Uthink, therefore you are

Well, it seems like just yesterday that the only way to have your say on community issues was by writing a letter to the editor (hand writing, mind) and posting it by snail-mail to your local newspaper. Now, thanks to sites like uthink, you can have your say on pretty much anything that tickles your fancy (or gets you in a lather!).

Taking a look around this community forum, you’ll find a plethora of issues that have sparked discussion, outrage and strongly voiced opinions. Want to know what people really think about child abuse, Air New Zealand carrying troops to Iraq, or the judicial system in New Zealand? Then take a look at what uthink tells us wethink.

But it’s not all current events; it’s more like a snapshot of New Zealand society, with everyone getting a look-in. I suppose it highlights what matters to us at any given moment. Topics span everything from movie reviews to parenting, relationships, sport, lifestyle choices, and those great dividers, religion and politics.

One of the things I love about this site is that it has one of those nifty tag clouds (like our very own Swicki search). Tags are simply a way of indexing and categorizing information using selected keywords (for instance, an article on endangered monkeys might be tagged with ‘animals’ and ‘conservation’). You can tag almost anything: articles, websites, pictures and videos. This allows all the links/pictures/articles with the same tag to be viewed together.

A tag cloud is, as the name suggests, a cluster of tags. The size of each tag’s font in the cloud indicates the relative popularity of each topic. On sites like uthink, the tagging of all posts on the forum means you can easily see current hot topics (the great thing about tag clouds is their dynamic nature – they’re constantly changing!). According to uthink, we’re currently hot under the collar about Nelson, money, power prices and chicks. Amongst other things.

Check out this site and other community forums to get thinking and keep in touch with grass roots New Zealand.

Online social networking for over-the-hill Kiwis

I don’t consider myself ‘old’ yet (whatever that means). I’m firmly in the ‘you’re only as old as you feel’ camp when it comes to the aging debate. But I feel about a thousand years old when I go to a club full of underage faces (‘don’t worry, you don’t look 25′) or get invited by friends to join one of the many online social networking sites. MySpace and its clones make me feel like I’ve missed out on something, although I can’t quite put my finger on it. Am I the only person without a profile?

For those like me, who fear they’re losing touch with the kids of today, this just might be the answer…

New Zealander David Wolf-Rooney is soon to launch a networking site for grown-ups, specifically targeting 25-55 year olds. His site, iYomu, will have no advertising and will provide up to 1GB of storage space for music, photos and videos. Most interestingly, though, iYomu will only be open to those over the age of 18. While there’s an exclusive, invite-only beta version available, most of us will have to wait until August 13th for the spectacular launch of iYomu.

Sure it might be snobby to exclude the youngsters, teens and boppers, but I think it’s an interesting idea. With hopeful projections of their own success, the team at iYomu predict they’ll have up to 1 million users in the first month alone. Watch this space…

Meanwhile, if you’re wanting to get social with other Kiwis, visit one of our New Zealand community sites.