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So what is this Web 2.0 dealie I keep hearing about? 

Here is the "official" definition:

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/ what-is-web-20.html

Only it`s not a definition at all, but a 5-pages long article that is mainly illustrating examples and case studies of sites that are (or are not, in author`s opinion) Web 2.0. 

Does it actually mean something?  Or is it just a catchy marketing term?  Personally I am leaning towards the latter.  It`s very vague, almost impossible to define, and most of the concepts it encompases are not new at all - they`ve been a part of the internet since very beginning. 

Even the term itself is counterintuitive to the concepts it is trying to describe.  You can`t put a version on something that is constantly evolving!  Version numbers are so 1.0, anyway.  Many software vendors today are doing away with the version numbers alltogether, choosing instead to give a catchy name to each major version.  (Note the Windows progression: 3.0 --> 95 --> 98 --> 2000 --> XP --> Vista...)

So is it possible to define Web 2.0, in a single paragraph?  Anyone?  And will there ever be a Web 3.0???

 

 

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Oleg Issers | StartupNation.com Web Team

50% of computer programming is trial and error. The other 50% is copy and paste.

oleg,

i`m in san francisco today and there`s a huge conference going on here for Web 2.0-ers.

last night i had dinner with james lim, winner of last fall`s elevator pitch contest at startupnation, and i would imagine he`ll have a great idea of how people are defining web 2.0. i will send him an email to get his thoughts from the heart of it all at the conference.

but as you say, i think it`s a catch phrase, and also a way for webophiles to separate what they`re doing today from the disaster that struck this valley in 2001 with the dot.bomb.

rich


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Rich Sloan , Co-Founder, Chief Startupologist, StartupNation

Putting a "label" or naming something, a concept, an event, a change, etc. is a common practice especially used by "the media"... who try condense news into sound bites.

In general web 2.0 is a short term to describe the web today... social media, personally interactive, keyword driven, applications and environment.

A web 3.0 - absolutely. When the next jump or evolution in internet use is recognized.

~Roland

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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

Well, I think that there is a more defined idea than just `what we are doing today`, although I agree that this is definitely a media term.

In my reading, my understanding is that web 2.0 refers to a lot of the technical changes and advancement of services on the web that are not simply websites or email. "Web Services" have exploded and can be used by 3rd parties to create and extend web based applications.

Most of what people are calling `mashups` are definitely a well defined example of web 2.0.  Mashups are functionaly from disparate sources merged into a app that allows for greater functionality. 

One of my co-workers has created a google maps mashup that allows him to track every where he has had a beer.  There are much more interesting mashups but that is simple example.

I should have read the article first.
I get what the article is trying to convey and I agree. While it is definitely marketing to create a simple name for such a complex evolution. It does define the paradigm shift that has occurred.

With that evolution being a shift toward service based application development and finally an understanding by commercial ventures that the community is the true driving force behind successful web properties.

I stress that `commercial` part because the users always knew that the community was the web.

Youtube Video; The Machine Is Us-ing Us.

I hope that answers your question :)

I call it "let`s talk `with` our customers, not `at` them".

BTW - interesting article, I`m going to read the whole thing later.

Dean you beat me to it! I was going to post that video its a perfect example of what web 2.0 is.

So will web 4.0 happen when the internet has self-awarness! Kinda like Terminator. :)

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He who gets greedy like a pig, gets slaughtered like a hog!

It’s a great question Oleg!... and one that almost everyone is asking.

Sorry for the delay in responding Rich!

As Rich mentioned, I’ve just finished attending a week long conference on Web 2.0 here in San Francisco called Web 2.0 Expo - http://www.web2expo.com/... and am just getting around to emails.

After the conference, I came to realize something very interesting. The most influential minds behind Web 2.0 don’t have just a single answer to this question! In the end, the answer to ‘What is Web 2.0?’ is as individual and unique as the many people that make up the Internet.

Because of this fact, O’Reilly even tried to revise and summarize the original definition that Oleg shared in his post - http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/12/web_20_compact.htm l.

In the end, I think that we simply need to come to terms with the fact that there are many answers to this question in the same way that there is not just one opinion on Internet. Ironically, the real beauty of a Web 2.0 world is that we each have the right to our own opinion and we each get an equal opportunity to express it to everyone through the Internet.

For me, Web 2.0 is a marketing term but also marks something very real and important in the history of the Internet. You can consider Web 2.0 to be chapter number 2 in a book on the Internet. Chapter 1 or Web 1.0 would be when the web was born and ‘crashed’ in 2001.

To me, IN ONE SENTENCE, WEB 2.0 SIMPLY MEANS WE CAN NOW ‘TALK BACK TO THE INTERNET’.  

This may involve technology, people, or changes in our society as a whole but all of it comes back to the simple reality that we now have a true 2-way communication with the Internet and everyone within it. 

What we are doing here in the online SUN community is Web 2.0. In Web 1.0, websites would simply be online brochures that allowed very little interaction. Others wrote. We read.

Today, in Web 2.0, we are the writers as well as readers and active participants in the creation of the content and voice of the Internet itself. Think of social networks like MySpace, or blogging, or video sites like YouTube. In all of these examples, the Internet is connecting people to people in a 2-way dialogue like never before. This makes the term ‘Web 2.0’ very significant in marking a time like no other time in human history.

With this said, there will definitely be a Web 3.0. Visionaries say that Web 3.0 will be a world where the computers that are beginning to learn more about us (as we share more with the Internet) will be able to talk to other computers. As an example of a Web 3.0 world, you will book a flight to San Francisco on the Internet. Your computer will know that ColdPlay is your favorite band. Your computer will talk to other computers on the Internet that track ColdPlay’s concert schedule and realize that they will be in San Francisco the same time you will. Your computer will place a reservation for you for concert tickets to see ColdPlay when you are in San Francisco. This will be Web 3.0 and another chapter within the book on the Internet where a form of artificial intelligence will take us again into new and exciting ways to improve the way we connect.

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James Lim Founder Haamonii Smooth - introducing the world`s first ultra premium Japanese shochu www.livesmooth.com 415 254 4338

Great contributions everyone,

Here is what I infer about Web 2.0 from reading all this:

• It has very little to do with technology or implementation;
• There are some design patterns involved - the applications are more interactive and allow users to create their own content;
• Most of all, it is the way most people use the internet today - as opposed to the way most people used it 10 years ago.

And a final question: was Usenet Web 2.0 in concept, more than a decade before the concept even existed?

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Oleg Issers | StartupNation.com Web Team

50% of computer programming is trial and error. The other 50% is copy and paste.