Web 2.0 So Now What?

You’ve read it over and over again, “Web 2.0.” The term has been around for a few years now. However, do you really know what it means? Well first off, there’s a lot of disagreement on that. Some say it’s a meme. Others call it a buzzword. But this writer thinks it’s far more than a buzzword.

It was a phrase coined by O’Reilly Media in 2004. According to Wikipedia, it refers to second-generation Internet based services–such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies–that let people collaborate and share information online in previously unavailable ways. O’Reilly Media, in collaboration with MediaLive International, used the phrase as a title for a series of conferences and since then it has become a popular, though ill-defined and often criticized, buzzword amongst certain technical and marketing communities.

Think about the dot-com collapse for a moment. Was this a turning point for all of us? It sure as heck was for me. These folks agreed and the Web 2.0 Conference was born. What’s cool is to look back and see what they talked about in that first session. I found excerpts on the O’Reilly site.

Tim O’Reilly outlines a set of 8 themes that he thinks are crucial for Web 2.0: Web as Platform, Harnessing Collective Intelligence, Data is the Intel Inside, End of the Software Release Cycle, Lightweight Programming Models, Software Above the Level of a Single Device, and Rich User Experiences.

I took a look in Google news. There were 3,350 findings. Web 2.0 adds a social dimension. Think social networking sites like MySpace.com. Think XML and RSS. In 2000 no one knew video sharing site YouTube or new voting site Digg would soon exist.

In a recent Forbes article, BBC Director General Mark Thompson met with Bill Gates. Thompson explained the need for a next generation site. So Microsoft and the BBC are teaming up to develop the BBC’s next generation of Internet services. Redesigning this site in the form of Web 2.0 to accommodate more audio and video and introducing services that allow users to create and share content amongst their peers will be a massive undertaking.

“Microsoft’s strength is in driving digital innovation and our vision is to open up rich, new consumer experiences that allow people to enjoy digital content anytime, anywhere and on any device,” Gates said. “This vision fits squarely with the BBC’s charter to lead the industry in delivering content that is compelling and accessible,” he added.

So is Web 2.0 all hype? Venture capitalists haven’t really jumped on the bandwagon. According to VentureOne, a Dow Jones Research subsidiary, just $262 million out of $13 billion in VC funding went to Web 2.0 businesses in the first half of 2006.

Or does Web 2.0 signify that we have survived, we get it, and we’ll continue to stay ahead of the curve? eBay is getting into it. The company will soon be introducing eBay Blogs and an eBay Community Wiki at its eBay Live conference in Las Vegas next week.

The company also announced a feature called My Word. According to eBay, you get publishing space to tell the community what makes you … you.

What do you think Web 2.0 means? How will it affect us as advertisers and marketers? Will it provide us with more one to one opportunities or cause more clutter than ever? Post to the Spin Blog and let us know how you do Web 2.0.

By Seana Mulcahy
Courtesy of http:///www.mediapost.com