303 Software

Kate and the community

by Kate

First and foremost, hello. I'm Kate, the new project manager for 303 software. I've been working in the custom development field as a project manager (not sure what that is? Think Sam from Grandma's Boy, except minus the party scenes) and am very happy to now have joined the team at 303. I'm looking forward to working here to produce innovative and high quality custom websites and applications. I'll be maintaining the blog with updates on what we're working on at 303, new coding practices, and general commentary on the technology industry.

Back before the various internets (ok, I'll stop using that term...even if it makes me laugh) when your child had a cough you would call your mother, doctor, or friends. Now, it's straight to the crutch of our times, google. Search results on google can produce anything from a wikipedia entry to a hospital's website or even an individual's blog. In addition to the basic information contained on many of these sites, users may submit their own thoughts, opinions, and experiences through various community portals.

The internet has revolutionized the availability of information and the integration of a community aspect to this information can theoretically make what before would be unknown or untrusted information an interesting source. Personal input from real users now may a heavy influence on decisions a person makes without that person ever having met any of the other users. Community input on the internet can be represented in several ways.

Some sites are completely based on community feedback (such as the venting blog Would You Be Mad If...?) while other sites combine blog like articles with user feedback (like my favorite Gizmodo...who doesn't like gadgets?). To go to the extreme, sites such as Facebook are completely based on a community, and theoretically don't need to be a source of any information, but simply serve as an area for entertainment and keeping in touch with friends and family.

Overall, community involvement can enhances a site, entice users to return to the site, and allow users to gain valuable information to which they would otherwise not have access. There are obvious drawbacks to this, such as misinformation or abuse, but overall the community aspect of websites is a trend that is here to stay.

I think I've said enough to hopefully spark your interest. Go forth and google (and comment, and post, and geek out).

Posted in SEO, online community, social networking on 4/5/2010