Five New Friends

Hello! My name is Lacy and I am the new Social Media intern here at dt. Believe it or not, this is my very first blog post…ever! Alex and Sarah presented me with the task of adding to the dt blog..and the topic? Whatever I want. I thought about digg vs. mixx, or Myspace vs. Facebook, or discussing my experiences here at dt so far (which, by the way, have been awesome), but I decided to go with a Top 5 list.

Since I am new to the crew at dt..and pretty quiet at the office, and surely new to those reading this blog, I figured I would make a list of my Top 5 favorite websites at the moment in order to allow you all to get to know me a little bit better.

My Top 5 (in no particular order)

1. idealist.org : For the idealist in all of us, this website is a great social networking site. Whether you’re looking for a new volunteer opportunity, a forum to submit comments to, or a nonprofit organization to donate to, you can surely find it here. Basically, it’s an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, and take steps toward building a better world.

2. freerice.com : This website has got it right. They have two goals: provide English vocabulary to everyone for free, and end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free. They turned a simple vocabulary game into a way to truly change the world and help those in need. (Be careful…the game is addicting!) If you look at their donation levels, it’s amazing how many people are participating. It would be great to see some sort of social application added to the website, to connect these people who have the common goal of ending world hunger.

3. vbs.tv : I love vice’s online broadcast network just as much as I love vice the magazine. They have a huge assortment of mini documentaries that fall into the broad categories of music, news and culture. Vice presents these documentaries in a way that perfectly combines entertainment and information, which intrigues the watcher to keep watching. Once I start watching a segment of a mini doc, I normally have to watch each segment until I’ve completed the series. Admittedly, some of them are more for entertainment purposes…but those are fun to watch too! vbs.tv also gives its viewers the options of signing up for a newsletter, participating in chatrooms, or signing up for your very own account for vbs, which are all great ways of getting the viewer more involved with the site.

4. bbc.co.uk : This is where I get my daily dose of news. While it’s a great source of news, it also has interactive options which I find awesome. You can listen to podcasts, comment on news articles, send in your own photos that relate to the stories they have posted, and my favorite, the news ticker. They allow you to download a news ticker that gives you the top three or four stories of the day and also shows breaking news.

5. stumbleupon.com : Thanks to my new found friends here at dt, I have been introduced to stumbleupon. I’m sure I am preaching to the choir in describing this site, but for those who don’t know, this social networking site allows you to search the web for sites according to your interests. You can add / make friends and see what kind of sites they’re stumbling, and you can comment back and forth also. With as much time as I spend on the internet, you would think I have seen every webpage known to mankind. But everytime I stumble, I am presented with a new Web page. Amazing.

My time here on the dt blog is coming to an end. Hope you have enjoyed my five favorite websites, and I’d love to hear what your top websites are!

–Lacy