Web 2.0 EZ Build Software

Hi Sam,

One thing I am on the lookout for are easier ways to build out a Web 2.0 site that has a lot of different design templates and functionality.  It seems that on the super easy yet low functionality/design side we have blogging software and on the not so easy yet high functionality side we have Drupal, Bryght, etc., which often require custom coding or technical saavy to use on the design/build end.

There are a zillion ways for novices to build web 1.0 web sites, but what about web 2.0 sites?  I am sure these sorts of platforms are right around the corner.  I think it's a killer biz opp for someone with the passion for it.

Think about it… a way to have a Zaadz site of your own, built quite simply by filling in the specific features and functionalities on an admin menu.  What if?  Why not?  I'd be all over it!

M

Re: Web 2.0 EZ Build Software

Michael,

You're scratching at the surface of a very important concept. You said:

“a Zaadz site of your own” (my caps)

This wave of attention on sites such as MySpace, Friendster, and yes Zaadz too, has just peaked. People will eventually find social network sites limiting, as they did their Hotmail or Yahoo account…. ALL these network sites limit an individual's identity and creative expression. (The only possible exception I see with some promise is the 43 network sites.) An individual's identity is partially dependent on the digital spaces they inhabit and interact in. And yet my identity on Zaadz (or any other social network) does not exist outside of Zaadz. If Zaadz were to go down, I would go down with it. This does not follow the way we network in the real tangible world.

Let's say Zaadz were an actual physical place where our community got together to interact. When I leave Zaadz, I retain every single aspect of my identity (my body/thoughts/content/etc). It does not “stay” at Zaadz. I can also take that same identity to any place of my choosing, and connect with other people outside of Zaadz.  The way these social networks sites are structured does not allow for this kind of interpolation or interconnecting. This does not mirror how we interact with people in physical spaces.

If I go to a Starbucks to meet a friend, Starbucks does not own or retain my identity in any way. My choice to interact with another person at a Starbucks does add to my identity. The very experience of actively being there does inform and influence my identity. (E.g. I hear a song they play, buy the album, and become a jazz fan.) My choices as to what I can consume there may be limited. And the experience of the environment may be specific. But the individual expression of my own personal identity is limitless and unbound.

So how does a “web 2.0” site start? First of all you must own and host your own domain. (E.g. Michael.com) Then you build or find the tools and services you need to express yourself and include them on your own domain. (E.g. wordpress, flickr, del.icio.us)  I would add a quality factor to all the tools of your choosing, and add that they must all allow for easy publishing, importing, exporting, porting/pushing/pulling of any kind really.

Now the second part takes some thinking. (I think this is the killer biz opp.) Once you have your own website (your own digital identity), how do you connect to another website? Certainly not through these old methods, where you'll need over a gazillion different logins/passwords for each type of service…yech! There must be some overall one meta-identity that I can use, as say my agent. And that agent knows who Michael is, and always grants Michael certain privleges that I deem appropriate, no matter what services we are using. And that same agent should also allow for connecting Myspace with Zaadz. Or Google photos with Flickr. And on and on….

Pashmina

Re: Web 2.0 EZ Build Software

Pashmina
This is an interesting concept and something that has also been discussed with regard to virtual world's such as Second LIfe etc.  How to maintain your base identity (or even a created identify of your choosing as in the character in a game) and easily export this from one site/world to another.

Sounds like a two part process…
1) Create a standard that takes a base set of information. Given the social network type sites this would include, Name, Age, Fav Movies, Fav Books etc etc, Photos, blog entries etc etc
2) Convince all the existing (and new sites) to support this standard and the ability to create an account by importating your identity and viola - you can plug in and out to any number of different frameworks. Each may have a different user base, common interest or functionality that your ID would then build on but your base info could be plugged in and out.

I think as virtual worlds and social networks converge we will also see a convergence in how to access this metaverse concept regardless if you are in MySpace land or zaadz land.

Re: Web 2.0 EZ Build Software

Well, I've begun the journey on my own, using WordPress and vBulletins as my two CMS platforms.  They've each got a myriad of plugins.  (www.visionforce.com)

Yet, I've come up against the dilemma you are speaking of… how to integrate with other sites, without needing to convince my members to “go deep” in my site by creating an extensive profile and building an extensive network, etc.  I'm finding ways to integrate with Zaadz and MySpace, and for now am setting it up such that I practically force them to do the social networking at Zaadz, not at VisionForce.

Right now, building a social networking site that could compare to what Zaadz has would require more resources than I have at my disposal.

The question of how to join a ton of sites without always recreating your identity is generating some new solutions, which are going to different forum and membership sites and integrating people's identities across sites.  It's exciting to see what develops!

btw, I know Sam, the originator of this pod, is planning/building a kind of generic model for a kind of social networking site (or at least highly interactive web 2.0 site) using Drupal.  He's offering to build such sites for people as part of a larger scope consultation arrangement.

Sam, what's the latest on this?