Multiplatform Publishing Strategy

What is Web 2.0?

• April 16, 2007

User-generated content means trusting your users as co-developers and co-creators

I’m here at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, and I thought the most important thing I should bring back, before any other concepts introduced here is: What is Web 2.0?

I’m sure you’ve heard the term Web 2.0, or another common name, the “Read/Write Web”. Everyone’s heard of Myspace and YouTube, who are industry leaders in bringing the concept to realization. But the guy who coined the term Web 2.0, Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media, Inc. has an actual definition for you.

The long definition, and maybe even the compact definition of Web 2.0 might be too much to swallow, so Tim O’Reilly gives the shortest version he can:

Web 2.0 = “Networked applications that explicitly leverage network effects.”

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In a workshop titled “What is Web 2.0: The Rules for Creating Successful Online Products in the 21st Century” with Dion Hinchcliffe of Hinchcliff & Company, I learned the following Web 2.0 principles:

Web 2.0 isn’t a technology

According to Hinchcliffe, Web 2.0 isn’t a technology, it is a “widespread change in the behavior of the Web and its audience”, with the core principle being coined by O’Reilly as “harnessing collective intelligence”, (building applications that harness network effects so that they get better the more people use them) as well as user-generated content, where you are trusting your users as co-developers and co-creators.

The apparent success of Web 2.0 appears to be because:

  • The simplicity of it (no training or manual required)
  • Intense 2-way connection between users
  • Intense 2-way connection between company and its users
  • The rise of social architectures (invoking Reed’s Law)
  • Content is being shared effectively and informally
  • Users trust their peers over commercials and ads
  • Content is in real-time and can be edited accordingly
  • Simplicity reigns over technology

The difference between 1.0 and 2.0

1.0

  • Was about navigating the Web, getting what you were looking for, and finding things you wanted to learn more about
  • Content was produced by central media companies
  • Few people had put content online themselves
  • Creating websites and applications were hard and expensive
  • Many unproven business models
  • There were only a few million people online

2.0

  • Consuming and creating content is a 2-way process
    • Tens of millions of people blogging
    • Participation instead of straight publishing
  • Content on the Web is produced on the edge of the Internet instead of the center
  • 1 billion people online
  • Proven business models
  • Many ways to interact on the Web

Who can you learn from?

The best part of Web 2.0 is that it’s out there and you have proof that it’s working and people to learn from.

Turning webpages into software (aka AJAX):

Websites completely user-generated:

  • Myspace – social networking
  • YouTube – social media sharing
  • Digg – peer production (news)
  • Wikipedia – reference information
  • eBay – online product sales

People remixing the Web from different content and services:

Web 2.0 is still such a new concept that there are many niches that are yet to be discovered and claimed.

Well, we’re only halfway there, but look forward to the rest of the week when I indulge myself in a little more Web 2.0 and let you know what I learn. In the meantime, feel free to leave me a comment and ask a question about anything you’d like to know and I’ll see if I can find out while I’m surrounded by experts this week!

Update: View my other two articles from the Web 2.0 Conference
How to Drive Traffic as a Social Networking Evangelist
Tagging: Letting Users Define Your Content

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