For those of you that don't know me I'm a huge web 2.0 fan and spend most of my free time playing around with new tools. There are so many services out there and a lot of them do the same that sometimes you don't know which one you should use. So I've decided to share my can't live without sites with you, and give you at least one reason why I prefer these services to help you out.
Here I go by category:
Blogs
Blogger - To me this is by far the best blogging service and it's not because I have a free hosted blog. Other blogging services (like WP) restrict you from customizing the look and feel and also don't let you add a lot of cool things available through widgets or code.
Social Bookmarking
Delicious - I use to be a Favorite's fanatic until I discovered Delicious... no more browser favorites for me. This social bookmarking service is easy to use and very
convenient. The only thing I didn't like was the site design and they just redesigned it. Looks great, kudos to the designers at Delicious. By the way, feel free to
add me to your network.
Wikis
WetPaint - If you need a Wiki I highly recommend this service. They have several features that other
wikis don't have. For example, when you create new pages they automatically appear in the navigation, you can create sub-pages from the start, they have a photo gallery, it looks very professional, and if it's an educational wiki they remove the ads for free. You can check out one of my
wikis to see what I mine -
Web 2.0 Applications review or
Cynthia Medina.
Microblogging
Twitter - The first time I heard of
microblogging I asked myself "why would I do that?" Well let me tell you that the best resources I've gotten have been through Twitter. This is the best way of keeping up with your network, news, friends and family. You can Twitter using your computer or phone which makes this service very addictive. You can follow me on
Twitter.
Social Networks
Hum - It's hard for me to pick a favorite in this category. I'm in several social networks because the people I keep up with are completely different. I use
Facebook to keep up with siblings and coworkers,
MySpace for friends in the U.S,
HI5 for childhood friends and cousins in the Dominican
Republica, and
Ning for work related communities. Now if I go by the features I would go with
MySpace hands down because just like blogger they are not restrictive and I like to put my creativity to work. I also like
Ning, they actually let you create your own social network for free, and it's very easy to set up.
Video Sharing
YouTube - Do I have to explain?
Readers
Google Reader - The application looks like an e-mail inbox which makes it easier to use, and most of the
RSS widgets have their one step icon for subscribing.
Online Photo Sharing
Here I have to admit I've been using
Shutterfly way before all these other sites were launched and I still use it. They just finally added a community feature to it so I'm a little excited. It's hard to change photo sites after you've been saving your pictures for years some where else. Now from the newest sites, I like
Photobucket and
Flickr. These two sites just make sharing so easy, they have lots a cool features, and you can embed your pictures in other web 2.0 sites in a few clicks.
Photo Editing
Picnik - Why pay so much money for
Photoshop when you can do a lot of photo editing online, for free and without having to download anything. You can also edit pictures that you have saved on other online photo sharing sites.
Creating movies
Animoto - You can create free movies using up to 10 pictures, and you can add music and credits to it. They also have a paying option for larger movies which you can also download and save on your computer. What I like is that your pictures appear to the beat of the music and they look very professional. They also have their own music
selection but you can also add your own which is a great feature as well.
For more services and reviews you can visit my
Web 2.0 Applications Review wiki.
OK, these are my can't live without sites, what are yours?
