The Internet provides such wonderful interaction, the way that we communicate and learn from our peers. The online network we build is something that comes with a lot of trust and provides a lot of enthusiasm. I like how a start up will launch and then through sources is recommended and distributed through the early adopters who flock on mass to catch the buzz. It's an enjoyable part of being involved as you get to experience the stability and scalability of the Application/Web site and decide where it fits into your activity.
I would like more of my personal friends to experience this interaction as being commited to one site like Facebook can become repetitive. Enhancing the engagement is where it gets interesting, the developers behind Facebook knew this that is why they provided us with applications we can add to our profiles. Outside of the walled garden is where it's happening and where you can participate in the full Web 2.0/Social Media experience.
Regularly different concepts and visions are realised, built and released, currently online people are divided between the two latest offerings;
faceyourmanga.com - This seems really popular with the Twitter crowd who are creating a manga image of themselves to use as their profile avatar. Searching on Flickr provides a massive index of these faces and they do look very good.
yearbookyourself.com - Provided by several Shopping Mall's this offers us the ability to upload a photo of ourselves to the site and choose from a selection of yearbook templates. You can go all the way back to the fifties so there are some interesting hairstyles that you can make your own.
Avatars are massively popular, Microsoft have been making money from them for several years now through the Xbox Live service and with Live Messenger. We have also seen them used by Nintendo with the Mii which we create through the console. I am certain that avatars are going to gain in popularity as to be fair I rarely see an amazing photo of myself that I am proud to display. This is easy and fun, fun being the key word as that is what it's all about! So Digg a little deeper and you may just StumbleUpon something worth sharing and waste away the hours!
