Virtual Web

Second Life
Second Life is an Internet-based virtual world launched in 2003, developed by Linden Research Inc (commonly referred to as Linden Lab), which came to international attention via mainstream news media in late 2006 and early 2007. Entrepreneurs knew there was money to be made so they invested within the company and many are now millionaires. Anshechung was the very first person to make $1 million real life dollars by making and selling clothing, furniture and land. Many companies such as sony, reebok, calvin klein and nissan are using second life to advertise there products. Calvin Klein has its very own store where you can test fragrences then see how your avatar reacts to it, then you can get a free sample of the fragrence.

Second life's virtual currency is the Linden Dollar (Linden, or L$) and it is exchangeable for real world currencies in a marketplace consistng of residents. You interact with each other through motional avatars which provide an advanced level of social interaction.



The video above shows a good introduction to Second life.

While Second Life is sometimes referred to as a game, this description does not fit the standard definition. It does not have points, scores, winners or losers, levels, an end-strategy, or most of the other characteristics of games, though it can be thought of as a game on a more basic level because it is "played for fun".

When second life started out there were only 4 users, In all, more than 9.8 million accounts have been registered, although many are inactive, some Residents have multiple accounts, and there are no reliable figures for actual long term consistent usage.

Recently second life has been invested and reports have shown that second life is being used irresponsibly. The video below is a clip from sky news showing a town called "Wonderland" where little girls are abused and raped.



There are various advantages to Second Life and other virtual worlds such as socialising with friends, but its when fantasy and reality cross that Second Life's ruling should be questioned.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Networking

Since its beginning, the web has often been used as a tool to meet new people, but in recent years the interaction between web-users has grown dramatically, spawning a new generation of networking sites.

Some networking sites allow users to swap video and images.
Sites like Bebo, Facebook and Myspace have fuelled the social networking trend. Rupert Murdock owner of the News of the World newspaper owns Myspace, he saw potential in the social networking site and now pratically owns the media industry. Myspace particularly is used to advertise bands, models and businesses free of cost. This is the main reason why social networks are so popular, they're free.

These sites could be called posh blogs, but tools are used to make them simpler to post text, photos, music and now videos.

Another social networking site is youtube, it allows ameature film makers to produce films and post them on the internet, aswell as you can see nearly any video there has ever been made on youtube. Youtube is very well known and people from all around the world use it, therefore countries Like America that are ahead in a TV series such as Lost make it possible for people in England to watch it on youtube.

Advantages

• Socialise with friends
• People you haven't spoken to in years
• There free apart from internet connection costs
  

Disadvantages

• Social Networking sites can be easily used by peodophiles.
• Lack of security
• Addictive

Web 2.0

The phrase "Web 2.0" hints at an improved form of the World Wide Web. Technologies such as weblogs, social networks, podcasts, ebay and other social software provide enhancements over read-only websites.

A definition of Web 2.0 : Web 2.0 is a perceived or proposed second generation of the web. This is were the web has evolved and improved over time and now offers better and more up to date services like blogs, wiki’s, social networking sites etc. (Found from the website germworks.net/blog/2007/02/11/web-jargon-explained/)


I found this video which is a good explanation of what web 2.0 is.

Web 2.0 websites allow the user to do more than just retrieve information. Users can own the data on a Web 2.0 site and exercising control over that data. Web 2.0 sites often feature a rich, user-friendly interface. The sites may also have social networking aspects.