Have you heard the latest buzzword – Web 2.0? Get used to it if you haven’t already. A friend exclaimed “You mean I missed Web 1.0?” Well, no.
Web 2.0 is a concept not a product. There are lots of articles we could point you to to explain this concept but since I like to explain things in plain English, I’ll give it a try with Web 2.0. Internet for the masses has been around for just over 10 years. It has grown and matured in a lot of ways. Now, in 2007, people are coming to view the Internet as a way for community to form, for sharing ideas, for blogging. All of these are a part of Web 2.0.
In one of the talks I deliver to groups, I talk about how with a web site, you can harness the power of databases. That is one of the driving forces of Web 2.0. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Live and other search engines harness this power and serve it up to you. But Yahoo was one of the original Web 1.0 companies as well. In the beginning they had directories that you had to drill down through to find what you were looking for. With advanced search technology, data can be found no matter where it is located (and you don’t even need to know where it came from in many cases).
Social networking is another feature of Web 2.0. The rise of sites like Myspace.com and YouTube.com have brought people together to meet, to discuss, to share and to create. And now networking sites of every ilk are popping up – in part because they are fashionable but also because they work. People can connect in new ways. Facebook.com boasts more than 15 million users – “many of whom you probably already know” as their site says. MySpace claims to have more than 100 million users. Surely some of those users would be someone that you could connect with, whether it be a potential client, someone who shares a hobby or interest, an old classmate, or perhaps even a possible mate or date.
There is indeed a lot more you information on Web 2.0 than will fit in this short article. Tim O’Reilly, one of the first to use the term, has a great article on what Web 2.0 is all about.