Thing 10 - Community 2.0

Web 2.0 is all about community. The tools provide a function -- Flickr for sharing photos, YouTube for sharing video, etc -- but they also create a place for users to interact, exchange ideas, and connect. These communities bring people together who may have otherwise not have had the opportunity to interact -- and regardless of geographical location, age, race, gender, physical ability, or any of the other ways that we might differ or separate. Formed around common interests, online communities often establish their own characteristics, norms, expectations, and terminology.

One way that connections are made is through comments. Commenting is a very important feature of many Web 2.0 applications, including blogs. For new bloggers, it can be thrilling to receive that first comment from some random, unknown reader. It suddenly changes the way we feel about our blogs and our writing. We become more invested, more careful of what and how we write, because now we know someone is reading.

While you may be doing this 23 Things project independently, you are a member of this online community who have come together to learn about Web 2.0. What are your fellow learners doing? How do they feel about this project? What new things have they discovered? For this Thing, you will reach out to other members of your community and make connections.

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To complete Thing 10 you must:
A. Comment on participant blogs
B. Reflect on Thing 10 on your blog

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A. Comment
Read these two articles for some tips on how to make good comments:
Lifehacker's Guide to Weblog Comments
How to Write Intelligent Comments on Blogs

Then, take some time to explore a few of your fellow participants' blogs (listed on the right). Leave a comment on 3-5 different blogs.

B. Reflect - Blog Prompts for Thing 10
What do you like / dislike about leaving comments? How did you feel when you received your first comment? Why do you think commenting is so important in online communities? What might this mean for students who share their writing online?