Web 2.0

Open any discussion forum or blog on the internet today and everyone is talking about Web2.0.

Wikipedia defines it as - A social phenomenon referring to an approach to creating and distributing Web content itself, characterized by open communication, decentralization of authority, freedom to share and re-use, and "the market as a conversation”

In 2004, many thinkers realized that the Web was on the cusp of a new era, one that would finally let loose the power of network effects, setting off a surge of innovation and
opportunity. To help usher in this new era, O’Reilly Media and CMP launched a
Conference that showcased the innovators who were driving it. The conference was called Web 2.0. But no one in that conference realized that industry would embrace the Web 2.0 term and that it would come to represent the new Web.

To me, "Web 2.0" is a weird phrase. It began as the name of a conference, but the people organizing the conference didn't really know what they meant by it. Mostly they thought it sounded catchy. However, "Web 2.0" has since taken on a meaning. There are some interesting new trends on the Web, and it's the nature of a phrase like that to adhere to them.

Web 2.0 is a way of thinking, a new perspective on the entire business of internet.
From concept through delivery, from marketing through support, Web 2.0 is a set of economic, social, and technology trends that collectively form the basis for the next generation of the Internet—a more mature, distinctive medium characterized by user participation, openness, and network effects.

Here is an interesting look at how Web 1.0 became Web 2.0

Web 1.0 -->Web 2.0

• DoubleClick-->Google AdSense
• Ofoto-->FlickrKazaa-->BitTorrent
• Britannica Online-->Wikipedia
• personal websites-->blogging
• domain name speculation-->search engine optimization
• page views-->cost per click
• screen scraping-->web services
• publishing-->participation
• content management systems/ webmaster oriented sites-->wikis
• directories (taxonomy)-->tagging ("folksonomy")
  

What’s causing this change?

Consider the following raw demographic and technological drivers:

• One billion people around the globe now have access to the Internet
• Mobile devices outnumber desktop computers by a factor of two
• Nearly 50 percent of all U.S. Internet access is now via always-on broadband connections

In the first quarter of 2006,

• MySpace.com signed up 280,000 new users each day and had the second most Internet traffic
• By the second quarter of 2006, 50 million blogs were created—new ones were added at a rate of two per second

These trends manifest themselves under a variety of guises, names, and technologies. You can call it Social computing, user-generated content, software as a service, pod casting, blogs, and the ‘read–write’ web. Taken together, they are Web 2.0, the next-generation, user driven, intelligent web.

Web 2.0 is Democracy

A big element of Web 2.0 is democracy. We now have several examples to prove that amateurs can surpass professionals, when they have the right kind of system to channel their efforts. Wikipedia may be the most famous. Experts have given Wikipedia middling reviews, but they miss the critical point: it's good enough. And it's free, which means people actually read it. On the web, articles you have to pay for might as well not exist. Even if you were willing to pay to read them yourself, you can't link to them. They're not part of the conversation.

The most dramatic example of Web 2.0 democracy is not in the selection of ideas, but their production. I've noticed for a while that the stuff I read on individual people's sites is as good as or better than the stuff I read in newspapers and magazines.
There has been a lot of debate on Web 2.0 which will be a part of my future blogs but as of now, I’m glad that a writer doesn’t need a publisher to write his column. She/He can blog! Thousands of talented artists can create their work and put it on you tube for the world to see it without struggling in front of production artists. I wont say that it’s a boon of Web 2.0 but this is what internet was always supposed to be.

Sources: News and internet papers on Web 2.0 and a hell lot of opinions of like minded people