I won't lie.
I haven't found this program particularly enlightening or useful. Most of the services shown have been ones I've already known about or don't have any particular interest in. Much of it appears to be just riding the recent "we are Internet 2.0, so we're so awesome" bandwagon. I must be getting old - I like things the old way. Simple, uncluttered.
I'm also hampered in my appreciation of some of these things because I know other ways to do them. I've run and managed my own web space for quite a long time, so the benefits of blogger are generally wasted on me. I went through a phase of signing up for all the cool things I saw on the internet... the spam in my old HoTMaiL account is testament to that. When I see a new site, either within this program or without... one of the first metrics that pops in my head is "wow, this is silly. I could have made this"... which is a first step down the road of dismissal.
Regardless, it isn't the tools, or the presentation that makes these sorts of sites useful - its the content. Some of the ones that I mistreated and maligned may very well be excellent resources - for people looking for other content than I am or who want to digest it in a different way than I find convenient. I personally don't have any issue with my current methods of finding and consuming information, but if some of these newfangled sites are useful to you young whipersnappers, then I hope they stick around.
As long as they are open and allow the general world in to access what content they have I have no issue with them. If I have to jump through hoops to access something - unless I know for *sure* its there and it is what I want - then it might as well not exist at all. Asking me to create an account and specify any personal information *at all* is a big hurdle for me: the candy in the van had better be delicious.
