Thing 11: Explore Web 2.0 Award winners.

One of the most useful sites for living in this area, Craigslist makes it ridiculously easy to post classified ads on the web. Although some of the forums and post categories can be quite odd, if you're looking for a place to live or someone to buy your old bike, this site is the first place you should check out. I think it's an effective site because it has a strict policy against commercialization, the community tends to effectively police itself and maintains a high level of trust. Also, it has a huge potential to be monetized -= but so far hasn't. Posts are free except for job postings in certain markets - which makes sense when trying to scan for quality postings. As this post succinctly summarizes:

[Craigslist] focused on service, were patient and, most of all, not greedy. They gained users’ trust and built a huge brand over a decade. In fact, they’re one of the only brands on the Internet. (from http://gesterling.wordpress.com/2006/12/19/why-craigslist-makes-analysts-crazy/)

Craigslist is a perfect example of how a strong sense of community matters on the Web, how it can work to create a culture of trust, and how good sites must help foster a sense of community to develop a long-term brand.

Another excellent Web 2.0 tool is Meebo, an excellent replacement for IM-ing for those of us who can't download any chat clients on our work computers. It's sort of like a web-based version of Adium without the cute duck; you can aggregate various chat clients in one web browser instance.