ClappingTree’s Web 2.0

Yes, it’s already Feb. Still, over here, utility is much more important than “the latest and the coolest”. So, here’s a handy list of the best Web 2.0 software in 2006 from Dion Hinchcliffe’s Web 2.0 blog:

• Social Network: MySpace. Runners up: Bebo, Facebook, Vox, XuQa, MyBlogLog (Me> IMHO, MySpace seems rather sleazy. Academics, students and alumni probably would do better to join FaceBook. People keen on business networking would do better to join LinkedIn.)
• Start Page: Netvibes; Runners up: Pageflakes, Windows Live, Goowy.
• Social Bookmarking: StumbleUpon. Runners up: Delicious, TrailFire, Magnolia, Listible.
• Peer Production News: Netscape. Runners up: Digg, NewsVine, Reddit.
• Social Media Sharing: YouTube. Runners up: UnCut Video, JumpCut, Google Video, Revver. (Me> What about Eyespot? Like the remix feature there.)
• Online Storage: Amazon’s S3 with JungleDisk. Runners up: OmniDrive, iBackup, AllMyData.
• Office 2.0 Suite: Zoho Office Suite. Runners Up: ThinkFree, Ajax13, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Foldera. (Me> Just give me everything on the same platform as far as possible. Right now, looks like I can find most essential services on Google. Looking forward to Zoho Notebook though.)
• Honorable Mention: BlogFilers: TechMeme, Social Music: Pandora, Professional Social Network: LinkedIn, Consumer Generated Advertising: The Chevy Apprentice campaign, Online File Conversion: Zamzar (MS Office docs, images, audio, video, etc), Web Application Stack: Ruby on Rails, Mashup Tool: DataMashups

THE FIRST annual “Open Media 100″, a list of key players (in five categories: Pioneers, Trendsetters, Practitioners, Toolsmiths and Enablers) in the online blogging and social networking field is out — thanks to AlwaysOn and Technorati (which tracks more than 11.5 million weblogs and over 1.2 billion links).

Although many of these folks may never grace the pages of the high-gloss pubs, they will most certainly be keeping an independent eye on those who do. As we’ve all witnessed, this is already happening. Both Dan Rather and CNN news chief Eason Jordon were handed their walking papers after being busted by bloggers.

(2007-03-01 note: The AlwaysOn link above is now broken. See The 2006 AO 100 instead.)