This best of Web 2.0 series evolved from demonstrating the value and benefits of using twitter for your personal learning. So far we talked about Are You Getting The Most Out Of Your Web Browser? and Getting More Out Of Blogging And Edublogs.So it must be time to talk about blogging tools my twitter network and the Edublogger readers have found indispensable and included in their Best 3 Web 2.o tools?

CoComment

Is it wrong to say I love Martin Weller? Probably but I truly mean it (but you will need to read on to see why I feel this way).

Blogging is far more than just writing blog posts. Making a conscious effort to take the time to comment on posts of other bloggers is an essential part of blogging. I personally sacrifice time I could spend writing more blog posts to comment on other bloggers posts.

Don’t be afraid to comment! What you say is of value and is encouraging to other bloggers (especially new bloggers). Every blogger loves comments regardless of their status in the blogosphere .

So getting back to Martin Weller his current favorite blogging tool is cocomment which he uses for tracking comments he posts on other people’s blogs.

Martin says

cocomment makes me more likely to comment on blogs and thus a better blog citizen

If I had one wish it would be for us all to be better blog citizens.

When you create an account with coComment you install a CoComment add-on which automatically activates coComment when you write comments on all major blogging platforms, on services like Digg, Flickr or Youtube and some Forums making it easier to track responses to comments you leave on other people’s sites.

By subscribing to your cocomment RSS feed using your feed reader e.g. Google Reader or Bloglines you’re automatically notified whenever a person comments on a post that you’ve commented on so you can choose to immediately respond back if you want.

Comment tracking tools make commenting more meaningful because you no longer feel like you left comment drifting in the wind never to be seen or heard again. As a blogger you should be using a comment tracking tool like co.comment!

Jott

William “Bud” Deihl has got me seriously pondering Jott’s benefits for translating voice from a phone onto text to write blog posts (read his explanation in this post). Fortunately for Australian drivers I can’t write my blog posts by talking into my mobile phone as I drive to work since it appears Jott is only available in US and Canada.

Jott is far more powerful than just a tool that we could be using for blogging. So many people have found Jott increases their productivity.

Ken Pendergrass included Jott in his top 3 Web 2.o tools because he uses it everyday to give himself reminders via SMS and/or email. Michele Martin has written an excellent post on how she uses Jott to increase her productivity.

And yet Jott has even more potential. Karen Janowski highlights how Jott is a 21st century tool for learning by providing excellent examples of how we could use it with students in our classrooms.

Phone photo from Flickr by JaJah licensed under Creative Commons ShareAlike 2.0.

File Hosting/Sharing Tools

There are so many file hosting and sharing tools that can help us with our blogging. Here are just a few that made it into the Top 3 Best Web 2.0 as recommended by my twitter network and our readers.

Isabelle Jones recommended Scribd because you can upload documents and share them with others i.e. your communities as well as publish them on blogs. I’ve never heard of Scribd before so Kevin Gamble explained “it’s like a YouTube for documents”.

Scribd was nominated 64th top tool in the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008 list by 155 learning professionals. I would love to hear more about Scribd if you are using it

Whereas Marlene Manto says she couldn’t do without Box.net because it’s great for storage, sharing and collaboration. Box.net allows you to upload large documents, photos, spreadsheets, videos, or zip files to your online space which can then be accessed from anywhere. It means you can store large files online at Box.net instead of using your blog storage space; all you need to do is link across to the Box.net storage location.

Here are Marlene’s instructions on how to use Box.net.

What can we truly say about SlideShare? Not only is it an excellent location to store and share your PowerPoint presentations online but it’s also a great resource for:

• To discover other people’s presentations and slideshows for sharing with your readers
• Visiting to learn the art of crafting a presentation; great for inspiring ideas when creating your own presentations

If you’ve not used SlideShare you definitely need to check it out!

Thanks Dean Groom for including it in your Top 3 Best Web 2.o tools. SlideShare was nominated 14th top tool in the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008 list by 155 learning professionals.

Here is one of my favourite SlideShare’s by Kim Cofino.

Search Box

Having a search box on your blog matters! As Chris Brogan nicely says

The #1 thing I seek in a blog I’m returning to (versus a newly discovered blog) is a search bar. Why? Because often, I’m returning to a blog to find a story.

Put your search box WAY up high on your page, above the fold, if at all possible. It matters.

Martin Weller included his Lijit search box in his top 3 best Web 2.0 tools (visit Martin’s blog and do a search see how Lijit works).

Definitely I like the idea of Lijit is because I have my content located across lots of websites and this search allows readers to search content on my blog or all my sites (by clicking on the My Content Tab). Plus it provides some really cools statistics on how readers interact with my blog that are emailed weekly or I can check them out online in my account.

But I’m still debating Lijit with myself because when readers click on My Content tab the search will also shows results from other websites – which is really bad. You want readers to stay on your sites not go to other peoples sites.

Would love to hear your opinions about which Search box(es) you like to have on your blog and why? My mind is still very open to the idea of Lijit — so please share your thoughts.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Other posts from this Best of Web 2.0 series include:

• Are You Making Your Life Easier By Using A Personalized Start Page?
• Setting Up iGoogle For Your Personal Learning
• Are You Getting The Most Out Of Your Web Browser?
• Getting More Out Of Blogging And Edublogs
• Blogging Tools To Help You Blog
• Using Your Twitter Network For Help & Providing Their Recommendations

There’s still time for you to share your thoughts on “What Web 2.0 tools (apart from Twitter, delicious & Flickr) you find indispensable? Name your best 3?” by writing a comment or your own post on your favourite tools.

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