The term Web 2.0 has come to mean many different things. In reality Web 2.0 is the future of content and the future of the web, and it is important that anyone who wants to continue to make money on the web understands what it is all about.

The term was first coined by the guys at O’Reilly Media in 2004.

Web 2.0 is largely about leveraging collective intelligence. Google’s PageRank concept has been identified as a milestone in the Web 2.0 evolution.

PageRank is Google’s numeric measurement of how important a page is on the web. The theory behind PageRank is that when one page links to another page, it is effectively casting a vote for that page. Google calculates PageRank by figuring out how many votes are cast for that page. The formula also takes into account the PageRank of the linking page. As Tim O’Reilly says in a blog entry, Web 2.0 is about architecting systems so that they get smarter the more people use them. Mr. O’Reilly goes on to say that Web 2.0 is about monetizing sites using a combination of customer self-service and managing the back end that runs the site. He also refers to what he calls lightweight business models made possible by cooperating internet services and data syndication.

O’Reilly hails Google as the quintessential Web 2.0 application:

Google … began its life as a native web application, never sold or packaged, but delivered as a service, with customers paying, directly or indirectly, for the use of that service. None of the trappings of the old software industry are present. No scheduled software releases, just continuous improvement. No licensing or sale, just usage. No porting to different platforms so that customers can run the software on their own equipment, just a massively scalable collection of commodity PCs running open source operating systems plus homegrown applications and utilities that no one outside the company ever gets to see.

Much like a phone call, which happens not just on the phones at either end of the call, but on the network in between, Google happens in the space between browser and search engine and destination content server, as an enabler or middleman between the user and his or her online experience.

[Emphasis added by me]

O’Reilly also cites Ebay as a Web 2.0 example, as they enable small transactions between people, acting as an automated intermediary.

Web 2.0 is all about data, and the Web is simply the platform for that data. The goal is to reach out to what Web 2.0 fans call the long tail, the millions of smaller sites and users that collectively make up the real worldwide web.

In reading this article and more about Web 2.0 I was struck by the parallels to successful brick and mortar companies like Paychex, who concentrated on the smaller businesses (99% of all businesses) than competitors like ADP ignored.

There’s a great chart in the article that I’ve reproduced below:

Web 2.0 is intrinsically viral, whether it is BitTorrent using user computers as servers or Wikipedia users creating, updating and promoting the content on the site.

You may already have bits of Web 2.0 on your site. RSS feeds are very Web 2.0. Content syndication is part of Web 2.0, as is social bookmarking.

Web 2.0 is about empowering your visitors to create and enhance their own experience on your site, while collectively improving its content, focus and direction.

I am certainly not suggesting that you sit down and come up with another Flickr. We mere mortals can still spread around a little Web 2.0 pixie dust. Some examples:

1. User controlled directories - Let your users submit content (links, sites, videos, music, scripts, whatever). Use a ready-made directory script or write your own.

2. Reviews and ratings. Have a section for user voting on content, or combine it with a user controlled directory. Again, there are plenty of ready-made scripts available. Promote the fact that users are directing the site content.

3. Allowing, faciliating and encourage tagging.

4. Promoting the sharing of and collaboration on articles, posts and other content.

5. Partnering with a related site to share content. Try to find a site that has content that would not only match with yours but enhance it.

6. Ceding some control over your site to your users. Let them control content, pictures, background colors…things related to their own user experience.

7. Simply turning on comments. Let your readers or site visitors comment on the site, and let them know that their comments control the site direction.

As I used to say regularly to my technical associates, you can either get on the bus or under it…the choice is yours.

Social Bookmarking icons - Share and enjoy.
                           

This entry was posted on Monday, April 3rd, 2006 at 10:20 pm.
Filed under The Internet Industry, Your Site.
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