My Favorite Web 2.0 Services (For the Introvert)

As a dedicated introvert, I sometime find a lot of Web 2.0 tools overwhelming (i.e. a low signal to noise ratio). I have to confess I’ve yet to bond with del.icio.us, Twitter or Flickr.
For one thing, I’ve gotten bored in del.icio.us watching one new person a day bookmark the same Unicode resource over and over. Similarly, the Flickr corgi tag is no better the image search on Google! I have reverted to Google which seems to work just as well.
The other problem is that effective free tagging requires you to pre-plan your tags with someone else. Thus introverts are required to communicate, taking the fun out of the entire enterprise. And I have privacy issues, I just do.
BUT…I can say I’ve found some Web 2.0 services even I like (Yee-ha!).

1. RSS News Readers – I can scan headlines from multiple blogs/wikis/news sites and read the ones I feel are important. More importantly, I can preview a blogs/wikis/news site pretty quickly and decide if I want to subscribe in the future. I really wish all news sites supported RSS or ATOM.
2. Wikipedia – Because you can quickly search for obscure topics. Sometimes I do want to know what the states of Mexico are. The resulting text is also more coherent because it’s been edited down to one page by the “social forces of Wikipedia.” And sometimes…I’ve been known to correct a typos or error, and all without having to go through an editorial board.
3. You Tube – This is surprising to me, but the interface seems to be both introvert and extrovert friendly. The search tends to be as effective as Google when I want specific videos, yet browsing for popular videos brings up some very entertaining choices. Apparently other people out there have as strange a sense of humor as I do and have enough time on their hands to make a video.
4. Pandora.com – It’s a personalized music channel…just for me which selects songs based on songs I already like. You can pick what on your own channel. It’s so personalized, I don’t have to think anyone else is out there (how soothing). The only problem is that you have to rate every song every five minutes which can get distracting. But, I bet someone out there is wanting to share their music channels…
5. Blogs – One of the mysteries of the universe is that some introverts enjoy writing, especially if they don’t have to answer too many questions at once. Maybe it’s because writing allows you more time to really edit and ponder your message (I take at least 15 minutes per public blog post). Anyway, I enjoy having a platform where I can post my thoughts for the world (on narrow topics). Also, blogs honor the spirit of Web 1.0 of “If you like my site…bookmark it. Otherwise, thank you for visiting and have a pleasant day.”