Quote:Community 2.0
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Community 2.0 is a subset of Web 2.0, which refers to a second generation of services available on the World Wide Web that lets people collaborate and share information online. Specifically, Community 2.0 refers to the second generation of the Virtual Community. Community 2.0 is a social phenomena represented by rapid growth of multi-channel social networks that leverage live meetings, webcasts and on-line interactions in order to create and share information. Today, the virtual community of Community 2.0 is leading to increased performance in the business and personal realms due to its effective means of aggregating information and supporting collaboration.

[edit] General Characteristics

Community 2.0 refers to virtual communities characterized by rich user-generated content and dynamic interaction. Community 2.0 is mobile, ubiqutious, and continuous (real-time) computing.

Community 1.0 refers to virtual communities characterized by static content delivery systems such as message boards or list serves.

Community 0.0 represents live, person-to-person interaction of the pre-internet era. Community 0.0 is displayed in the conventional social environments of neighborhoods, religious organizations, or schools.

[edit] Technologies

Blogs - Online journals or websites on which articles are posted and displayed in chronological order. Their content most often centers around a particular subject or theme. A vast and distributed community of these web-based journals has evolved which has come to be known as the blogosphere.

Wikis - A collaborative online space in which many users can work together on a shared project. Users have the ability to add, edit, or delete content on the Wiki. Wikis can be used as reference tools (Wikipedia) and/or FAQs.

Tags - A way for users to attach meaningful keywords to content. Tagging allows users to classify and categorize their own digital collections. The use of tags has been incorporated into the functionality of most community and social sites.

Webcasts - Video (or audio) conference calls which take place over the internet. They typically are used for document collaboration, software demos, or tech support.

Podcasts - A term used to describe an audio blog, a podcast is an audio file or a series of them which can be listened to via a portable device such as an iPod or MP3 player as well as a computer. A podcast is often distributed by an RSS feed which transmits the most current episode. Podcasting technology has enabled the ordinary person to create their own talk shows and represents another technology in the move toward creating user-generated content.

Vlogs - Video blogs, or vlogs, are the latest development in the amateur media production sphere. These episodes are also distributed via RSS and are sometimes referred to as video podcasts. Many vlogs allow users to tag and leave comments in response to episodes similar to replying to a post on a blog.

Instant messaging - IM involves communicating with another person over the Internet in real time through the use of a client software. AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger and others have been around for some time and are still going strong with 53 million and 29 million active users respectively. New versions of IM clients, including Windows Live Messenger and MSN Messenger 8.0 empower community and content-related plugins allowing users to access information and collaborate more effectively.

Internet forums - Also known as message boards, these forums are used to host discussions and serve as FAQ databases.

Mobile technologies - Users stay connected to their communities on their phone, PDA, or iPod. These technologies add to the 'real-time' content represented by Community 2.0.

[edit] Community 2.0 in Practice

User ratings - Users rate items such as articles, recipes, books, movies, suggestions, people, and more.

User reviews - Users write reviews on items such as consumer electronics, hotels, restaurants, travel destinations and more.

Editorials - Users write and share their own editorials using blogs.

Books - Users write, collaborate, share, and publish a book using a wiki.

FAQ databases - Users create and collaborate on FAQ databases using a wiki to serve as effective customer support channels.

File sharing - Users share files such as music, movies, games, and software through community based file-sharing systems.

Content sharing - Users share their personalities, hobbies, photos, home videos, bookmarks, and wish lists.