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| - by user Ericodom It was only a matter of time before web 2.0 was embraced by the Conservative realm of the internet. Conservatives, I’m sometimes ashamed to admit, aren’t always the first group to jump on a new innovation, but it can be said that Conservatives know how to make one work rather quickly for their purpose. The blogosphere is a great example. Bloggers like Michelle Malkin, Patrick Hynes, Erick Erickson, Scott Johnson, Chuck Muth, LGF, and others had success on a proportionate scale soon after the Blogosphere was given life. LGF, for example, can has in excess of 70,000+ visitors in a single day. No doubt, Conservatives know how to communicate opinions, articulate issues, and network together to inform others will relative ease. Indeed, web 2.0 is now a part of the “Conservasphere”. Web 2.0, for those of you who may not know, is a step above blogs in general. The technology used in Web 2.0 is almost 100% interactive. The idea is simple really. The mindset behind Web 2.0 is that the community has full control over the content, interface, moderation, and operation of a website. Quoted from Wikipedia: > > Alluding to the version-numbers that commonly designate software upgrades, the phrase “Web 2.0″ hints at an improved form of the World Wide Web; and advocates suggest that technologies such as weblogs, social bookmarking, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds (and other forms of many-to-many publishing), social software, Web APIs, Web standards and online Web services imply a significant change in web usage. So what is this “ConservaWeb 2.0″ all about? First, let’s examine some of the regular 2.0 mega sites to get an idea of what Web 2.0 really is. The following is a list of top sites that run on a Web 2.0 platform. - Digg.com While the system at Digg is currently being disputed as slightly flawed in a way that allows a group to manipulate results and push out certain users, Digg is the pioneer for community driven news. When a story is voted to the front page it can result in literally tens of thousands of visitors. - YouTube YouTube quickly became a power house for social networking, allowing users to upload videos, comment and vote on videos, and completely interact with the entire community. - Google and Gmail Google went Web 2.0 some time ago, allowing users to customize the search page and combining all services and tools to one simple user interface. Google’s Gmail also uses Web 2.0 technology, allowing certain parts of the page to reload without having to reload the entire site. This makes each part of the page interactive and the user has a lot more control over what is happening when logged into the site. Conservative entrepreneurs, including myself, have taken this concept and moved it into reality within our own level of standards and ideas. The most recent example of this is ConservaPedia. Like Wikipedia, Conservapedia aims to hand over all content authority to users and the general web community. The site is new, but I predict it will be a hot spot for Conservative communities and networks within a years time. Politics.Wikia is a Digg like platform that while not exclusively Conservative, has categories that allow users of all ideologues to fairly participate in voting up stories and news. Another Digg like site is one owned by yours truly, Political Dip. Political Dip is brand new and will take a bit of time to populate, but I have no doubts that it will begin to flourish in due time. I think Web 2.0 will take the Conservative realm to the level it needs to be able to keep up with the pack. I see political campaigns using YouTube, offering free blogs, hiring bloggers and blog consultants, and allowing users to have more control over their web spaces. I also see Independent Conservatives stepping out and making big plays on the web, something that I believe is very healthy for the future of Internet Conservatism and Netroots on the Conservative side of the isle. Original text written by Eric Odom. __NOEDITSECTION__ From The Opinion Wiki, a Wikia wiki. From The Opinion Wiki, a Wikia wiki.
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