What is web 2.0? Is it just a buzz-word used to sell, or is it a technology?

Web 2.0 got it’s name from the web 2.0 conference and at first meant nothing. Now however web 2.0 points to a number of vague things like ajax, and democracy, and user based content. Web 2.0 means nothing.

In october 2004 a conference took place with the name “web 2.0″ and there it was discussed what implications it had the the web was becoming a real platform. Or put more clearly, now the web isn’t such a hype anymore what to do with it? And what is being done with it to make ’something’ a succes.

O’reilly (from the books) wrote something about that conference. He describes web 2.0 as adhering to 7 points:
1. Services, not packaged software, with cost-effective scalability
Like google, you don’t buy it in the store, and install it, you just use it. Very easy.

2. Control over unique, hard-to-recreate data sources that get richer as more people use them
Again, look at google, if everyone had the data they had, they’d have a much harder job. So get your own data, don’t buy it somewhere.

3. Trusting users as co-developers
Just look at firefox, what other users can’t do! Set up newsgroups, wiki’s forums and everything you need to get input from your users.

4. Harnessing collective intelligence
Use what people say and know in for example blogs.

5. Leveraging the long tail through customer self-service
Don’t only sell to the high end of the market, also sell to the kid who only has two pennies, just make sure you don’t have to service him personally.

6. Software above the level of a single device
Don’t make a different piece of software for every computer, make something that works!

7. Lightweight user interfaces, development models, AND business models
Don’t annoy the user with too much anything. And don’t annoy yourself by making everything complicated.

So, web 2.0 is more of a philosophy of how to make the web work according to O’reilly.

However that’s how it started, not how it ends up. It’ll end up as nothing. When I think of web 2.0 it’s a vague collection of phrases and ’something new’. When you google for web 2.0 you’ll find that this is a quite common way to see web 2.0. Vague. I hereby suggest that web 2.0 will stop being hyped and marketed, and only be used as the name of the convention.

Thus, web 2.0 is an empty frase meaning nothing.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 27th, 2005 at 9:08 by Sonja Duijvesteijn and is filed under Webdevelopment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.