Dead links will come. It will happen, as many this
year alone have created and deleted or created and changed URL
redirections along the way, it is inevitable that links, content, and
entire sites will be known as dead links. This may pose a bit of a
problem for search engines, link interactions, web sites, blogs, and
social networks with the onslaught of dead links or deleted sites.

Pownce,
the colorful podcasting “shout out” style site,seems to have fallen
into this category of sites going by the wayside as has Google Lively,
the 3D Avatar creation and interaction site. Both of these designs will
call it quits as of December 2008. Did these two sites just fall
through the cracks of not enough advertising? They both had an
interesting, unique design that drew an initial crowd, but what
happened?

Sad realities of the Internet with one being creators
can and do make brilliant designs, programmers and site managers weave
their magic into a welcoming environment, then the amount of daily
hustle and bustle invariably makes or breaks that site.

The time,
energy, and resources spent on the upkeep of just one great site is
rather staggering once you include the monitoring of (especially if
it’s a social interaction or member fed base site), new content
additions, the social slice of members you actually attract, the
financial costs, and the countless other incidentals involved in
running a site, system, or business.

The next major stepping
stone for the Internet seems to be a consolidation of sorts. A
regrouping from mass choices, multiple social networks, blogs, forums,
or sites to a sub page system of sorts where mini sectors of major
sites dedicate space to less active gathering places across the net.

The
concept of a wiki comes to mind here. A handful of the front runner
sites like MySpace and Twitter with straight connections or “sub pages”
directly linked to some of the better (though smaller) social networks
and sites. A directory of sorts with a larger “parent” site.

The
inevitable future of “ghost sites” is not just looming in the mist, but
has arrived. At its infancy at present I believe, but it will soon grow
at a rapid, near alarming rate until the flow crests and ebbs. The
adjustment will occur in a wave fashion of realization, cleanup, and
restructure. Maybe there exists the adage at present “too many cooks
spoil the broth” or “too many writers and not enough readers” to place
it all into reality.

The cleanup stage will entail filing,
deleting, and reconfiguring sites on the basis of need, interaction,
and mainly based on the decisions of the web masters. In this decision
process to discard or continue with a site, web site creators might
consider these questions: Can you relocate this information? Are you
better served and are your readers better served by condensing your
sites into one main hub? Who will you be affecting and how will this be
a hindrance or help to them? Work positively toward the end result you
are seeking. Be certain you are creating ease and not discord. These
tips will make the upcoming transitions easier on all Internet users
and creators.

A major theory I am a firm believer in is avoid
deleting information from the net, yes restructure and consolidate, but
if you have secured a space on the net, think twice before deleting the
spaces content completely. Consider using this space for another
project down the road or incorporating it into a sector of an existing
site as long as the content and meaning remain the same.

If your
intention is to redirect the content meaning, do so with much thought.
Taking original content out and replacing it with a new shiny label may
work for the short term and give the “flash” temporarily, but in the
end it is still a white washed facade.

Blogs and social networks
will be an active part of the Internet for years to come, trends will
emerge, fads will be rushed, but the sites and people who stick out the
restructure will become some of the great sites on the world wide web.

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