My understanding on Web 2.0
Many people have read the term Web 2.0, but didn’t study into details, thinking that it would be complicated and would take a geek to understand the terminology within; truth is, Web 2.0 can be explained in pretty simple words and sampling.
From Wikipedia, Web 2.0 is a phrase coined by O’Reilly Media in 2004, which refers to a supposed second-generation of Internet-based services; such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies; which let people collaborate and share information online in ways previously unavailable.
For details, you can also refer to Web 2.0 definition by Tim O’Reilly himself.
What Web 2.0 means to me is an internet business model that has developed during the transition of dot com frenzies in late 90s, to a steady and profitable business model currently.
In the mid 90s internet started to become an important business and information platform, many companies had ventured into the internet business without actually realizing the methodology involved.
The dot com boom did create some overnight millionaires that created their websites and went for IPO; but when the dot com bubble burst in 2001, many venture capital and stock market players suffered great deal of monetary lost.. and most of the dot com companies ended their journey, failing to live up to expectations.
Some companies did survive.. like Amazon, Yahoo, eBay and Google. These companies continue to improve themselves, and shape the Web 2.0 model as it is.
One of the distinct criteria of Web 2.0 is the use of leverage, where the web contents are contributed by the users themselves. We can see this criterion in Wikipedia, Digg, Del.icio.us, YouTube, MySpace and Blogspot etc.
The model is not entire new, as Amazon has began utilizing similar tactics when they started in books selling. Amazon had no real inventories, what they did was creating a platform for booksellers across US to sell the books online under the Amazon branding, and share profits from it.
Amazon extended the leverage in 1998 by acquiring Internet Movie Database (IMDb), where most of the entertainment related contents is provided by volunteer contributors.
Wikipedia work on a similar basis with IMDb but with wider range of contents that basically covers everything the Wiki users can think of.
Similar success was seen in blogging service like Blogger/Blogspot, where the contents are developed by the blog authors. Another similar model is Flickr, where users upload and share their photos with other users.
The later stage of Web 2.0 sees more social networking between users, like MySpace, Digg etc.; where users are allowed and encouraged to create more communications in within the community.
Other than the ideology, Web 2.0 is often tied to the use of innovative technology, such as Ajax, RSS, tagging and other web applications.
Web 2.0 will continue to develop until we find a new definition for the next stage, something call Web 3.0 perhaps.
Don’t ask me what the future of internet will be, anyone with the answer is likely to be the next internet big name.