What is Web 2.0?

Written on June 9, 2007 by admin

Although hard to believe, the term “Web 2.0” has been around for a couple of years now, yet few really have a clear understanding of what it means.

The term itself was coined at a brainstorming session back in 2004 by the CEO of O’Reilly Media, Tim O’Reilly. At the time, they were discussing the obvious changes that were occurring on the Internet following the tail end of the dot-com crash. The web, however, continued to expand, grow, adapt and change and some companies from that era withstood the test of time while others fell by the wayside.

The main thing to note is that the web was changing:

• Static websites were being replaced by dynamic ones.
• Text pages were being replaced by data-driven content.
• Companies were blogging daily to keep customers “in the know”.
• News was no longer one-way - visitors and customers were being given the opportunity to participate in discussions, post their opinions, and interact with their suppliers and other companies in more ways than ever before.
• Company reputation could be quickly modified by the weight of public opinion (note how quickly news of poor customer service is posted and spread).
• Consumers were now becoming publishers (think AdSense).
• Users could determine what content should be available (think Napster).

These concepts underpin the whole key to Web 2.0. Of course, we know that “the web” isn’t a piece of software that has changing version numbers and specific releases and upgrades. There was no such thing as “Web 1.0″, but clearly the way the web was being implemented and presented was changing.

Now as I said, Web 2.0 is not simply a new version of something we already had. It’s not even really a new technology as the actual tools we use to build everything upon are still the same. Web 2.0 is more of a concept, an idea. The idea that the large percentage of “small” voices can help drive the direction the large companies take. Doing business on the Internet means involving your customers.

One of the wonderful analogies that O’Reilly came up with was how all the inter-related hyperlinks on the web are akin to the way connections are formed in the brain. Every day, every minute, every second, new connections are made and we add these to our ever-growing list of things we can readily call upon. The more times our brain makes the same connection, the more likely it is we will remember that piece of information. The same is true of the web - the more connections that are made to a piece of information, it is deemed to be more important than others.

Consider sites such as Digg and Delicious that provide an inter-connecting network of what users consider to be important. This “collective intelligence” can have a big impact on how “the web” looks. Seach engines add to this by delivering content that (for the most part) users have decided is important.

So how can we determine if a site is of the ‘Web 2.0″ variety? Here’s a few things to look for:

• Does the site allow visitor participation and interaction?
• Is the site constantly growing or changing in response to current trends or consumer input?
• Is the site delivering dynamic information?
• Does the site improve the more people that use/contribute to it?
• Does the site contribute (or allow users to contribute to) the “collective intelligence”?

This is just a short list of the kinds of things that Web 2.0 sites have in common. There are potentially many, many more. But the main point of this is to dispute the notion that Web 2.0 is a “thing” that can be easily defined. It doesn’t mean AJAX, it doesn’t mean blogging, it isn’t specifically file or information-sharing. It is a combination of all these pieces and more rolled into a concept and delivered in a particular way.

So, the next time someone tells you that you must be ready for Web 2.0, you can Digg This article and let them know that you already are!

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Independent Thought

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Tags: web 2.0, Webmasters, website design

Posted in Web 2.0

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