The term Web 2.0 has become a buzzword lately that has brought forth new ways in which we communicate, share and collaborate online. People’s online presence has become more and more important as we spend more time online. It has become important to think critically about what you post online, as it may backfire against you at a later point. A web presence includes all physical entities that are hyperlinked to a central web presence page, like a home page or a blog (Kindberg et al. 2002). Helmond (2010) discusses that the assembly platform, engine and user has constructed a new form of identity – Identity 2.0, an identity that is always under construction. There is a new form of identity performance taking place on various platforms and social networking sites. Blain (as cited in Helmond, 2010, p.11) defines lifestreaming as “the collection of one’s activity on various services (i.e. online life), often arranged by time, into one central location”. Our life has become a river of data that is spread across the web. Identity 2.0 can be characterised as continuous changing, networked, part of a participatory culture, distributed, persistent and indexed in search engines (Helmond, 2010).
My web presence is a presentation of me as an animal friendly blogger. I love animals and I am against all forms of animal cruelty, thus this blog. Animals are innocent creatures that are object of horrible cruelty in order to sustain the trade industry. I want to provide information on how to live an animal friendly lifestyle so more animals can be saved. Taking advantage of the different Web 2.0 tools available when creating a web presence, is essential.
The tools I have chosen for my web presence says something about my online identity. With that in mind, I had to carefully choose what kind of tools I would use. I chose a blog as my central node because of the opportunity to reach out to people. The term blog comes from the words web and log and can be defined as a log of thoughts and writing posted publicly on the web (Sullivan, 2008). Blogging is a spontaneous expression of instant thought. You move backwards in time as you move forward in pages which can make the blog more truthful (Sullivan, 2008). Sullivan (2008) argues that as we blog when news reach us, blogging is more free-form, more accident-prone, less formal and more alive. I chose to write a blog as my central node because, as Sullivan (2008) points out, blogging is writing out loud. By blogging, I am able to express my passion about making an end to animal cruelty. I believe that by telling people about how animals suffer, more people are willing to make changes in their lifestyle, and that’s my goal with this web presence.
The contributing nodes I have chosen for my web presence are Twitter, YouTube and Delicious. One of the reasons why I chose Twitter, is that microblogging fulfills a need for an even faster mode of communication (Java et al., 2007). Twitter allows users to post frequently short messages, thus a great method in telling people about current issues and events on cruelty-free living. I chose YouTube as a node because this platform allows me to subscribe to other users and organisations that work for animal welfare. I can upload or add favorite videos and share them with my friends and everyone else that might be interested. I have included a short description of myself as part of my Twitter and YouTube account. I have also made a link to my central node so people easily can visit my blog. There is no opportunity to personalise a Delicious account. However, my bookmark tags illustrate my interest in animal rights and welfare. Delicious provides great opportunities to share interesting web sites and articles online. I have made my Delicious tags visible on my blog so readers easily can see what I have bookmarked. Another advantage of Delicious is that I can assign each bookmark with as many keywords as I like. I can also make notes on each bookmark, giving me a reminder for why I saved the site. Delicious is also great in that sense that I can search for others’ bookmarks as well.
The contributing nodes I have chosen for my web presence are Twitter, YouTube and Delicious. One of the reasons why I chose Twitter, is that microblogging fulfills a need for an even faster mode of communication (Java et al., 2007). Twitter allows users to post frequently short messages, thus a great method in telling people about current issues and events on cruelty-free living. I chose YouTube as a node because this platform allows me to subscribe to other users and organisations that work for animal welfare. I can upload or add favorite videos and share them with my friends and everyone else that might be interested. I have included a short description of myself as part of my Twitter and YouTube account. I have also made a link to my central node so people easily can visit my blog. There is no opportunity to personalise a Delicious account. However, my bookmark tags illustrate my interest in animal rights and welfare. Delicious provides great opportunities to share interesting web sites and articles online. I have made my Delicious tags visible on my blog so readers easily can see what I have bookmarked. Another advantage of Delicious is that I can assign each bookmark with as many keywords as I like. I can also make notes on each bookmark, giving me a reminder for why I saved the site. Delicious is also great in that sense that I can search for others’ bookmarks as well.
It was important for me to choose a design and style that was consistent throughout the different nodes. I chose an animal print as background for my blog, Twitter account and YouTube channel as I thought this theme complemented my interest in animals. It is not possible to do any changes to Delicious, but I hope that my bookmarks speak for themselves. The fonts and graphics used on my central node were selected carefully. I used sans-serif fonts as these are easier to read on a computer compared to reading printed sources. I have downloaded banners on my blog to support different organisations that are working to stop animal cruelty. All the above choices were made in a hope to make a consistent web presence. The aim of my online identity is to tell as many people as possible about the cruelty against innocent animals around the world. I hope that my web presence will make a difference to those suffering animals. A lifestyle change does not have to be complicated, time-consuming or expensive, and that is something I hope people will realise as they read my blog.
References
Helmond, A. (2010). Identity 2.0: Constructing identity with cultural software. Retrieved from http://www.annehelmond.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads//2010/01/helmond_identity20_dmiconference.pdf
Java, A. et al. (2007). Why We Twitter: Understanding Microblogging Usage and Communities. Retrieved from http://ebiquity.umbc.edu/_file_directory_/papers/369.pdf
Kindberg, T. et al. (2002). People, Places, Things: Web Presence for the Real World. Retrieved from http://springerlink.metapress.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/content/0t8fetl6f7l6c9g2/fulltext.pdf
Sullivan, A. (2008). Why I Blog. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/11/why-i-blog/7060/
Kindberg, T. et al. (2002). People, Places, Things: Web Presence for the Real World. Retrieved from http://springerlink.metapress.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/content/0t8fetl6f7l6c9g2/fulltext.pdf
Sullivan, A. (2008). Why I Blog. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/11/why-i-blog/7060/
