Web 2.0 is really a great innovation of man. Information flood over the web and it is up to the researcher to sift truly valuable information. There are so many book marking social networks that we can use to gauge our research. Digg is a very powerful network; delicious, reddit, technorati and stumbleupon are a few of those any researcher would love to know and surf.

But do you know which webpage, site or information is reliable in the web? Here are some criteria to base in evaluating certain webpage or website information.

Content- In evaluating the website’s content, you try to assess the intent of the content; the kind of writing used like was it scholarly, poetic or satiric; is the author identified? Does the author have a reliable reputation? Does it have a current edition? These are just a few of the many questions that you should ask yourself before believing anything you read in the web. The next thing you should assess is the websites copyright, continuity and context.

Somebody is responsible for the making of the document, image, graphic, sound and all these matters fall under copyright rule. Internet users should respect copyright. Citation is also another way to credit the maker and author of the article used as reference in the making of the information and also to provide further research for the researcher. Another thing, will the website be able to provide credible information no and on the following days? That is what we call continuity.

The Web 2.0 is an avenue for information, linking and networking and me and you as users should be smart enough in evaluating true from false information found in the web. Digg’s popular pages are having a very transcendental effect on the internet web but still as user we should know how to evaluate the materials that we encountered and find in the web.

Ma.gnolia, a very popular bookmarking site experienced data corruption and loss. Ma.gnolia is one of the leaders in social bookmarking and community sites like StumbleUpon, del.icio.us, Reddit among many others. The site continues to be offline while repairs are being made and founder Larry Haff has posted a new update that says attempts at restoring user data have been unsuccessful. In the meantime, it provides users to use some useful tools that let the users grab a portion of the user’s bookmarks for safekeeping.

Putting up a notice to its users to tell them what was going on keeps panic at a low, and more importantly–does not make people think you’re shutting down and taking their data or content with you.

I came across this article on social news websites and I’ve decided to share some of what was discussed in that article.

Social News Websites are online communities which allow its users to submit news stories, media, and articles, and share them with the other users of the network or the general public. Some of the news articles shared will be given more visibility depending on the different factors such as the number of user votes for each item.

Aside from counting the registered voters of these social news sites, other websites employ human editors to determine the visibility of each news item. Certain stories will be removed from the website while some may be even given featured positions if they are news worthy and highly relevant.

The following are just some of the most popular social news websites:

• Reddit – it is a popular social news site with a large user base. It covers a wide range of news and it includes several topical sections called subreddits which focus on specific topics.
• Digg – it is the largest and most popular social news website on the internet and it covers all topics including entertainment, politics, general news, technology; and it has a separate image and video section.
• StumbleUpon – it is a social network and browser toolbar which allows users to channel surf the internet. It is not totally a social news site but its users can submit webpages to be rated by other users.
• Newsvine – it is a website which consists of community-driven news stories and opinions. The users of the site have their own blogs and can write articles, save links to external content and vote or comment on other users’ stories.
• Mixx – it is a general social news site which has a category for all types of news. The topics in the site include business, sports, entertainment, technology, and health. Mixx includes the ability to create groups to share news with other users.
• Fark – it is a community news site which allows users to comment on news articles. The user submitted links will be posted on the main page once they are approved by the administrators.
• Propeller – it is a social news site that covers all topics from technology to politics and entertainment.

Share the latest news available on the internet through these social news websites and be in touch with the world!