At long last the buzz and excitement that surrounded the internet is starting to return. Web 1.0, linked with 'puffery', Geeky start-up millionaires and a stock market crash has moved on to Web 2.0. Why should we be excited by this new phase? Well to me it is start of web development that is true to its purpose - a network that brings an unconstrained liberty to express and to share.
What is Web 2.0? The Observer, last Sunday provided a wonderful exploration of this subject. To paraphase what they said, Web 1.0 was 'lean back' experience like television, in which official content providers gave and controlled the information that they felt we should consume. Web 2.0 however is a 'lean forward' experience in which the users/viewers become the creators. Excellent examples include Wikipedia, an encyclopedia written by users, Myspace, that allows users to create biographies and share their experiences and passions with others, Yelp, a US based business that allows people to write independent reviews of everything from restaurants to digital cameras. There are many, many more but they all have something in common - they enable mankind to share ideas and create their own dialogue and user experience. This blog in a way is a great example of this.
The term Web 2.0 was invented by Tim O'Reilly and below is a diagram that he has used to explain its nature. I particular love the authentic thought of 'trusting users' (this is a difficult thing for big corporates and institutions to do) and that the web is an 'attitude not a technology' (again a difficult concept given that web development in most companies is run by IT specialists). But these institutional barriers present an opportunity to all those 'fleet of foot', dynamic SME's to steel the ground from under the big boys feet. So, next time you have a web meeting, start by asking the question 'What can we do to liberate our business and make it more open, engaging and more valued by our customers?' It might be an idea to ask this question before the lawyer and accountant make an appearance!
