Harness the Power of the Internet: People Power!
I remember when I first experienced the power of the Internet. I was in middle school hanging out with a friend. We decided to use the computer in my father’s office and got online to chat. Of course that led to starting trouble within the chat room and getting kicked out, but the feeling of connecting (even if it was very juvenile and idiotic) was lasting.
Well both myself and the internet have evolved since then (thankfully). We are in the midst of Web 2.0. I mean, look at who Time’s person of the year in 2006 was- it was me, or was it you?
Now you can sell your handmade t-shirts to someone in California, post a video so millions can see it, raise money for a certain candidate or cause or even connect with a classmate that now lives in Boston.
Lets look at few of these powerful aspects, some general and specific, of being online and postulate on where it is all going.
Facebook and MySpace. Social sites are amazing! They allow you to connect with potential clients, friends, 
employers or employees. Careers have been launched through MySpace with relative quickness, something that would have taken much longer through more traditional means.
Personally I have connected with some friends from school over Facebook and learned of developments within their lives as well as forging new venues and relationships for my work.
Digg. A giant content source! Easily the one and only place you need to go to find out what
is happening in your area of interest. Or simply stop by the homepage and see what is hot around the world. This has brought issues and ideas to the forefront and continues to prove that the masses will be heard. I am always inspired when I read through the Science section as well as Images. With the amount of people submitting content and rating you don’t get anything but the best.
StumbleUpon. I find new interesting sites and content all the time with this tool, right from the comfort of my browser tool bar. This social tool was built for discovering sites that are recommended by your like minded users. Jake just posted a great article about harnessing the power of local searching within StumbleUpon.
The site allows for networking and the toolbar allows for finding and discovering new great content on the web. This is a powerful combination of Internet function and social web.
YouTube. This community has amazing potential for sparking ideas and movements. Some very passionate people are creating videos not just for songs or commercials, those are great too, but for change and doing things many newspapers or journalists wouldn’t dare do.
Helping others is important. Do Some Good Now and Freerice.com have unique approach’s to the donation type of site.
For each word you get right, we donate 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program.
Google. Where would we be without it? I have used it maybe 30 times today alone. The 
ease of differing to the search engine when a question or a need arises, a debate or thought has us stumped is amazing.My one friend, not the trouble-maker, would say “lets ask the magic box!” whenever we would get into a disagreement on something-anything. We don’t even need to own a dictionary or an encyclopedia these days.
Improving on our personal lives is another area where the web has excelled. Sites like Lifehack.org, ririan project and Zen Habits all provide information and resources to being more productive and improving upon our lives.
With so many personal opinions and voices out there, more able to reach a wide and diverse audience, we are having to rely less on corporate news and bloggers are being taken seriously. Blogging just may be the single best way to communicate and interact online. Public speaking for Internet. And did you know blogging is good for your health?
This may seem obvious, but with the ease and simplicity to buy products and services online more people are able to benefit. The elderly are especially beneficial because of mobility and health issues that may otherwise not allow them to drive their car 12 miles to the mall.
Consumer information and reviews is also a valuable addition to the shopping experience. The ability to find reliable reviews and ratings from like minded people makes your decisions and shopping more informed and accurate.
Sites like ebay and Craig’s List also create a huge opportunity for people to connect and exchange, sell or simply get together for events and activities. I have personally bought a good amount of film from Ebay and for a lot cheaper than if I would have bought it directly from a store. I also sold a computer and a couch using Craig’s List.
This is one of those resources that has tremendous value to educators and the arts. Access to information and images is so helpful to progress of education and culture. Some sites have vast amounts of additional resources such as podcasts, videos and photography in addition to text.
Look at one of my favorites, the Philadelphia Museum of Art. You can view some of the exhibits and learn more with supplemental information.
With the progresses being made everyday within the fields of technology and social intelligence it would seem like brighter days are in our future online. There are many pitfalls and predators on the Internet and I would love to see more accountibilty put in place for users. Viruses, pornography, scams and stalkers are all bad things in my opinion for the Internet simply because age is not really distinguished. SPAM is another issue altogether that makes life difficult online, not to mention clogs up your inbox daily. Some people see real value in the Internet while others see liability.
I feel that the power of having the Internet at my disposal is such People seem to want to connect and learn from each other. Word of mouth is still the best form of advertisement. As our altruistic, whether your nice because you want to be treated nicely or not, nature grows online lets hope the rest of our lives off line catch up.
Now I ask you, what do you think is the best thing going for the Internet and why?
Thank you!
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There’s a lot for me to like about the internet. My two favorites are the ability to find most any information I’m interested in at any moment in time and the ability to interact with people I would not have a chance to interact with otherwise.
I’ve had conversations with people on 6 continents all from my living room. There’s something very special about that.
It’s ability to completely level the playing field…
The best thing going for the Internet is that it is currently not broadly or heavily taxed and that it enables people to learn, grow and connnect. One great example is OLPC one laptop per child http://laptop.org/vision/index.shtml which I believe will help children around the world in poverty stricken regions, lift themselves from poverty through education on the web. That’s pretty powerful.
The worst thing going for the interenet (biggest threat to its development) are governments like the Chinese government that restrict access to content and restrict access to free speech / blogging rights. But perhaps this has more to do with democracy rather than the actual Internet itself.
All of it! You can do your banking, grocery shopping and even see what you’d look like with a new hairstyle…all on the net.
I remember when one needed to visit special resource libraries to do research papers and you still never got all the info you needed!
BTW, I’ve only been online since 2004. I started my 1st blog in 2005…22 sites later, I don’t know how I lived without the internet??!
:)
I agree with supermom…
I’d be lost without the internet, online constantly and daily & can’t imagine or remember what it was like way back when we didn’t have social sites!
@ Steven Bradley- Great point, the ubiquity of the Internet is amazing! I visited a few friends over the weekend and was able to check a few social sites each time…I know, I have issues ;)
@ Chris- %100. The field is leveled and much larger than before.
@ Jake- That OLPC charity program is a superb example of positive effect through the Internet’s reach and it’s impact on education and awareness. Thanks for bringing that one up.
The Great Wall of China is more than just bricks today…so true.
@ supermom_in_ny and findingstuff- I so agree. I do my banking online and I realize how great it is when I sometimes have to go to the actual bank and deposit a check or something. Thanks for reading and sharing!
Question?
What does the Internet have going for it?
Answer! Simple. POTENTIAL!! The potential available on the Internet right now is incredible. And the potential of what the Internet is going to be someday. Incredible!
You said it dmdxtra! Just like Chris wrote. I agree ;)
Thank you for reading and contributing to the conversation!
All the knowledge in the world equally accesable to all.
The best thing about the Internet is that power is in the hands of the people. We now have a say and our voices are now heard all over.
Hello Patrick,
Yes web2.0 has a changed the internet a lot…The way we were interacting…Specially social networking and marketing in the internet….
Internet is now a big thing and people's voices are being heard louder than ever.
the internet is the most free asset in the world today,i agree with you dmdextra,theres alot of potentials in the net,information,meeting people,libraies,voicing ur opinions and sharing pics. and most of these are free of charge.the olpc charity if realised would be the BEST thing to happen to children of africa,just bcos of information there lives would change.thank you all.
Yeah Internet has been getting power, it has become one the best resource of earning ….
I've seen that many businesses that don't connect through the Internet are merely existing. Internet has come to stay and we all have to have a good presence online.
The Internet is a great source for accounting, legal, writing services and many more.
in fact, the Internet has changed the overall world, we can shop, talk, share and can do everything through internet, what do we need more :) ?
Probably an improvement that could be had is streamlining the process of acquiring rights to produce more materials, but that does not mean price ? just the speed and the efficiency by which such rights might be acquired.
this is a digital age, no one can live without internet :)