Online Enjoyment for Music Lovers

Web2.0 is taking the world of music to a whole new platform. While internet service providers are throttling P2P traffic and the recording industry has its head up its ... well, you know ... music lovers are finding other ways to share tunes. I can't stress how important it is today for listeners to fight for their right to tune in and turn it up. You can read more about the death of the music industry here.

In the meanwhile, here are three fabulous options for online listening and musical networking.

1. Last.fm
Last.fm's subtitle says it best: "The Social Music Revolution." I came across Last.fm almost a year ago, and it has made my life sheer musical bliss ever since. This site syncs with your computer's music player or Ipod to track the music you're listening to. Once you've built up a library, Last.fm offers recommendations based on the artists you enjoy and what it thinks you might like, but have never heard before. You can also "love" tracks to create a personalized radio station of all your favorites. And with Last.fm's "Discovery Mode," you can listen to music by artists you like that you've never played before. You can view charts for your favorite artists, albums and tracks, which are broken down by weekly, monthly and overall increments. My friends and I generate our personal top 15 tracks of the year and create mixed albums to share with one another each Christmas, and Last.fm has made the task of narrowing down my true top favorites easy as pie with the overall track charts. Last.fm's social networking aspect allows you to add friends and watch their musical tastes progress, as well. The site also stocks your dashboard with recommended videos and free downloadable full-length tracks, and lets you view your weekly "neighbors" - other Last.fm users who share your musical tastes. Yet another bonus is the handy widgets you can create and place on your MySpace, blog, etc., that show off your favorite artists, albums and songs.

2. Fuzz.com
Fuzz is my new love. I discovered it just yesterday, and am thoroughly enjoying the concept. Fuzz gives new, emerging and independent artists an opportunity to be seen and heard. While Fuzz currently has quite a small community of users, it has the potential to grow and expand. According to the site's FAQs, "Fuzz is a new breed of music company - combining a next-generation music label, a powerful artist promotion platform, and a feature-rich interactive community that engages artists and fans to promote, discover, share, review, influence, buy, and sell music." Users can create a social profile, add favorite artists and users, and listen to select tracks promoted by the artists. You can even add these selected songs to your own personal music library, and then create playlists. These playlists can be used to make a totally cool "mixed tape," for which you select a background, an old-school cassette and case style, and text to label your tape.

3. Songza.com
Songza allows you to search for and listen to any song - and I mean ANY song. This is a brand-new site that just launched today, and I'm quite impressed. Once you've searched for a song, you are given the opportunity to play it, share it, buy it, and rate it. You can also add songs to a playlist, but the list is exhausted once you log off of Songza. Right now, Songza operates on an anonymous platform, with no option to create an account. However, this is an amazing tool to utilize if you'd like to listen to an artist or song you may have never heard before. Check out Songza's interface:

Not all music is created equal, and it should stay that way. Here's to sharing music online and sticking it to the man, who doesn't seem to want us to listen to a thing.

Ethics of Social Networking

Mike Gunderloy of Web Worker Daily recently published "3 Problems with Social Networks," an article detailing issues that detract from the social networking experience. While Gunderloy admits that every social networking site has its own glitches and flaws, he points out that a little self-control can go a long way when you're publicizing yourself online. Here, I'll mesh WWDs tips with my own to help social networkers achieve the best online community experience possible.

There is such a thing as too many friends.
Scrutinize who you allow on your friends list. Limit spammers before they have a chance to get into your social networking world. When you receive a friend request, check out the user's profile before even considering approval. MySpace in particular has become a hub for the porn, music and other industries to spam people into their networks. MySpace offers the option of blocking all invites from bands and groups, but you can choose to personally screen these invites. And remember, social networking is not a popularity contest. The more friends you have does not add to your online reputation; as a matter of fact, it detracts from your appeal, IMHO.

Honesty is the best policy.
While it is important to create truthful profiles, it's not necessary to tell every last detail about yourself. A rule of thumb for online privacy is not publishing your full name and address, and don't provide contact information to people you don't want to contact you. Remember, anything you post online can be viewed by every person you add to your friends list or networks. Up-and-coming social network aggregators will provide a method of profile comparison. Google's OpenSocial is just the beginning. Soon, sites will utilize widgets to pool all of your social networking profiles. This is where it will be important for your MySpace profile to match your Facebook profile, and so on. This is just one other way Web2.0 is promoting more honest, intelligent, reputable community members.

Use applications.
I recommend using Mozilla Firefox, regardless of your web browsing needs. This comes along with the capability of adding personalized applications to further improve browsing. Firefox offers many applications that go hand-in-hand with today's social networking sites, such as Boost for Facebook and Delicious bookmarking, two applications that I personally use. And I can't possibly recommend any application without mentioning AdBlock and Flashblock, two add-ons that eliminate annoying advertisements that detract from any browsing experience. With all of the flash littering MySpace today, I'm overjoyed to have access to such add-ons.

Remain devoted to just a few sites.
I've attempted to hold down the fort on more than a few social networking sites, and unless you spend an ungodly amount of time online, it's quite difficult. Attempting to manage too many online profiles detracts from your presence on any one. I've managed to limit my social networking to a few sites with different purposes. I keep up with both MySpace and Facebook because I can keep in contact with different friends who use each program, but to be honest, I'd rather limit my social networking to just one of these. Tack on Last.fm, Delicious, and a few other utility-type services, and I'm socially maxed out. Limiting your online presence will also increase your enjoyment of these services. Social networking is a blast. It puts us in touch with old and new friends and helps us get a visual picture of ourselves. With the growth of Web2.0 and social networking, it is necessary that individuals learn the ethical rules of the online world.

Social Networking 101

Perhaps my favorite commodity of the 21st Century Digital Revolution is the multitude of social networking sites on the Interweb. I first discovered LiveJournal about seven years ago, and I've been socially hooked ever since. In recent years, my social networking has branched out to the worlds of MySpace and Facebook, as well as to the newly-popular Web2.0 sites like Last.fm and Delicious.

Social networking empowers individuals to bask in their own spotlight. When I look at my profiles, I am proud of my interests and hobbies, and I've learned that I'm a lot cooler online. It's this self-promotion that keeps our narcissistic culture coming back for more.

Through this blog, I will feature many, many social networking sites, both old and new to the World Wide Web. I'll define Web2.0 and offer examples and reviews of up-and-coming sites and utilities for net users. My readers will also indulge in various entertainment and media topics, as I plan to give all aspects of popular culture a good analysis through my writings.

Much of my content will focus on the open source movement, as well. I am a huge advocate for free information, and I plan to offer many options for completing tasks more easily and efficiently by using online tools and software advances - for free.

To kick things off, I'll offer the basic definition of social networking. This article from the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication says it best:

"We define social network sites as web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system."

I believe the world of social networking is creating more intelligent, open-minded and interesting individuals, united by pop culture. The above article is an excellent one, that delves into the psychological and societal aspects of community sites.

Wikipedia's article on social networking sums up this community evolution:

"Several websites are beginning to tap into the power of the social networking model for social good. Such models may be highly successful for connecting otherwise fragmented industries and small organizations without the resources to reach a broader audience with interested and passionate users. Users benefit by interacting with a like minded community and finding a channel for their energy and giving."

So, here's to a better community, educated by our peers and the technological advances the world is handing to us. Stay tuned for more.