new social media to participate to the making of the news or discussion. The ramifications are felt not only in the Internet space but also in other forms of media say the mobile phone.

Maybe I’m too late in starting this discussion that has been written about numerous times on the blogosphere. That said, the social media is growing and there are new sites coming up by the dozens everyday. Is this going to be like the dotcom bust? Is this going to result in an overwhelming plethora of information overload? Nobody knows for sure. But what will be exciting is diving in the whirlpoool trying to make sense and use of this churn.

Through the Social Media Munching blog, I’m trying to decipher these new social media outlets from an user’s point of view, and in general, how they affect our daily lives, how we can benefit from these new forms of media, and how they are affecting the traditional media and related activities, businesses, and professions.

Now how about this? Blog, blog, blogs, orkut, facebook, myspace, linkin, ryze, yaari, this cafe, that cafe, earn monet this way, earn money that way, desktop tools, PC tools, enhancements, hacks, web 2.0 sites, web 2.0 sites, web 2.0 sites …..so many of them. Are they really all worthwhile? Or are they just adding to the confusion? Do we need to install another Firefox add-on because it is the latest? Another social networking site? Why should I want to create an online avatar and dress it up and down again? Is second life a necessity?

There are zillions of blog tools available and coming up. Does a blogger really use all of them? Are 90% of the site and blog directories pure crap adding no value at all?

While there are valuable services and products out there today, I supposed we should remember that a whole industry has sprung up riding on the web 2.0 bubble and offering us noting more than making our lives more and more complicated every day.

So now there….we have two opposing viewpoints. And I’m as confused as everybody or surfing the web 2.0 in glee. Time could never have been better. We will learn more as we follow the rabbit and munch together one at a time the wonders or the perils of the being in the web 2.0 land.

Technorati tag: social media, web 2.0, blogging, media, PR, public relations, marketing