Connected

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 technology, have you heard of it?  If you are reading this page, you are already a part of Web 2.0.   Many of us, already use the Web 2.0 technology, and may not even realize it.  Have you ever read an entry from Wikipedia, the on-line dynamic encyclopedia?  The difference between Wikipedia and Britannica or World Book encyclopedias is the user, who has the ability to interact and change Wikipedia.

Web 2.0 technology is the interactive sandbox which many of us now play in; Facebook and Twitter, are just a few of the popular Web 2.0 technologies.  Another example, of Web 2.0 technology would be this website, as opposed to the previous interface of, ThatIsAllForNow, which had static pages.  It is the sharing of information interactively that has made Web 2.0 very popular.

All of us who play in this sandbox are actually helping to customize the interactive community.  Think about how major news stations will now allow you to upload your pictures or videos, and be a citizen journalist.  Today, instead of writing to the editor and waiting to be published, you can now simply write your thoughts, about a news article and be posted immediately.

Blogs are moving even faster than the Internet news stations.  ThatIsAllForNow, in fact, posted two weeks before any major news agency that women were being raped before being executed in Iran, since it is against Muslim law to kill a virgin.  YouTube and Flickr were allies to Iranians during the June elections last year.  And even though the Iranian government tried to shut down many of the social media sites, there were information highways that remained opened and continued to give us a real time view to the protest in Iran.

Who stands guard over the sandbox which is Web 2.0?  You and I breathe life into the Internet by our use.  The Internet is truly alive; continually changing by the input of information, from nearly two billion users.  I leave you wondering what we shall do with all of this knowledge which I believe equals power.

Last, but certainly not least – Security!  How do we secure ourselves, while using social media sites?

As mentioned above, previously web pages were static and would usually come from one hosted server, thus easier to secure.  Now web pages contain multimedia applications, and the content is not necessarily hosted, but can come from anywhere.  In turn, new techniques are being developed and used to exploit people on social networks.

There are some common tips that you can use to keep yourself safe while using social media sites.

Limit the amount of personal identifying information that you provide to all sites that you are registered with.  For example:  Facebook applications will use the private data that you have in your account, regardless if it is needed or not, thus leaving you vulnerable to a phishing attack and/or identity theft.  A Facebook application will often be given full user privileges to your account, which then provides access to your buddies profiles, as well as, photos.  This is too much information and can be used against you.  Additionally, the information that you provided for an application, can often be stored on a third party server, and although contractually, developers are not allowed to abuse the Facebook data, there are no controls in place.

It is not unusual for links to another website to be provided in a social media site.  For example: YouTube has a significant number of comments with links to malicious sites, which will download malware.  It is important when you are looking at YouTube videos, that the link that you click on, takes you to the same URL address, as at the top of the page.  Be extremely aware, of any prompt that requires you to download software.  I recommend that unless you know the program, you cancel the prompt.  Let’s stay connected.

This entry was posted on April 26, 2010 at 9:24 pm and is filed under Connected, From the Editor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.