Thursday, April 24, 2008

How 2.0 is Web 2.0?

If you're on this page - you have probably been bombarded with what I call - "2.0 jargon". It all began in 2004....the world opened its eyes to something that was sitting right in front of it all along - Web 2.0.

(here I go again, like any other definitive article on Web 2.0, quoiting Tim O'Reilly and his coining of the phrase "Web 2.0" - it ain't Web 2.0 unless you give him credit)

Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform.


Ever since , the interest in Web 2.0 has been on an exponential rise.
Take a look at this Google Trends chart on the search volume of the term Web 2.0. With this, came the introduction of a slew of jargon - Marketing 2.0, Advertising 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Mobile 2.0 and the list just goes on!

2.0 doesn't necessarily mean an entirely new version of the Web - it's just the change in behavior of the average net user - and the change being a more gradual one rather than the perceived sudden jump to the 2.0 brigade.

What people miss is that the technologies Web 2.0 is built on have been around for ages - it's just that users have figured out a better way of using it.

Every major breakthrough in the Internet world, in terms of its effect on society as a whole, has been in some way related to empowering the individual user. Web 2.0 did exactly that - Web as a platform, UGC, social media - all empower you as an individual. It's about freedom - freedom to create, freedom to entertain, freedom to be entertained, freedom to share, freedom to use essential tools such as drawing tools, DTP tools without spending loads of money on licenses.

Jargon, buzzword, gibberish - Web 2.0 has been all this and more. But in essence it is an attitude - not a technology. I'm curious, how do you think the world of Internet will react to Web 3.0 ? Do leave behind your views.

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