What is Web 2.0?

It is all the rage these days. Everywhere you turn, everyone who is anyone is talking about Web 2.0. E-groups and discussion boards, both technical and not so technical, are abuzz with frenetic discussions of what a miracle Web 2.0 is and how hugely it can impact revenue, user friendliness, and a thousand other things!

The question in the non technical mind is, what is it? What does it mean? What is this new phenomenon, what does it do, and what will it do for me? The version number in the name Web 2.0 is, frankly, misleading. Most of the computer savvy world is used to versions by now, and understands them, at least vaguely. Every time you upgrade from Windows 97 to a Windows 2000, every time you download messenger 8.0 to replace your messenger 6.0, every time you buy a SimCity 3000 to add to your collection, you deal with versions.

Newer versions of software, or of operating systems, are an advanced and technically improved avatar of your existing and much loved systems. Web 2.0 is not really a new kind of internet that will replace or upgrade the existing internet. It is, simply, a collection of ideas that are changing the way both users and programmers see the internet. The emphasis is on interactive information sharing, rather than simple dissemination, and a user-centric design ethos, rather than programmer or owner centric.

Web 2.0 is the driving force behind e-communities, social-networking websites, video-sharing sites like You Tube, wiki, blogs, and so much more. The idea is to allow users to change the content to their liking, interact with scores of other users, and personalize what they see, rather than an inert process of simply looking at non-interactive websites, and reading them as if they were a textbook. 

Passive viewing of information transforms into information sharing and content creation with Web 2.0. No longer do you have to use the web as just another research tool, whose only object is to provide the necessary information. Using the internet is no longer like visiting the library to conduct only meaningful, if dry, research. The new web does much more than that.

It is your publisher, bringing your blog to millions of possible readers. It is your club, putting you in touch with millions of people with the same hobbies or interests. It is your social group, connecting you to old friends, and allowing you to make new ones. It is you photo album, letting you share snapshots of your holiday, or cute pics of your cat with the entire net savvy world. It is your movie theater, allowing you to make, post, and view everything from mega blockbusters to your neighbor’s home videos.

Although Web 2.0 can be a little scary, involving, as it does, a letting go – a loss of control over your data. It is however a lot more social, a lot more friendly to the end user who is the target after all, and it is definitely a lot more fun! It gives you, as a site owner, the chance to add interactivity and to improve not just the information, but the services and products you supply.

It allows you to make your site more interesting. It allows you to use programs like Adwords and Adsense to drive traffic and revenue. It allows you to blog the advantages of your product or idea over those of a competitor. It allows you to link to any other site, blog, discussion board, etc, where similar products or services are either advertised or talked about. And it allows you to reach more and more people who are actually predisposed to be interested in what you have to offer.

Web 2.0 tools like blogs, tags, social bookmarking, RSS, and AJAX can change the way you do business! It can help you be heard and noticed!