Obtaining Information-Then and Now


There is a radical change in which we are obtaining information today. The number of options of obtaining information has increased, but what is most interesting is that the number of ways in which we can harness this information has also increased by leaps and bounds.

Today there is so much we can do with the information we get and we can get it from so many places that our options have become almost endless.

But, to start with, we shall see about the differences in getting information. Here we talk of some ways of acquiring information that we can use in the contemporary sense.



Obtaining Information-Then and Now


Human Beings-An Inquisitive Species

The human being has always been an inquisitive species. It is because of this reason that we have managed to reach this stage of development and progress in our evolution. We have consistently made progress and we have always believed that Necessity is the mother of invention. It is on account of that that we have been able to see our shortcomings, we have been able to see what we are lacking in, and then have been able to develop the things that we need to enhance our existence.

This has been a continuous process throughout history. Humans have always been involved in the process of obtaining information and then harnessing it to improve their way of living. We did it 5,000 years ago, we are doing it now, and we will continue to do so 5,000 years down the line.

The onus of our evolutionary strides has always rested on our inquisitive mind... our need to find information, our tendency to observe, our penchant for questioning things that happen around us. This is what converted us from Homo neanderthalensis to Homo erectus, then from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens and from Homo sapiens to our current form Homo sapiens sapiens. It is our questing mind that has helped us throughout our evolution, and the questing mind hasn't still been satiated. We are constantly seeking information now as well. We are always on a drive to find out more, whether it is about a new route to reach downtown or it is about how we can make a synthetic DNA molecule.

Inquisitiveness has been ingrained in us. We are born with it. The first reaction of a baby when they come in to the world is to look all around, take up everything that they can in those tiny staring eyes of theirs. The mind is processing information very fast at this rate, and as it processes more information, it is becoming sharper as well. It is amassing everything that it is exposed to. The baby's mind understands what different things are, how they are useful, how they can be used, what they are called, what happens around them and so on. They build on experiences. No one can teach a baby everything that they want to learn. Parents and teachers have a streamlined process of transferring information to babies; but their basic education is through observing everything that happens around them. This would not have been possible if we were born with a questioning mind. It is this inquisitive mind that keeps telling us things.

And this process continues throughout our lives. There is not a moment in our lives where we do not learn, where we do not acquire information. Right now, you are getting informed as you are reading this. You get informed when you go to work. You get informed when you cook your daily meal, when you shop, when you watch a movie, when you play with the kids. Your information acquiring process does not even stop when you are simply walking down the road. Whether you know it or not, the information is coming into you and your brain is processing it... retaining what is most important to you and pushing back what you don't need to remember to the deeper annals of its intricate structure.


Obtaining Information-A Regular Process

In the Stone Age, information was obtained through observation. We saw that it turned bright and dark alternately. We observed that was a regular phenomenon that happened without a break. The concept of day was born. We realized that when two pieces of flint are rubbed together, they can create a spark. We learned how to make fire. We understood that water pours from the sky in the form of rain, and we can shelter ourselves in caves. The first homes were created. We understood that man and woman can mate and create progeny. We understood that people united in this manner should stay together for their various needs. The concept of family was born. We understood that families can do better if they huddle together. They can fight natural calamities and predating animals in a better manner. Communities were born.

Later we understood that we could plant seeds in the ground and crops came up. We learned our first method of sustenance. Then we had free time. We realized that we had an artistic instinct. We could create things of beauty. The first rock paintings were just a precursor to our different art forms. Our monosyllabic sounds evolved into language.

Throughout this evolutionary process, we acquired information all the way. There was no one to teach us; it was only our keen sense of observation that got us going. But, we did not stop at that. That is what makes us different from animals around us. We have a talent, a special skill, for taking what we have and trying to improve it all the time. So, we took our innate genius of observation ahead. We began to observe both in the micro world and in the macro world. We saw things smaller than our eyes could see and we saw things more distant than our vision could see. We understood that microorganisms exist; we understood that there is space. We tried to hear things that our ears did not allow us to listen. We understood there are infrasonic waves and we understood there are ultrasonic waves.

Today, we are living in times when we know a lot about the world, definitely more than what we knew in the Stone Age. There is still a long way to go... what we know already may not even be the equivalent of an electron in the composition of the entire world, but we know something that's more than what we knew to start with.

This is amazing progress. And, the best thing is that we have not put a stop on our progress yet. We are moving on.

Skipping to the present, our patterns of receiving information have definitely evolved to great heights. Today, we do not need to observe to survive. We live in much better times. We are beyond learning merely survival tactics. We are now trying to ameliorate our lives.

Speaking on an individual note, if you need some information on something, you know that you have all the resources you need at your fingertips. The Internet is certainly the most revolutionary invention humankind has achieved so far. It has linked everyone in the world, regardless of time, space and expertise, to become a unified whole. This is an amazing pool of talent and information. Today, if we need something, we just have to dip into this pool and everything is right there.


We still need to obtain information for several things. It is still a routine process for us. We are surging ahead, surely. Things are looking good as well, because there are hardly times when we are stuck for not knowing something that we should.

The whole world is tuned in to this channel of information known as the Internet. It is up to us to make the most of it.


Major Strides

In present times, if someone needs to know something, the first and most normal thing for them to do is to simply get to their favorite browser and find out information. It does not matter what they are looking for. Whether it is...
* Knowing what a particular term means,
* Getting information on some geographical region of the world,
* Understanding how to do something,
* Reading a review on a product or a service,
* Buying something with the right knowledge about it,
* Finding out ways to earn a livelihood by sitting at home,
* Finding out more about a subject of interest,
* Seeking entertainment...

...or whatever else, there is the Internet at our disposal. Millions of people log in everyday to find out what they want. And there is hardly a time when they are not able to find what they are looking for.

It is such an interesting world that we have created in the virtual realm. People are not just seeking information, but they are giving out information as well. Even the littlest things that they do, such as posting a comment on a blog post that rivets their attention, they are giving out some kind of information to someone. Creating blogs and websites has become much easier than it was when the Internet was just teething. Today, people have personal blogs and websites and they are passionate about them just as people were passionate about their fishing hobby in days of yore. People are setting up these mediums on the Internet and informing and instructing people all the time. It is a continuous process, a process that sees a million new things being fed into the online world with each passing day.

The best thing is the optimism of it all. We know that there is already a humongous lot of information on the Internet. This information is never going to dwindle. At the same time, a humongous amount of information is being added each day that we cross. All our knowledge bank is slowly getting transferred onto the Internet. And this is not the knowledge of a single person or a single company or even a single country. It is the knowledge amassed from the whole world... the knowledge that we have earned through generations of our survival on the Internet.

We can easily create a schism for the total time we spent on the earth. Earlier, historians used to refer to prehistory (the time when there were no written records) and historical times (the time of which written records are available). Surely, now historians are going to rethink this and create another schism. They are going to introduce an era of pre-Internet and an era of Internet times. Several centuries down the line, people are going to know us as the people who lived at the very start of the Internet age, and they are going to respect us for it.

You have to understand the massive importance of it all. Due to the Internet, there is a way for us to pass on everything that we know to the future generations. There is not a single thing they will miss out on, not a single nuance. They will know exactly when Obama became president of the US and how, they will know precisely about the launch of the iPhone, they will know who won the NFL Championship and in which year, they will know about Egypt coming out of its dictatorial yoke and in the exact manner that it did so, they will know when Rihanna sang Umbrella, they will know about almost every person living on the earth at every time and what they did for a living and even what their personal likes and dislikes were.

It might sound scary, and it is. If an alien invasion were to happen, they would only need to hack into our WWW to find out almost everything they need to know about us. We are all exposed at the same time. We are vulnerable.

Our sons and daughters will know everything about us, and this information will pass on for generations beyond. The Internet is never going to cease, but it will only ameliorate with time. We will surely be able to do better things, but this collective wealth of information that we have amassed, that we are keeping on amassing as we speak, will never be let down into the drain.

All You Need Is Out There


It is an understatement actually. All we need is definitely out there, but that does not even comprise of a teensy-weensy fraction of the total amount of information that is present.

There is just so much out there, on the Internet especially, that we cannot make use even of a tiny decimal of it all. But, if you think about it on an individual note, what don't we have on the Internet? We have everything that we need to survive... even how to make a living in the freezing woods if we want to.


All You Need Is Out There

We are living in the Internet age, and that certainly means a lot of things to all of us. For some people, it means that they never have to live without friends. The Internet can always help them socialize. For others, it means that they can buy things from the comfort of their homes.

For some others, it means that they can download movies, music and games for free and get themselves entertained wherever they are. For still some others, it is a means of business, a means of making pots of money and keeping it that way. And then there are people for whom the Internet is a channel for making themselves popular all over the world.

There are so many different manifestations of the Internet that it is enough to make our heads spin just thinking about what we can do with it. There are so many different things that we can do, so many different ways in which we can put the Internet to use. And, the best thing is that we are putting the Internet to use at every living instant of our life.

But, we should talk about the greatest purpose of the Internet in our lives, or at least the purpose for which we should actually use the Internet.

Acquiring information to do what we want!

This is the one thing that we should revere and worship the Internet for. We have to realize that everything that we need is out here on the Internet. This is the one channel that transmits whatever we want to know about whatever we want to do.

Earlier, children were totally dependent on their parents, teachers and counselors when they were going through the phase of puberty. They were intrigued by the changes happening in their bodies. I am sure many of you have experienced that discomfort as well. We did know why these things were happening and we weren't sure whom to ask. Asking our elders wasn't always an option. And a lot of us heard a lot of wrong things from our friends who had presumably "seen it all".

But, today, children have an option. They save themselves the embarrassment and the inconvenience of it all and they can simply find out about things on the Internet.

That is just one example. There are so many others like that. In those days, even a simple anomaly around the house, like a leaking faucet, for example, meant that most people had to call their plumber. And, if the plumber was busy, they had to wait till His Lordship could make it.

Today, that is not the case at all. For such minor things, there are hundreds of DIY guides out there. Better than that, there are vides. You can just see those videos and understand that there are so many things you can do, and how simple it is to do all those things. We are getting so much information at every instant. Whenever we need something, we have a veritable goldmine of information that we can tap into and get whatever we want. It is too fascinating for words!

And, if you want to buy a product, you don't just go out and buy it. Most people will want to do their due research on the Internet first. They will log in to check what other people are saying about the product. Whether it is a movie or a restaurant, we first want to know what other people's experiences with those things have been. We are always interested in reviews. This wasn't the case before the Internet, at least not to this extent, but now we have the information available at out fingertips, so why don't we make the most of it? We surely do!

The one thing that you have to take away from this is that there is almost nothing you will want to know that you won't find on the Internet. The Internet is your biggest source of information right now. It has everything you will need. It does not matter if you want to just eke out a living or you want to do something that can change the course of life as we know it. The information is all out there for you to tap into. You need to only accept that fact and take whatever you can.

What You Can Know and What You Cannot

So, the Internet is a resource of information that you should surely not ignore. But, is it the most complete system there is? Can you find everything you want on it?

Before we go ahead with this discussion, I call upon you to read the title of this chapter once again. The title is "All You Need Is Out There". I am not saying "All You Want Is Out There"!

It is true that you can find everything for your necessities on the Internet. The basic things and much more than that are all out there on the Internet. If there is some information that humankind has found out and if it is supposed to be public knowledge, then you will easily find it.

For instance, if you need to find out about the total population of Trinidad and Tobago and you want to know the demographics of the place, you will find that information quite easily.

If you need to find out about all the books Neil Gaiman ever wrote, you can easily do that. You can even read reviews on those books. You can also find out how to make beef chili yourself. You can learn how to clean your air conditioner. You can understand why gas stove to buy for your picnic. Such is the information that you can easily find.

But then there is a limit. And it is because we need to keep the Internet a safe place more than anything else.

You are not going to find classified information on the Internet. There is no way you can find sensitive information that can put someone or something into jeopardy. If something is illegal, you won't be able to find information on the Internet. And, it is illegal to even look for such information, so you should desist right there!

There is more to that. You won't be able to find personal information on people, especially if the person is not a celebrity. Yes, you might be able to find their profiles or their pictures if they are active on the Internet, but you will not find inside details on them, at least not the details that they don't want to be publicly known.

You will also not be able to find something that has a commercial value; at least you will not find it easily for free. For instance, if someone is selling an eBook, you will likely not be able to find it for free. You will have to buy the book. If a new movie has just been released, you will probably not be able to find it for free unless the producers have streamed the movie themselves or someone has already uploaded a torrent of it. In any case, trying to get things that have a commercial and creative value for free is considered to be illegal, so you have to keep that in mind.

Apart from that, everything that you need is out here on the Internet. You can find things that you need for a good living. In the times we are living, you won't be able to find everything on the Internet, but you will easily find everything that you need to find. But, developments and advancements will always keep on happening and the knowledge base on the Internet is only going to keep growing.

Take from the Internet whatever you can. It is a public resource, available to you and to everyone else on the planet. Make the most of it and you will find that you will be able to enhance your life in various ways. In the subsequent chapters, we are going to talk about how we are going to be able to do just that. So, keep tuned in!

Getting Information Off the Internet


We have now realized that there is a lot of information on the Internet for us to use. But, where exactly is this information? Let us see the obvious and the not-so-obvious sources of information on the Internet that we have.




Getting Information Off the Internet


There is information on the Internet, we have already seen that in the previous chapters of the Internet, but what you need to know right now is where you can go to get this information. Here we shall be taking a look at some of the places where it is possible to find information on the Internet.

Online Encyclopedias

There are some reputable places where you can find some really good information. The online free encyclopedia, Wikipedia, for instance has very good information on most topics. This is an encyclopedia that people can edit and that is the reason why some people cast aspersions on its credibility, but still they have a great team of reviewers who take the time to check each entry that is made here. Or, if you do not trust an open source encyclopedia like Wikipedia, then you can go for some paid ones. There is the Encyclopedia Britannica and the World Book, both of which you need to become members of and then you can get the information you are looking for.

Also, most of these encyclopedias are constantly updated, so you can find current information on them most of the time.

Online Newspapers

Almost all newspapers of the world have an online version right now. You may have to become the members of these websites and then these newspapers become accessible to you. This could be your source to have the world at your fingertips. Just imagine every bit of news from every part of the world pouring onto your computer. Most of these online newspaper websites also have their search engines, using which you can find the exact bit of news that you are looking for.

How-to Websites

If you are looking for information on how to do something, then these how-to websites are a great asset for you. These websites have usually user-submitted information on ways to do different things. Some of the reputable ones are eHow and HowStuffWorks among several others.

The best thing here is that the information is user submitted. So, you may find different DIY guides on the same thing. This really works for you because you can then pick and choose the way which is the best for you. Also, there are usually comments from people enabled on these websites. So, you get some idea about what people who have used these methods have experienced.

Video websites like YouTube can also be used to see DIY stuff. These are a great option actually because you can actually see the particular thing being done. You get a much better idea of how to do things.

Video Websites

When we talk about video websites, the one place that promptly comes to mind is YouTube. This is a fantastic website that allows people from all over the world to submit videos. These could be DIY videos or music videos or videos from TV shows and movies or videos showing people doing things or personal videos... the options are endless. Anything that is legal and allowed to be made into a video can be found on YouTube. This is a great option for you to get to know anything.

You can get an endless resource of information through these video websites. You can know how to fix things, how to cook a particular thing, how to do something creative, etc. You can check out a TV show or a movie that you have missed. If a music video is haunting you and you cannot wait for it to appear on TV, YouTube is a great option for you. If you want to hear someone's review on a product or service, you may find videos on it on YouTube. If you just want to see how people live in a different part of the world, YouTube can help you. The options are unlimited. There is just so much you can do with YouTube that it becomes a whole world in itself.

There are other video websites like YouTube, such as Metacafe and VMEO and Fancast, but YouTube leads everyone by a hundred country miles.

Article Websites

Articles are the best sources of information on the Internet. There are billions of articles that can tell you where you can find something that you are looking for. Now, not all of these articles are good quality, and it is also possible that some of them may contain wrong information. So, you have to be careful.

Most of these article websites contain user-submitted information and hence you may not want to take them as highly reputable sources of information. On these article websites, you will find articles on a wide variety of subjects, and some of these articles are really good. They are usually written by experts who know what they are talking about. Apart from the information itself, you are also likely to get a lot of personal opinions and tips, etc. through these articles which could show you a wholly different side of things. This is why articles are so popular. The writers of these articles also know how to make their articles keyword rich so that they are quickly picked up by the search engines. So, if anyone is looking for some kind of information through search engines like Google, then these articles have a very high chance of showing up. You can do that too. This is the way you can find information on the Internet.

But, there is a catch that you have to be wary of. One of the most important limitation of articles found on these websites is that they are almost always written for marketing purposes. You are likely to find a business link under these articles in an author's bio box, which invariably follows all these articles. If you click on these links, you are taken to the business website of the author.

This can be good as well as bad. It is good because you can get more information on the website. You can get something substantial. You may be able to buy a good product at a promotional price or something like that. But, at the end of it all, the article becomes a marketing ploy and that is the reason you might find something lacking where their credibility is concerned.

At the end of it all, article directories are not bad. They carry tons of information on anything, but you have to look at their quality.


Some of the best article marketing websites on the Internet right now include:-
1. EzineArticles.com
2. iSnare.com
3. Buzzle.com
4. Hubpages.com
5. Wisegeek.com
6. ArticleAlley.com
7. ArticleCity.com
8. ArticlesBase.com
... and so many others.

Websites

Websites are definitely a great source of information on the Internet. The Internet is basically made up of websites... these are sites where information is placed by people for various reasons. The website could just be a personal space for the person to speak about things that they are passionate about; it could be a commercial website which sells some product or service; it could be a review website where people come and post reviews about things and others come to read those reviews; it could be a membership website where people of similar interests join in to receive some mutual gain, or so on. There are various possibilities where websites are concerned.

Websites can be personal or corporate. They can be run by a single individual or can be run by an organization. They may be local in character or they may have a global outlook. They may be trying to make some money or not. Some of them may even be for charity. They may have text-based information or they may have something altogether different like picture galleries or videos.

There are so many different ways in which websites are made and used. But, one thing remains the same. All websites give out some or the other kind of information. These websites are basically made to tell people about something, whether it is towards a commercial end or not.

Again, with websites, you need to be careful about the quality. Not every website needs to have highly precise information. Some of these websites, especially those run by individuals, are not subject to any kind of quality checks or proofreading. So, you may have to take everything with a pinch of salt. The same applies to websites that contain user-submitted information, unless that information is heavily screened for facts and quality.

But, if you are looking for any kind of information on the Internet, it is the websites that will help you the most. These websites are searchable through the search engines. Just open Google and type whatever it is you are searching for. You will find a host of websites popping up in the search results. These will also be ranked on the basis of their popularity, so you know that the websites that are on top are the ones that search engines consider to be the better ones, based on what they contain. It would be a good idea to click on these links and find out the information that is contained in them.

Blogs

Blogs are also websites, but they are of a specific design. Instead of containing static information like most websites will contain, blogs have chronicled information. This information can be put in by the owners of the blog and whoever else is permitted by the blog owners to do so. Each blog can be commented upon, and most times such comments can be put in by anyone who visits the blog.

You should check blogs out if you are intending to find out personal opinions on anything. These could be a great source for you to find out what people are thinking about a certain thing; you can find out about their reviews and comments. Whether it is a just a new movie release that they are talking about or the political system of your country, you will find a lot of raves and rants on blogs.

People find blogs interesting. Apart from the fact that they contain opinionative information, there is also the fact that this information is constantly updated. There is the fact that these blog posts are commented on people, so everyone is not taking what is mentioned on a blog at its face value. You see that people are analyzing things. They are talking about things in practical terms, about how it affects them, and that always makes for a good read.

Also, it is important to note that this gives you an amazing lot of information. Actually, it is not just information that you get, you also get a deep insight on several things and you are able to make better decisions in life.

EBooks

EBooks, such as this one you are reading right now, are brilliant sources of information. These are written by people who have a deep knowledge and insight on a particular subject and also have a flair for writing. It is because of these factors that eBooks often turn out to be wonderful creations. They contain information that you want to know and presented in a style that you find interesting to read.

EBooks should be your main source of information on the Internet for the simple reason that they are written by people in positions of authority on a particular subject and because they contain information in a way that you would like to read. This is information you can trust and use. If you are planning to monetize this information, an eBook could be a wonderful guide for you.

You will not find eBooks openly published on the Internet, at least not usually. But, you can download them through blogs and websites. Most bloggers and website owners distribute eBooks free. This is beneficial to them because it helps them build up their credibility. Even if they distribute the eBooks free, they build a veritable fan base whom they can later tell about their future projects. A lot of people like to have such a network on the Internet, and that is why eBooks are not as difficult to find as you might think.

Social Networking Websites

A lot of people are surprised when I mention social networking websites as places where you can find information. But I stand my ground! You can find a whole world of information on social networking websites like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.

Think about it... these websites give you the opportunity to meet with people from all over the world. They help you to communicate with these people, you can add them to your group, you can do so many interactive things with them. You can make friends!
What do you do when you have friends? I have always thought that every moment we spend with our friends is a learning process. We get to know how they feel and think about things, we know what they like and what they don't, we understand their way of thinking, we realize that they may have a different approach to things than we do.

This is all highly important information. It is highly important because it tells you the way people react. Your friend is a person. When you are observing him or her, you are actually understanding how a person who is not you will react to things. And what is better than a study in human reactions?

When you make a profile on a social networking website, you get an opportunity to get in touch with such a lot of people. Each person that you add can teach you something. If you have people from different countries in your list, then you can get to know about the customs and traditions in their country, you get to know about the standard of living there, you get to know about their food practices, you get to know about their festivals and so on.

This is highly reliable information because you are getting it on a first person basis. It is your interaction with your friend that is telling you this information. You do not need to be apprehensive about it. You know what they are saying is not for a marketing or promotional reason.

I have always encouraged my people to make profiles on social networking websites. This is a truly amazing way to get in touch with a lot of people and that is always an advantage. Getting in touch with people is not just about making friends from different parts of the world; it can have a lot of lucrative prospects. You could actually build a business and tap into the community you have built on the social networking website as a customer base.

Knowing What the Experts Know


One of the most fantastic things that have happened in recent times is the spread of knowledge. There is very little that you cannot know if you set your mind to it. In fact, if you set your mind to it, then you can find out things from the experts themselves. And, if you put in a little more effort, you could find out just what the experts know.


Knowing What the Experts Know


The world of knowledge dissemination has undergone a radical change because of the advent of the Internet. Now, you no longer need to depend on a library book to tell you what to do.

As we have been seeing in the earlier chapters, there are multiple ways in which you can find out information on the Internet. You can find out information on almost every niche that you can think of.

Whether you are trying to look for information on something very popular like how to lose your weight, or you are trying to look information on something that is a very narrow niche like how to solve a problem on integration, you have the accessibility to information.

But, it goes farther than that. If you put your mind into it, you could actually find out things from the experts. You could find out what the specialists of any niche are telling about a particular topic. How fantastic that would be! You can find out things right from the subject gurus.

Our predecessors may have predicted various things about our times, but I don't think they ever thought that the whole world will become this vast intricate network in which information could be available to anyone who wanted it, directly from the people who are an authority on the subject.

How to Find Information from Experts

So, how do you go about finding information from experts? There are actually several ways to do it.


1. Articles written by experts are available easily on the Internet. These articles pertain to almost every niche conceivable. In a previous chapter, I mentioned several article directories where you could find articles by7 different authors. All these authors are authorities in their particular niches. Almost all of them will have some business that is related with what they write about. This is a way of establishing their credentials. People who run businesses about something are usually the best people to know about that particular thing.

And, it is so convenient. All these articles directories that you can freely find on the Internet have their own search bars. Even if there are millions of articles on the website, you could search for specific information by merely putting in a keyword. Type in the keyword you are looking for information on and hit 'Enter' or click on the 'Search' button. You will find a host of articles relating to the subject.

2. The second way where you can find information on a particular topic is by looking for a blog on that subject. There are many blogs on almost everything and you could find them easily using Google. Just type the keyword that relates to the blog and type the word 'blog' after it. Many blogs will show up. Open up all of them and see what they contain. I am certainly not trying to tell you that all these blogs will be excellent, but you are surely going to find something that you will really like.

In many ways, you will find that blogs are better than articles. Blogs are updated information. Once an article is written, the author will usually forget about it. But this does not happen with a blog. Any blogger will continuously have to update their blog if they have to keep their prospects high. Hence you are going to find new information on your favorite blog almost every time you visit it.

Blogs are also great because you can comment on them. If you like something, you can post your comment on the blog and the blog owner can read it. Even if you detest something, you can write about it on a blog. But, the best thing is that if you want some clarification on something, you can ask the blog poster about it. You can ask them a direct question, and it will mostly be answered. For the blogger, answering your question becomes a way of keeping the blog active. If wanted, they can convert the response to your question into a new blog post itself. This helps them put something on the blog, and hence attract more traffic.

3. Right now, a great way to find information right from the experts is to check out videos on websites like YouTube. You will find entire channels of videos added by experts, who usually have a business that they are trying to promote through these videos. However, that should not bother you. Even if these people have some commercial interest in mind, you should realize that these people have a business about the subject you are looking for information on. So, you can be a little more accepting of their credibility and their expertise. Moreover, you will find that the videos itself are a great thing. When something is so visual, you can certainly understand it better and you immediately want to put it into use.

Even videos give you the opportunity to ask questions to the creator of the video. You could tell them about something in the comments section that follows the videos. When they read them, they are sure to generate some kind of interest if what you are saying is good information. In fact, you could just read the comments put in by other viewers of Internet. Even that could give you a very good idea of the subject for which you need information.

4. Download eBooks. You are sure to find a veritable goldmine of information in them. EBooks are invariably written by people who know the subject thoroughly. These people have high credibility. Most of the technical eBooks that you will find on the Internet are distributed by online companies and not individuals. The information found in them is rich and useful. You can download eBooks from blogs and websites, which may offer links for the download. It is possible that they will ask you your email id before downloading. There is usually no ulterior motive in this. All they will want to do is to add you to their list so that they can inform you of more products later on. Yes, there is a promotional intention here, but you won't be sold anything to until you agree to purchase it. And, in any case, if you are getting a highly informative eBook out of it, then why should you not go for it?

5. P2P networks are also good places where you can get content from the Internet. There are many such networks where people share content with each other. P2P stands for Peer to Peer. People share all kinds of data with each other here. These could be movies or songs or software application or text material... whatever. Even if there is something that you cannot find easy access to, you can find them on P2P networks. You have to download things from these networks and they get saved on your computer. Just make sure that you have a good antivirus program installed because some of these downloads can carry viruses. In any case, if the antivirus program is installed, it will screen the file before it starts downloading. A good P2P network where you can get a good deal of reliable and safe content is Limewire (http://www.limewire.com/). Try it out. There is a huge community here and it keeps on building as we speak. They also have a content filtering system of their own.

6. An extension of the P2P networks is the torrent websites, which are also a place where people share all different types on content. They are networks that are more sophisticated. A lot of people download content from such places, and they may decide to share it with others or not. If they share content with others, then they are called seeders. If they just download content and do not share it with others, they become leechers. All these torrent places have a code of ethics of their own.

If you are taking something from a torrent website, then you will need to have a downloading application such as torrent or Bittorrent, which you can easily download from their websites (http://www.utorrent.com/) or (http://www.bittorrent.com/), which are free applications. There are many paid torrent download applications as well, but the free ones will do everything you want. Especially torrent is the world's preferred torrent download application. It is known to be the lightest such application, which means it does not put any pressure on your hard disk whatsoever. Before starting, you will need to visit these above websites and download and install these applications onto your computer.

So, if you are looking for any kind of information on a torrent, you just visit Google and type the name of the content followed by torrent. For example, if you are looking for a torrent of the recent movie 127 Hours, you simply have to write '127 Hours torrent' in the search bar in Google and search.

In an instant, you will find several options turning up. Options from reputable torrent websites such as The Pirate Bay (http://www.thepiratebay.org) and Kickass Torrents (http://www.kickasstorrents.com) will lead the list. Click on these torrent links. Here you can find out a lot of things about the quality of the torrent. You can find out details like the size of the torrent, the number of seeders and leechers that the content has, and maybe even some reviews and comments about the torrent put in by previous downloaders.

This gives you a very good idea whether or not you want to download this content. Also, most of these websites will mention something known as the 'health' of the torrent, which tells you how good the torrent is, and you can also find out whether downloading the torrent is a safe proposition for your computer.

In any case, if you hunt for your torrents on the websites I mentioned above, you are almost assured of finding genuine torrents (not fake, spammy content) which has already been screened by them to be safe. So, you can go ahead with it easily.

As soon as you click the links of these torrents, they will automatically ask to be saved on your computer in a particular location. You simply have to confirm this (you can change the location if you want) and you will see that the torrent begins downloading in that particular location.

Once that begins happening, you have to just wait till the entire torrent is downloading. This can take some time, depending on the size of the torrent and the number of seeders and leechers that the torrent has.

One problem with torrent downloads is that you can never be sure of the quality of the content (and, in some cases, even if the content is genuine or not) unless and until you have the entire content downloaded on your computer and check it.

That is a major drawback and it can prove to be frustrating to most people. You have to simply wait till the entire content has been downloaded to your computer. You cannot check previews or anything of that sort when it is downloading. You have to merely rely upon the initial description of the content put by the uploader and the reviews and comments that the previous downloaders have given.

But, this is the best way to get content from the Internet that the general public can use. I gave an example of a movie download here, but you can find out just about any content present on earth. People are uploading what they have all the time, and if someone has uploaded some content, then it is possible that you will find it. It is all there; for some things, you may just have to look harder.

7. I always give a lot of importance to the social networking websites for getting great content as well. There have been so many instances when I have found things from these websites. I am present on most of the social networking websites, and even in the websites that I do not use on a regular basis, I have more than 100,000 contacts. I certainly do not know even a tenth of these people, but can you imagine the vast resource pool that I have built up here? All these people are connected to me in some way. Maybe they liked something I wrote or they were part of my business in some way or maybe they are just part of my family and friends. Whatever it is, they are a great resource pool that I have. They are a resource pool that I occasionally tap into to get good informative. And since I have a vast assortment of people here, there are so many experts on so many subjects that I can approach directly whenever I need them.

If you are looking for a good, professional-type social network to tap into, then you should look for the following two:-
Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/)
LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/)

Not only will you get a huge network of professional people here to connect with, but you will benefit a lot from their expertise. Both of these are professional websites.

The networks are of people who are looking to connect with each other for some or the other business associated reason. They are not together for fun or entertainment or just passing their time as you will find on some of the other networking websites on the Internet, but these people are together for enhancing their business prospects. A lot of these people will talk about their professions directly and will solicit help and guidance for everyone else in their list.

Twitter is also known to be a celebrity haunt. Almost every celebrity worth their salt on this planet is a member of Twitter. They make tweets almost religiously, where they tell people what they want to tell. Sometimes these are self-benefiting (like the tweet made by 50 Cent recently about some stock tips for a company he has interests in) or sometimes they are just for letting people know what they are up to. They also want to find out feedback from people about the various things they are doing.

You could also use Twitter in so many different ways. If you are looking for some information, just tweet about it. You are sure to find a lot of people in your network wanting to help you out. Many people will tell you where you should go to get that information, or they will give you that information yourself.

LinkedIn is slightly different, but very helpful all the same. This is where you make your professional profiles and link with other people. These people become a part of your group; they can recommend you to others and connect with you for any other business associated reason. Your profile on LinkedIn could be a great enhancement to your resume as well.

Nowadays, several employers screen their prospective job applicants on places like LinkedIn so that they get a good idea of what these people are like. So, being visible on the Internet pays in more ways than one. It is not just about getting the information you want; it is also about linking with people to enhance your prospects.

For its sheer size of population and its popularity, you may want to consider a profile on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/). Chances are that everyone you know is already on Facebook and they are connecting with each other.

You can make a lot of friends here; you can also connect with the friends of your friends and just about anyone. Just get in touch with people and build your network. Whenever you want any information, you have connections with a vast multitude of people. Surely a lot of them are experts in the subject and they will tell you what they know to help you out.

So, these are some of the places where you would like to go to find information, right from the experts. Try them out... you will be surprised at what you can find

Knowledge Marketing-The New Online Phenomenon


The world of the Internet knows one thing for sure... that knowledge rocks! Information is what sets the world moving! Quite literally, that too. Without the right information, the world's progress as we know it would be seriously impaired. This feeling has given rise to a whole new concept-that of knowledge marketing.



Knowledge Marketing-The New Online Phenomenon

So, why was the Internet invented?

That's a good question. We use the Internet so much right now that we hardly give this a thought. The Internet has seeped into almost every area of our lives. Like water or air, we are almost taking its existence for granted. All right, water and air do not undergo technological advancements... they are natural things that will be just like they are since time immemorial... and the Internet is undergoing one new advancement a minute, but then the fact still stands. That the Internet is something that has become so prevalent right now that we use it without giving a second thought about its existence.

The Internet was hardly invented at one particular time in history. It was invented in bits and pieces, so to speak, and then the various small inventions were combined into a large whole that became the World Wide Web. That is how the Internet came into existence. They say that necessity is the mother of invention. That was really proven true in the case of the Internet. It was the need for a stable and secure mode of communication that led to the invention of this medium during the World War 2, which later developed into the Internet. A very preliminary form of the Internet was used during the War to send messages to the troops. This was a highly secure system and it ran in a very closed manner; the outside world had no access to it whatsoever. But, definitely, this was the development of the Internet.



Many different avatars later, and six decades later, we have the Internet as it is in front of us right now. We are using it day in and day out and not giving the slightest thought to the various efforts that went into shaping it the way it has become now.

But, what is important for us to remember at this point is that the Internet is a medium that has grown in utility immensely since those times. In the past, the Internet was just a means of communication. You could consider it to be something like an advancement of a wireless system. That is what it was supposed to be-a highly sophisticated and advanced means of communication that did not fall into the enemy's hands.

And then came the time when people started regarding the Internet in quite another manner altogether. When it went public, it became a source of information. The concept of website was developed. People from all over the world, mostly companies and organizations back then, could make websites and make them live on the Internet. Most corporate entities and other organizations took up this opportunity wholeheartedly. They made their online presence, and started getting in touch with their customers.

The biggest revolution of the Internet came in the nineties. This was the time when the Internet changed from being just a medium of secure communication and converted to being an information highway. This was one of the primary purposes of its existence, but it was not until the dawn of the nineties that it was really put to use.

People now realized that they could share information on the Internet. They realized that the information put into the online world will remain as it is and that they could tap into it whenever they needed. They understood that they could keep this information over the Internet for posterity. Even if civilizations would be wiped out, they could leave their indelible mark on the Internet. Most importantly, people found out that they could use the Internet to find out whatever they wanted to know, regardless of geography, demography, culture or even time. They could visit a country virtually and find out more about it. They could read a book that was never released in their country. They could find out about various nuances of science that they always wanted to find out. They could understand about things that they needed to but did not know whom to ask.


Over the decade, the Internet became a sensation. When the nineties began, people were still quite in the dark about what this invention was and how it could be really harnessed. The organizations were making the most of it, but the common people weren't quite sure what this behemoth was all about. They did not know. There was a factor of intrigue as well, and people did not know what would happen when they used the Internet in particular ways. Taking advantage of the credulousness of people, the Internet crime wave began as well. People suddenly found that money was stolen from their bank accounts and credit cards, that emails were sent to them from all kinds of strange places, that their names were associated with memberships that they were never a party to, and so many other things.

This created a bad impression for the Internet for a while. Detractors shouted from the rooftops about how the Internet was bad and how it should be nipped in the bud.


But the online world was, fortunately, very quick to take reaction. Protective measures were immediately put into place, and quite strong ones at that. Antivirus programs were perfected and a method was devised to keep them regularly updated so that users would be protected from whichever new threats came their way all the time. Not just that, people were protected from online crime with the invention of methods such as antispyware and antimalware applications. More than that, encryption methods were put into place that made people's Internet usage highly secure. Most people found that using the Internet was not like before. They were now working in a highly secure system and their identities were not in jeopardy if they behaved in the right manner!

This is what created a new wave of revolution in Internet usage. Now that this system was highly safe to use, a lot more people began joining in. There was still possibility of Internet crime, but people now knew what they could do to stay safe.


The New Big World of Web 2.0

By the 2000s, the real evolution of the Internet began. Now almost everyone was on the Internet, and the concept of Web 2.0 slowly began to take shape.

In this new world of Web 2.0, people understood that the best way for them to advance was by sharing information. People understood that they should not keep what they know to themselves, but that they should let others know what they know and the Internet was a wonderful platform for them to do just that. They realized that by giving out information, they got information as well. So, the world of Web 2.0 brought the next new revolution in the Internet world. It showed people that they could give and receive. That they could speak about things they knew and find out about things that they wanted to know.

Web 2.0 is the world of interactivity. The Internet is not passive any more. You do not use it passively. You do not use it for mere input. No one uses it just for that. Now, with the new weapons on the Internet that you have, you can interact with people, with websites and with whole communities if you wanted. You don't need to just sit on your computer chair and see what is there... you can talk to people and you can get connected with them in a way that you cannot do in the real world out there.

Everything that you do on the Internet today is a part of the Web 2.0 thing. You are writing reviews when you like something. You comment on blog posts. If you like a picture that your friend has put up on their profile, you can comment on that. You can vote on things that you like. You can ask for reviews of products that you want to buy. If you read something on a website and want to ask for further information, you can do so on the Internet. You can ask for customer support through the Internet. You can watch videos and then you can vent your feelings about it by commenting on it.

There are just so many different ways in which you can interact on the Internet. But there is more than that.

If you like something on the Internet, you have the possibility to subscribe through it via RSS feeds so that you know whenever that particular content is updated. So, you are always kept in the loop. You don't have to worry about forgetting the URL of a great website that you visited. You don't even need to bookmark. You just subscribe to the content's feeds and yo0u are sent messages in your inbox whenever something is updated and then you can go there and visit directly. That's how simplified it has become.

It is true that the Internet and the people on the Internet have become aware of the fact that this whole revolution can be kept going only if people interact with each other. Everybody should get a chance to change things, modify things, ask about things, etc. Even the greatest encyclopedia in the world, Wikipedia, is an open source encyclopedia. Anybody and everybody can edit it. Of course, they have their monitoring and filtering systems because the encyclopedia is something people base their facts on, but the thing to note is that this is something you can change if you want to.

Almost everything that the Internet is today is a part of this Web 2.0 phenomenon. Here we shall take a look at some of those forms.

1. Blogs are the greatest manifestations of this new world of information sharing. The very concept of blogs is that you can put in information and receive it as well. When you make a post on a blog, you are giving out information. You are allowed to share links on blogs as well, which becomes a source for more information. Right now, blogs can be used to upload videos and audio clips, which again means you get more information. Also, blogs are a great resource for distributing eBooks. Many bloggers distribute free eBooks and other resources that can be taken up by people from across the world.


People love blogs because they are regularly updated. Running a blog, as well as reading it, can become a passion. We always love to know what other people think about things, and blogs tell us exactly that. They also allow us to put in our own comments.

You can link blogs to several other resources that the Internet has to provide. You can subscribe to the RSS feeds of a blog that you like so that you regularly get to know of any new information that is posted on the blog. You can also add a blog to your social networking profiles. This is a way of recommending a blog to your friends. This works well because people know what you like, and since they know you, it becomes a credible form of marketing for the blogger as well.

2. Another very important way of information sharing in the Web 2.0 world is through viral marketing. Viral marketing is when you like something and then you tell your friends about what you like, so that they can consume it as well.

Suppose you really like a video that you checked out on the Internet. You will naturally want to spread it over on the Internet. You will want to tell your social networking friends about it; if you have a website, you will perhaps want to popularize the video there; you may also want to make your video popular through your blog. We are always like that. If we like something, we want to tell our friends and family about it. We want them to enjoy what we enjoy as well. This is the whole concept of viral marketing.


And it works amazingly well. As we shall see very soon, the phenomenon of Web 2.0 has ushered in the world of knowledge marketing. And in that world, the concept of viral marketing works exceedingly well. When you tell people you know about something you like, they are sure to try and check it out.

At least two recent super successes come to my mind when I think about such viral marketing, and both of them are in the field of music. One of them is the American sensation Antoine Dodson. Antoine was interviewed about a family disaster and the way he spoke directly into the camera with unfeigned emotion really bowled over the American audience. Then he came out with a music video which was titled the Bed Intruder Song, featuring himself. This video was put up on YouTube, and it became an instant rage. The video turned him into a celebrity. Why did that happen? The reason was that people who liked his song immediately forwarded the link to their friends, who did the same again. This is a humongous opportunity if you have the right talent, as this boy found out. Never mind if the lyrics are full of profanities and his own inner angst, the point I am trying to make is that people do not flinch from sharing something that they like, and the first people that come to their minds to share something good are the people they know on the Internet.

The other person who attained such superstardom is the British high-pitched soprano, Susan Boyle. This 47 year old, somewhat shy woman, appeared on Britain's Got Talent. And while she was fumbling for words during her first audition on the show, with Simon Cowell as one of the judges, everyone felt she would amount to nothing. But this woman had to just open her mouth, and the dream she dreamed went on to become history! The audience gave her a standing ovation, and the people who watched her, immediately put up her video on the Internet. Within just a day, that video got about a million hits, and Susan Boyle became the new generation music diva.

That's the power of the Internet. It is the power of the masses. Now, surely, you will have told your friends about things you like. You will have forwarded links and emails thinking that they should know about it. Whenever you do that, you are using the world of Web 2.0 to the fullest.

Now, these are just two ways in which you are making use of the resources of the Web 2.0 world, probably without even realizing that you are doing so. But, it is happening, and it is an unavoidable trend. You cannot do anything about it.

There are so many other ways. When you are checking out a video, writing some comment on your social networking profile, asking for a review on something, checking out a product description on an online store, you are using what Web 2.0 has to offer.

Knowledge Marketing

And that brings us to the concept of knowledge marketing. This is something that is all around us, and the people with the most enterprising minds are heavily responsible for making this concept such a big hit in today's world.


These people have realized that the one important reason why such a lot of people are using the Internet is because they are looking for information. This pertains to all kinds of information. There are just so many things out there that everyone is freely dipping into the pool and taking whatever they want from it. Not that anyone is complaining; this is the way the Internet was ordained to be.

But you cannot deny that that creates a world of opportunity for everyone. Marketers know that if they give out some information about something, they have a much better ability to sell a product or a service.

Consider someone who has a business relating to a weight loss product. You are going to find tons of such websites out there, because weight loss is one of the commonest things that anyone can find on the Internet. These people know that the most effective way in which they can notch up customers for their business is by giving out information. Check out any of these websites. You will find a barrage of articles about weight loss on each of them.


In fact, do this. Go on Google and look for the keyword 'weight loss articles'. You are going to find millions of articles out there. Now, open these articles. You will find some good ones, some not-so-good ones and some that are rank bad. But, one thing will be common about them. You will see that all these articles have a little link under them, or somewhere on the page, where they take you for further information. Go there and see what you can find. You will see that when you visit those places for further information, they are whole websites where the main product of the company is being sold!


This is the way marketing works in today's online world. This is the best form of advertising. On the face of it, you are giving out information, and you are actually doing it in the right spirit because most of these articles are definitely very good, but then you are also hooking people to buy your product or business.

The same applies to many of the videos that you will find on YouTube or even any eBook that you download off the Internet. You will find great information in them. They will serve your purpose of finding knowledge and you will certainly have no complaints about them on that count. But then, they will also sell some product or service.

Is anyone complaining about this? Are you feeling bad that you are being sold something in the guise of information?

If you are, you shouldn't! No one is complaining about this kind of knowledge marketing. After all, there is no reason to! People who are giving out this content are doing so for free, never mind that they are trying to sell something at the end of it. At least, they do not expect to be paid for what they are telling you. The user is the one benefiting, even if they do not buy the product.

Then there is also the fact that the person who is creating the content is a subject expert. That is because it will only be a subject expert who runs a particular business. They know the ins and outs of the game. So, for the most part, the information that they are giving their readers is good information, information that really makes sense.


That is why you need to consider this aspect closely. There is nothing to crib about. After all, this form of advertising is certainly more meaningful and benevolent than those blatant television commercials that sell products, without giving their users anything of value.

Pardon me for making the Internet marketers seem like a lot of angels who are giving out free information. The truth is that they are also looking for business prospects. At the end of the day, they care about their profits as well. But, the way the Internet has turned out to be right now, it has become a portal of information. So, even if you want to sell something on the Internet, you are not going to go very far if you just want to sell. What you should do is that you should give out information as well-write an article, blog about it, make a video, anything-so that people see the value in it.

Knowledge marketing also helps to build up trust. People begin to trust the person who is giving out all the free content. They establish some kind of relationship with them. They know that they can get what they want from this person.

Also, if they subscribe to their RSS feeds or opt in to their websites or even just bookmark their websites, they can continuously get such free information from them. Eventually, they might decide to become customers for the product, or they might not. But the truth of the matter is that in knowledge marketing, it is the advertised that benefit more than the advertisers.

How to Get Information That Is Not Easily Accessible


We have been talking about the Internet being a superb portal for receiving information. But, is everything you want present for easy reading or consumption on the Internet? What can you do if some information is not easy to find? How do you get it? Here we shall talk about trying to get information that is not easily accessible on the Internet.


How to Get Information That Is Not Easily Accessible


What Kind of Information May Not Be Easily Accessible?


Though the Internet is a veritable goldmine of information, there are several things on the Internet that you will not find so easily. You cannot count on the Internet for everything, after all.

Some of the information is easily available on the surface... you just have to skim the top of any search engine and you can find it, all waiting faithfully for you. But, a lot of things are hidden and you won't find them easily.

Now, though you think that the Internet doesn't have a lot of things... a lot of things that you cannot find easily... there are several things that are hidden. Before resigning yourself to the thought that some of these things may not be present on the Internet at all, you should realize that these things may be present, but deep within the caverns of the Internet, not so easily visible.

So, assume that you want some information that you are not finding easily through the search engines. What is the way to go about it?


Try the Websites

One of the most effective ways is to start finding this information on websites. Do not look at the article directories or blogs; the information may not be present here so easily. Go to Google and search for the information you are hoping to find, by using relevant keywords.

Google is a fantastic search engine. It has done some rapid advancements in the past and it just keeps growing. You need to keep checking it out for what it throws up at you all the time! Right now, what I want to bring to your attention is the keyword suggestion feature that is built into the Google search engine itself. As you start typing your keywords, you will find so many suggestions coming up. Now, if you do not find information using the keyword that's in your mind, you could try one of these suggestions. Just select something from the list that most people have searched for. You are sure to find a lot of good websites with a lot of good information.

The next step is to click on these website links that show up on Google and open them. If you are using a browser like Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome, you have it made for you. You just open all these links in different tabs and then you cycle through them.

When you check out one tab, i.e. one website, you can browse on it a little bit, and if you like what you see, you can go on the inside pages and look a little more. If you see that the website is not really what you were looking for, you could simply close that tab and look for something else.

If you like something on a website, then make sure to bookmark that website. You may need to return and you do not want to go through the entire routine once again.

But, what do you do if you do not find anything on these websites? It is possible that websites don't contain everything that you need to know.

If that is the case, you still have an option. There is always a 'Contact Us' tab on the website. You could send them an email asking them about what you want, but you have to be very careful about the way you frame the query. You may have to introduce yourself and probably even tell them why you are looking for that particular bit of information. This may help you; those people might get in touch with you and tell you about what you are looking for.

But it is possible that you might have to get in touch with a lot of people on a lot of websites and find out what you need. Not everyone will be keen on giving you a reply, but if you are persistent, you might just find someone who would want to tell you what you want to know.


Try the Blogs

You might also be able to find what you are looking for through blogs. Maybe the information that you are looking for is directly present on some or the other blog; you just have not looked hard enough. Go through various blogs and see if you can find what you are looking for.

But, if there is still something more special that you are looking for... something that you cannot find on the blogs all that easily... then probably you need to adopt a slightly different approach.

Check out all these blogs closely. Then select a few of the blogs that are really good quality. Hang on to them, and close the other tabs. Then read the blog posts and the comments. You will surely find some authoritative people here; people who know about the subject. These are the subject experts. You have to focus your attention on them.

Your next step would be to contact these subject experts, whether they are the original blog posters themselves or they are merely commenters on the blog.

Send them a message about what you want to know. Introduce yourself a bit and then ask the question. But you will have to ask your question publicly, so remember to be careful about what you say about yourself. Ask them the question directly, and address it to them as well.

You will have to do this on a lot of blogs and with a lot of people. The reason is that there are many situations in which these experts may decide not to reply to you. It is possible that they don't want to divulge that information. It is possible that they did not visit the blog after you posted your question. It is also possible that they do not know the answer, or are simply not inclined to spend the time and effort in answering you.

However, if you are persistent and ask people on several blogs, you will get an answer. You can increase the chances of getting a reply by simply showing your own credibility as well.
For example, if you have a blog of your own, give them the link, so that they know you mean well too. Or, if you do not have a blog, you can at least make a comment on the blog you are visiting. Make an intelligent comment and people will realize that you mean business. They will take you seriously and you are likelier to get a reply.


Try the Video Sharing Websites


It is also quite possible that you will get what you want on the video sharing websites such as YouTube. There is a lot of information in these places already. In fact, if you haven't found anything in an article or on a blog, these videos are wonderful in giving you the information you want and that too in a nice visual manner that will tell you things like they are.

You may want to check out these video sharing websites for all the information they contain. You will surely find out more things here than all those text-based sources on the Internet are telling you.

And, if you are looking for more information, then all you have to do is to ask people a question. Any popular video poster on the Internet will likely have a whole channel. You could check out stuff on the channel and you will probably find out that they have a whole business that they are running. Just check them out, and then ask them a question about what you are looking for. You can ask these questions privately.

If you have asked in the right manner and if they have a reply, they will answer your question and you will find what you are looking for.

Don't Forget the Social Networking Websites


If you are trying very hard to find some information and are not able to get it easily, then maybe you should try out some social networking websites.

All the social networking websites I mentioned earlier-Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter-are great for such information-finding. There are people here of different tastes, cultures, geographical locations, career paths, etc. If you are looking for something specific, this is a place where you can find the information you need.

If you are using Facebook, then you could try and find a group that specializes in the topic. Maybe the information you need is as elusive as 401K benefits in the state of Alabama.

Difficult to find such information in the open portals, especially if you want to find something very specific or you want to find people's specific experiences with this feature. So, you could find a group of people who live in Alabama and ask them what you are looking for. If you ask within a small group, you can find information.

Twitter and LinkedIn both are very good, especially if you are looking for profession-related information. For instance, if you want to know what benefits AT and T gives to its employees, you might want to use these social networking websites.

On Twitter, simply tweet about what you are looking for. There are such a lot of people checking out tweets every day that you are doing to find some expert among them who would like to answer your query. Or, you may try LinkedIn. On LinkedIn, there are professional networks, and people are listed by the organizations they work for. For something specific like employee benefits and such, which you will not find easily, you could get into such a group and ask the question you want.

People are willing to answer; only you should be able to ask properly. Find the right group and ask your question. The social networking websites are all there to help you out.

Ask Questions Directly

There are many places on the Internet where you can ask questions directly. Two of the most prominent places that find a lot of people on them are Yahoo! Answers and WikiAnswers.

These are places where you can simply post questions. You may have to make accounts on these places and then you are allowed to ask questions. With some of these websites, you need to ask as well as answer questions. You earn credits when you answer other people's questions, which you can spend in asking your own questions.

It is a fun activity, yes, but what is most important about it is that it helps you to find specific answers to your problems. You can ask a direct question. You can ask a question like "Are French Fries French?" and you will get answers. There are chances that you will find a lot of answers to a single question. You get a chance to read all the answers to your questions, and then you can select the answer that you like the best.

The only drawback here is that there are always a lot of people answering your questions. That can be good as well as bad. The benefit of it is obvious, but the shortcoming is that you cannot really be sure of the credibility of all these people who are answering your questions. They may not be experts. They may be just hobbyists who like these portals because of their interactivity, and the rewards that they can get, and that is the reason they may be answering your questions.

So, you need to use your judgment when you are deciding on these people. You need to see what works and what does not. And, it is your responsibility to vote the best answer so that people who ask questions in the future have some kind of guideline on how genuine these answerers are.

Give What You Receive-Spread Knowledge Yourself


When you are utilizing the free resources of the Internet, you have a responsibility to fulfill as well. You have to make sure that you are also giving out information.



Give What You Receive-Spread Knowledge Yourself


You can receive information freely from the Internet. There are many ways to do that, as you have seen so far.

But, at the same time, you should know that you have a responsibility as well. You have to perform your duties for the privilege of getting free information.

That duty is to spread knowledge yourself. When you receive information from the Internet, you have to ensure that you are also giving out information. When you try and find out about things that you do not know, you have to ensure that you are telling people about things that you know.

I spoke a few pages ago about the Internet having entered the world of Web 2.0 today. That is a profound truth. The world of Web 2.0, as we know it, survives on the concept of give and take. If you receive something, you have to give it as well. That is how the information bank on the Internet is populated.

Here are a few things you have to remember in this regard.

1. When you are freely reading articles that are filled with information, it is also your responsibility to write articles. You can write about things that you know, your subject of expertise.

Now, everyone does not have the writing bug in them. Maybe you do not want to write a whole article. So, the alternative is to comment on an existing article. If you read an article, and you like it, and you feel that something can be added to it, go ahead and write that in your comment. You should let other people know if there is something to be known.

Also, you should rate articles that you read. On most websites that accept articles from people, there is a rating feature. Rating articles helps in two important ways. Firstly, it helps the author know how people are receiving his or her article, which can help them to make improvements for the future. Secondly, it helps other readers know about the caliber of a particular writer. By rating an article, you are giving it your feedback, which is a vital judging factor for other people as to whether they should read a particular article or not.

2. When you get free information from a blog, make sure that you are contributing to it in some way too. If the blog allows you to make original posts, you might consider doing that. This is a very good way of acknowledging your gratitude towards a good blog that gave you some important information. This also helps keep the blog running.

Another thing is that you can comment on the blog posts. Again, this is a great idea. You are adding something to a blog post and letting people know about something that the original blog post failed to mention. You could even rectify certain things that you find erroneous in the blog post. It is your duty to do so.

This helps you as well. You are building your credibility. Later, if you happen to create your own blog, you could link all these comments to your blog. You will already have created a name for yourself.

Also, when you are commenting on blogs, you get a chance to share links, and other resources. You can get in touch with people who are experts in their own right, and you can contact them as well. You can also visit their websites and see what they are about.

3. The same applies to video information that you collect. You can check out these videos as much as you want, but you need to contribute. You do that the same way you do on blogs. You can comment and even review the video. If you like it, you can share the video through your social networking profiles or through your blogs (you may have to ask them for permission) and popularize it. The video poster may be happy that you did so.

It may be too much for everyone to post a video of their own, but it is not something too difficult that you should completely ignore. It is quite easy to make a video about something that you know very well (just a simple digital camera will do) and you can upload it on the Internet. If you are getting something from the video sharing websites, then why not give it something as well?

4. One more thing that I really need to talk about is the torrent sharing websites. There is a goldmine of information to be obtained from those. There are so many things that you can get for free, so you should definitely try to give something back.


The simplest way to do it is by seeding the content. When you are seeding content, you are making it possible for other people to get hold of it as well.

The difficult way to contribute is to upload something yourself. Now, let us not get into the legalities of things here. You cannot upload copyrighted material, but there are things that you can own, and things that are meant for public distribution that you can do. This is a great way of saying 'thank you' to these torrent websites from which you can get so much.

So, that is the gist of it all. If you want to get something from the Internet, you have to make sure that you give back too. You may not be able to give back in the same coin, but even by simply interacting with the content in simple ways, you may be able to express your gratitude for what you have obtained.

Harnessing the Knowledge You Get from the Internet


While we speak about getting so many things from the Internet, for free most of the time, it also becomes important for us to know where we can use that information. Information without purpose is a sorry waste. So, what are the different ways in which this information can be put to the best use?


Harnessing the Knowledge You Get from the Internet


Your efforts at finding any information on the Internet will bear fruit only if you are able to utilize the information in the right way. This is true of any information that you receive, whether you get it from the television or the cinema screen or from a book that you read, but the relevance of 'utilizing information' is more profound when you are acquiring it from the Internet.

Why is that so? The reason is that, when you get something from the Internet, you have so many more opportunities to make the best use of it. Whether it is for your personal growth or for improving your community or the entire world itself, there are so many different ways in which you can utilize this information and make the most of it.

This eBook will have failed in its objective if it did not tell you how you could get information but not tell you how to put it into use.

Here, I shall tell you of some ways in which I utilize the information I get, and not all of them are for personal development.

I have a passion for creating blogs and websites. These are places where I can be myself and get a lot of creative satisfaction out of it. I can tell people what I want to tell. There have been so many instances in which I have made blog posts out of the information I have obtained from other places on the Internet, and given my own views on it. I am a voracious reader. And, I am not a passive reader. When I read something, I always have an opinion about it. That is the one thing, I think, that makes me a good blogger.
When I give my personal opinions, I am venting out my personality, my individuality, and I am putting it all out for others to see. How does that help me? It does, and in several ways. It helps me because such blog posts and the web content that I write lets people know who I am. It helps people to understand me better, and that has helped me many a time in life.

This is something that you should try out. Have a blog of your own. Make an account on Blogger (http://www.blogger.com/) or Wordpress (http://www.wordpress.com/) and get started with your own blog today. You will be up and running in minutes. And, if you think you do not want to use something that is too technical, you could try out Blogger, that's simpler than Wordpress. So, get started with your blog and put up your thoughts. For inspiration, look at other places on the Internet that are talking about the things you like to speak about. Give your own take on things. Within a short while, you might become some kind of mini celebrity that people come especially to read.

The same applies to websites. There was a time when it was very difficult to make websites. Now, you can do it with ready templates that are available on the Internet. However, it is not about the technicality that is involved in creating a website; it is about what you can do with it.

You may want to keep your website a personal site, where you speak about your personal likes and dislikes, maybe speak about your family, or a topic of your passion. However, I'd like to say that instead of making a personal website, having a personal blog is much better. It gives you the options for interactivity with people that you would like in your personal space.
Websites make great sense if you are planning a business though. Maybe you have a penchant for laptop and computer repairs and now you want to make something out of your hobby. A website could help you greatly in such an effort. Make a meaningful website with a lot of information. Write articles about how people can do laptop and computer repair on a DIY basis. You can also put up pictures. If your website is good, people will visit in great numbers. You may also want to write about things that you do not know fully well about, by seeking information from the Internet.

In time, you will find several people coming over to your websites, and the opportunities will open up. You may even be able to set up some kind of an online store, or set up an affiliate business where you promote other people's websites on your website and get paid some commission for the people you are able to drive to their websites.

There are many options in which you can make money out of the Internet, or just get creative satisfaction if that is what you are looking for. You have to just give it a chance. Do not confine yourself, do not limit yourself, but always keep looking for opportunities. With the vast resources you have so easily on the Internet, this is definitely a very easy process. It only depends on when you get started; the resources are all there for you to use.

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