I’ve been reading about “Web 2.0″ for sometime. I also run into sites that utilize the verbiage Web 2.0 to make it look like they are “with it.” Many times chuckling at the basic meaning as what Web 2.0 proposes is pretty much how I’ve advised clients to think in regard to their use of technology from the start.

Most of the folks I work with are still struggling withe Web 1.0! The number of online business owners who still do not use this technology to it’s full advantage due to (select your excuse):

Not enough time…
Not enough money…
Not enough patience…
Not enough desire to learn…
Not a realistic bone in their body…

can’t even imagine or fathom what the latest buzz is about in regard to Web 2.0. The short story is Web 2.0 “refers to a perceived or proposed second generation of Internet-based services—such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies”. In other words a more interactive and social environment that most I know would be comfortable with.

You can read the good, the bad and the ugly of Web 2.0 here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0.

I’ve said it for over a decade. Technology doesn’t slow or hold back for anyone. Keep up with the trends, use the latest tools and resources to your advantage, become a sponge and learn, learn, learn. Only then can you expect to truly have enough of an understanding of what is involved to prosper online.

Web 3.0 , the brainchild of Tim Berners-Lee who for the most part is credited for inventing the World Wide Web in the first place (also know as the Semantic Web) sounds very similar to 2.0.

Tim Berners-Lee originally expressed the vision of the Semantic Web as follows:

“I have a dream for the Web [in which computers] become capable of analyzing all the data on the Web – the content, links, and transactions between people and computers. A “Semantic Web”™, which should make this possible, has yet to emerge, but when it does, the day-to-day mechanisms of trade, bureaucracy and our daily lives will be handled by machines talking to machines. The “intelligent agents”™ people have touted for ages will finally materialize.” —Tim Berners-Lee, 1999

I can’t wait to meet Hal!

At your service,
Judith

Over the past year, I’ve experienced even my plain text, no graphics or attachment e-mails getting blocked by the other side because I inadvertently did something spammy.

In my case, it was usually the original e-mail I was responding to was spammy (way formatted, had an embedded graphic, etc.) contained within that took my reply right with it — blocked!

The fact remains that e-mail is not a brochure nor was it ever meant to be a fancily fonted graphically enhanced message. Although the temptation is there because the tools to do so are available in your e-mail program, if you are serious about your e-mail getting through, you need to be a “plain Jane” so to speak.

Why would formatting, embedding and such tools exist if they are now causing so many legitimate e-mails from getting through the network? Well, the answer is simple. Back in the day who would have thought that commercialism would so corrupt this communication tool is such a way as to necessitate the need to start blocking spammers. Heck, the word spam used to mean luncheon meat!

When it comes to business, it is best you type your e-mail properly from head to toe while being concise and clear about your message without having to rely on any formatting, caps or embedded graphics. I’ve typed about this topic before here on my Blog, but many ignore my advice because they still want their photo, their logo or that fancy colored font to be seen in their business e-mails. Fine… then know you risk your e-mail getting blocked. You simply can’t have it both ways.

If you do get an e-mail returned due to “policy reasons” you know the system on the other side picked up on something spammy within your e-mail. You can check to see what that may be by using this free tool online that checks the content of your e-mail called ContentChecker.

And for those who didn’t catch my article on the topic yet, give it a read now and ensure your e-mails get through to their intended parties: How To Avoid Looking Spammy.

At your service,
Judith