The only FourSquare I know about is the one I played in 3rd grade.

The social networking site FourSquare was just recently brought to my attention. I feel as though every day more and more social networking sites are being created which are becoming more innovative and accessible to all interested users. Well, after a friend told me about FourSquare, I decided to research it and see what it was all about.

Put simply, to my understanding at least, FourSquare is a mixture of Facebook and Twitter, which some of its own unique added twists. Not being a member of FourSquare I feel it is a little difficult to really get the feel of what it offers, but after watching a few videos and browsing the website I've learned some things about it, and here are just a few key aspects of FourSqaure:

• First, you can link FourSquare with you Facebook, Twitter and address book.
• You use FourSquare only with you cellphone. (Of course one that has Internet access) If you do not have a cellphone with Internet access, there is a way to do it via text messages.
• There is a GPS setting that must be turned on if order for FourSquare to know where you are. Where ever you are FourSquare lists places that are around you, if they place you are at is not listed, you may add it.
• You submit "check-ins" to your FourSquare account telling your friends in all of your social networks where you are and what you think of the place, using a lot of detail.
• You are able to check out tips from friends and other uses to find reccomendations on places that they have "checked in" to.
• You earn badges and points based on where, when and how often you check in to your FourSquare account.
• If you check in at a location more than anyone else you become the "major" of that place. It is possible to get certain rewards from the businesses you become the major of for being a loyal customer.
• FourSquare costomers are offered certain specials at some businesses just for being a member. (mostly because they want you to "check in" their business and say good things about it)

Whenever I am somewhere that I am unfamiliar with I am always looking for new places - good new places - to go to. This includes restaurants, places to go for fun and even just scenic places. I feel as though FourSquare would be really useful in that sense, and also open your eyes to new places that you may have never visited if you were not a FourSquare member. I'm not really one to join sites such as Twitter or to make Facebook status' on where I am because I don't think people really care to know what I'm doing at every moment of my life; but I think FourSquare took the "where are you" feature to a whole new level and has intrigued me to want to join it.

LinkedIn

Just recently I became aware of a website called LinkedIn. It is a website that people within the work force use that renders several different features. LinkedIn is a free professional network much like Facebook, except for business people.

One thing LinkedIn offers is the ability for its users to reconnect with old colleagues and recent colleagues. You are also able to reconnect with classmates and stay in touch with whom ever you'd like to find that also has a LinkedIn very simply.

Another feature of LinkedIn is that it essentially "powers your career". Through this website you are able to discover inside connections when you are job searching. You are able to find out new and important business opportunities that you may have not been able to find if you were not a member of this website.

Lastly, and what I think is the most innovative part of LinkedIn, is that it grants you the ability to ask questions and receive answers from the experts. You professional network has many experts who are easily accessible and willing to answer any of the questions that you may have. When you are a LinkedIn member, you are able to ask any question you'd like, submit it, and receive an answer at a fast rate.

I found this website to be a cool idea and when I am looking for a job in the near future I am definitely going to create a LinkedIn account for myself in order to get the most out of my professional network.

1.0? 2.0? 3.0?

Web 3.0 is the next step in the advancement of the web and its applications. Thinking about the web now and how advanced it is, and knowing that is only going to be more advanced is a concept that I have a hard time wrapping my brain around. I feel as though the release of web 3.0 is going to bring about a lot of changes on the web and the way in which we view it. Not knowing very much about what web 3.0 is going to entail I took the liberty of doing some research on the subject matter. My findings both intrigued me and made me question how they are going to pull this one off.

The website which greatly helped me form a grasp on what web 3.0 is going to offer was labnol.org. This website broken down web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 and explaining what each had and what they lacked. They explained these webs in simple English, which is something that someone who is not too, too technologically savvy could appreciate. They had tag lines for each web which I found to be simple and to the point of what each of them offer. Web 1.0 is "the mostly read only web", web 2.0 is "the wildly read-write web" and finally, web 3.0 is described as "the portable personal web". Loving the idea of anything portable, I continued reading. Web 3.0 is going to be all about sematic web, it is going to have about personalization by the user and be a more easy accessible and easy to use web. Web 3.0 is going to basically be your personal assistant. I learned that you will be able to type in sentence into your web 3.0 browser and it will analyze your request and direct you accordingly. The more you use it, the more its going to learn about you (which is actually creepy) and the more it's going to start recognizing the things you like and will direct you to places you'll like without even knowing you like them yet.

The future has a lot in store for us and web 3.0 is just the beginning. Before you know it we might be able to have holographic cell phones, or be able to ichat directly from our smart phones. Who knows what the future holds; all I know is that is just keeps getting smarter and smarter.