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Web 2.0 is not an upgrade to the Internet, it's an upgrade of what people do with the Internet.
The Internet has always been an instrument of information and knowledge-gathering and communication, but now people are doing this in a whole new way!

Web 2.0 is people coming together to exchange ideas, information, services, talk about their daily life, and to just have fun! The major parts of Web 2.0 include people making videos, every site popping up forums, the blog phenomenon, Internet language- the most known is LOL, etc.

Nowadays, you would be hard-pressed to find someone who has never done anything Web 2.0 related. You would be even more hard-pressed to find someone who has never even been on the Internet at all!

There are many major sites for social networking. Here's a list of the major ones that I am familiar with and a short description of each.

My Space: This is a great site for meeting people on-line and promotion. I've seen many people promoting their bands, websites, companies, and themselves. My Space is the epitome of Web 2.0.

You Tube: This site is mostly videos. People put up videos of themselves that they made for the enjoyment of the rest of us and the embarrassment of themselves. Sometimes there are really good videos on this site.

Break.com (formerly Bad Boys.com): This site is like You Tube, but it's catered to the 18 to 24typical googly-eye when they see a "hot chick" and do stupid things like trying to ski off of a roof crowd. And no, I don't like this site.

This is the end of the self-promotion and having fun sites that I have familiarity with. But there are sites catered to information.

Wikipedia: This is the only free on-line encyclopedia. People add knowledge everyday. There is one guy who has written thousands of entries to Wikipedia! Information is checked by other people on the site. You wouldn't believe how much people know and are willing to tell! And they don't even get paid for it!

According to Time Magazine's Person of the Year Edition, there is one woman on Amazon.com who writes so many book reviews that she gets free books from publishers that are hoping she will review their book- just as is she was a paid critic!

There are on-line freelance writers sites that are also catered to information. Such sites include Associated Content, Helium, Newsvine, Constant Content, etc.

The sheer volume of material wanted on the Internet has spawned sites like these so that freelance writers-and even wannabes can write and make some money doing it!

Freelance writer sites give writers the opportunity to sell articles that would have been a hard sell to magazines and other forms of pre-Internet markets. The large volume of people looking for just about anything on the Internet means that there is a market for every topic now. This also means that anyone can get a low degree of fame!

So get in the Internet revolution! Make a video, write a profile, make a blog, or write some information! You never know where it might take you!

Sources: Time Magazine's Person of the Year edition and my own experience.

Additional Resources
www.wikipedia.com
www.myspace.com
www.break.com

Learn more about this author, Stephanie A. Smith.
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