As the potential of that indefinitely defined technology called Web 2.0 becomes more and more apparent, new applications seem to be appearing on an almost daily basis.
But for users forced to hop from site to site for their Web services, the new social Net can be a drag.
Moreover, using the new social applications lean heavily on some knowledge of HTML which, while not a computer language per se, might as well be one for most cybernauts.
This fragmentation of services and dependency on coding savvy may be an irritation to some, but to others, it’s an opportunity.
Bundling Services
That’s how the folks at TagWorld see it, anyway. TagWorld, formally launched yesterday, bundles the most popular components of the social Web into a single package.
The free service allows its users to create a personal page with modular drag and drop ease; tag anything — bookmarks, posts, pictures and files; save, store and share bookmarks; store and share photos and create online slideshows; upload and download files into one gigabyte of free storage space; and search rapidly with slider tools profiles, blog postings, photos and bookmarks.
“Today’s Internet user wants the ability to exchange and use information easily between the applications they use,” TagWorld’s founder and CEO Fred Krueger said in a statement. “Our goal is give people a core set of services, in one place, to simplify their ability to organize, express or present their content.
“TagWorld has moved beyond the basic offerings of first-generation social networks with a truly integrated platform that presents a more engaging experience for users and their friends and family,” he asserted. “TagWorld is about helping build the social Web and enabling people to engage, create, and share in a more personalized and meaningful manner.”
Cores of Social Web
President Evan Rifkin explained that TagWorld puts together into a single bundle the functions of popular Webposts like Blogger, Flickr and del.icio.us.
“Those are some of the fundamental cores of what we believe is the social Web,” he told TechNewsWorld. “We wanted to tie those things together under one platform so people wouldn’t have to log-in and log-out into different services in order to use these types of products.
“We believe that as people start to migrate to the Internet, as people begin to move their lives over the next couple of years, that they’re going to create some kind of Web presence and want all of their stuff in one place,” he maintained.
Browser Approach
Consolidating popular services at a single Web site is one approach to simplifying an increasingly dizzying array of offerings to Netizens. Another, though, may be found in the cybersurfers chief mode of transport: the browser.
That’s the thinking behind another consolidation product in development, Flock.
Flock is built on the Firefox browser and incorporates social bookmarks and a blog editor into the program.
Nifty new services keep popping up on the Web, but very little innovation has been applied to browsers, contends Flock co-founder and Vice President for Marketing Geoffrey Arone.
“If you look at Netscape 1.0 and Firefox, there’s button to button parity between it and Netscape 1.0,” he told TechNewsWorld.
“While the Web as a platform has evolved, the browser hasn’t really evolved to catch up with it,” he asserted.
Browser Wars Rebirth
Online services are great, he said, but they’re being hampered by existing browser designs. “I shouldn’t have to have a toolbar every time I want to work with a new online service,” he declared. “It should be part of the natural work flow of the browser.”
But even if Flock is successful in hammering out a better browser for tapping the potential of Web 2.0, that space, as many a better browser maker has discovered, can be a tough nut to crack.
“A year ago, I would have said absolutely to that,” Arone said, “but a lot has happened in the last year, and I think the success of Firefox has demonstrated that people are demanding more.”
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