If you made it through my last entry, I’m sure you’ve been waiting with bated breath for the continuation. Well, here it is.
When last I posted, I posed the question, “What was I to do?” Now, I answer. Here’s what I did:
Honestly, I didn’t do much in the beginning. I think the first bit of Web 2.0 “social networking” I got involved in was okcupid. Yes, it’s a dating site, but I actually signed up because a friend inroduced me to the tests, and I became addicted. I actually spent a lot of time on the damned site up until about a week ago, when I deleted my account. (So don’t bother looking me up there.) Other than that, I used the Internet mostly for research for my writing.
But, then…well, people kept talking about this MySpace thing. So, I jumped on the bandwagon, and I signed up for a page. Now, don’t judge me yet. For the longest time, I didn’t do much with it, and I only checked it every so often. As a matter of fact—and let me stress this point again—I used this Internet thing for the longest time only for research. I thought that’s what it was for.
I soon learned that’s what Web 1.o was for. Web 2.0 was something completely different. As Ethan Zuckerman says: “Web 1.0 was invented so that theoretical physicists could publish research online, Web 2.0 was created so that people could publish cute photos of their cats.”¹ Welcome, Travis, to 2.0.
I got sucked ino the MySpace thing. I started a blog. I checked on my friends daily. I updated my status all the time. And one thing led to another….
Just within the last week or two, I decided to make a permanent presence for myself on the Web. Yeah. I set up this website. And I got myself all sorts of bells and whistles: A Twitter account. A Technorati profile. A Gmail account to replace my outdated Hotmail. (Notice, there’s no link to that one. I’ve never been fond of Microsoft.) I also did the whole 43 Things, 43 Places, etc. thing. And I’ve even got myself a gravatar.
I am so wired. I am a man of the 21st century. I know what Lolcats are. I’ve pretty much deciphered 1337. I grok the whole “All your base are belong to us” thing. And I make jokes about the Internet being a series of tubes.
Watch out for me, cuz I’m here to stay. Not only because I’m a writer, and I need to gather an audience, but because I’m pretty sure I’m addicted.
Caffeine. Nicotine. The Internet. My trinity of addictions. Better than smack or booze, I suppose.
And with that deep thought, I’ll end this entry.
¹Zuckerman, Ethan. “The connection between cute cats and web censorship.” July 16, 2007.
