Top List: My Top 10 Favorite Web 2.0 Services

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?

My own Twitter site

I just finished reading a post called "Classroom Twitter Using WordPress" at Will Richardson's blog. It's all about using a new WordPress theme called Prologue which gives your blog a Twitter look. It actually works very well, and it's great for organizations that require security and privacy.

And of course, you know me.... I went ahead and created a blog of my own to test it, you can see it here at Tech Yakety-Yak. The only disadvantage of using WordPress is that you're not following your friends and no one is following you and I must admit I like that Twitter feature.

Now you do have the advantage that you are not limited to a number of characters per post like Twitter and you can have a secure blog at the same time. Maybe now some organizations can incorporate microblogging into their training programs.

What do you think?

Kudos for the developer of the Prologue WordPress theme.

Review: Video and File Sharing with your Twitter friends...

If you're hooked on Twitter then sit down before you read this. Starting today, you can now share videos, pictures, and other files using a new service offered by Twit+. This services works with the Twitter API and it allows you to share pictures, videos and other files with your Twitter friends.

How does it work?

1. You can log in with your Twitter username/password at: http://twitplus.com/

2. Enter your message, and click Browse to select the file you want to share.



3. Select if you want to make the Twit public or send it to an individual follower. If you select Individual Followers then a list of your followers will be displayed for you to select the individual.



4. Click Send twit+ msg button.
In a couple of seconds your followers will receive your files... and the best thing is that your followers don't need to use Twit+ in order to receive your files but it would be great that way they can twit+ you back.......
Does this mean goodbye to e-mailing YouTube links?