The Added Value of Web 2.0 and Social Networking Sites

In the 1990s, the Internet was largely viewed as a television set with far more options.  Nowadays, the Internet is not only a medium that allows to exchange videos, audio files and text but allows people to participate and nurture relationships in virtual communities. Now more than ever, small, medium and large companies are making their websites more than just a commercial flyer.

If you are involved in an existing community organization, you should consider the added value of Web 2.0 websites and social networking features.  Many companies are now incorporating social media marketing and Web 2.0 characteristics in their professional web design.  How so?

Web 2.0 involves web applications that are user-friendly and far more interactive than an informational website.  A professional web design with 2.0 characteristics in mind gives its users choices to interact and collaborate in a virtual community.  Users are not just onlookers but creators of their own environment.

Savvy website owners can take benefits of social networks features like www.facebook.com in their existing site. Allowing them to create an entire environment in which their customers and employees can interact. Hundreds of companies have added social networking widgets from www.facebook.com to their site, or at least created a link in their page going to the popular social media site.

Maintaining a blog on your website can be another way to get simple Web 2.0 features and contribute content to the online community. Since blogs have built in RSS (Really Simple Syndication), which syndicates your newest content to several top blog search engines, readers can subscribe to an RSS feed and have new content delivered as soon as it is published.  Web owners can add text tags to their blogs for faceted keyword searches. Blogs are also very helpful for keyword density purposes.

Many web designers are now switching over to CMS (content management systems) such as Drupal because they know these popular systems can provide them with Web 2.0 features which will help their company achieve higher website rankings. It’s time to get involved in professional web design and to follow the market; that is, by giving your online viewers what they want.  They want to interact with the company.