words, widgets, and webs

As you may have noticed, there's now a new widget on the right side of my blog page. For those of you who don't know what widgets are (as I didn't, until quite recently), it's basically an interactive graphic linked to HTML code. The purpose of this particular widget is to make my blog more subscription-friendly.

The process of creating and growing this blog has already taught me a great deal about the internet; including the fact that there really is a lot more to know. Specifically, though, it's really opened my eyes to just how thoroughly the internet has pervaded our lives and changed our world. Many have already put ink to paper (or pixel to screen) describing the growing phenomenon of total connectivity. The buzzword of choice when discussing the fast-growing world of online social-networks and interactive, customizable, and user-generated internet content is Web 2.0. This is the web of YouTube, Facebook, and blogs; as opposed to the old Web 1.0 with dusty relics like AltaVista, America Online, and GeoCities.

Of course, some people have mixed feelings about our increasingly interconnected world. But I feel they're missing the point: we've always been interconnected. All the internet has done is make it impossible to ignore.