Web 2.0 Applications
Introduction
In a development somewhat analogous to Frankenstein's breathing life into his monster,
Web 2.0 is a transformation of how the web is used. As with the monster, what was
simply a collection of dead bits is coming alive and interacting with the world
in unpredictable ways. There is now more money to be made on the web than Midas
ever dreamed of, but only by means of all the processes which have come to be identified
as Web 2.0. See the article Web 2.0 Defined
in this website.
Here are some examples of Web 2.0 sites, where the provider never resists the flow
and which have generated spectacular returns. There is no one correct approach.
The most successful sites vary, using Web 2.0 facilities in different ways and to
varying degrees.
Social networking
Probably the cleverest of all approaches to business on the web is
YouTube, because it did not have to raise a finger to flood the site with
data, in this case home videos. Just upload it here, thanks very much, everyone
instantly famous. How easy is that? Close followers in this category are
MySpace and Facebook, permitting
personal, audio and video social inter-actions by and between users, with almost
unlimited user customising facilities.
Success in this area seems to depend on two ingredients: an idea that is going to
catch fire with regular web users, and then instant accommodation to all incoming
suggestions and requests. Untrustworthy contributions and contributors are quickly
weeded out and eliminated by their peers. The user does everything except modify
the software.
Search engines
Google is still the emperor, but cunning variations on the theme are emerging. An
excellent example here is StumbleUpon
which, via its own toolbar on your browser, helps you find likeminded people and
material of particular interest to you. It also encourages collaborative rating
of content. Dion Hinchcliffe congratulates the site for "taking content discovery
to the next step" (see Dion Hinchcliffe's
Web 2.0 blog).
Peer production news
Leaders here are del.icio.us and
Netscape, each of which is a news bulletin board put together by contributors
who want to add the snippet of news that took their fancy. Some such sites are IT
oriented, while others cover news more generally. There is room for any number of
sites seeking specific interest content and proposal.
Mashups
A mashup is a site that combines the data and features of two or more sites to make
something new. Many mashups combine weather sites with something else of interest,
e.g., accommodation or hiking trails. Ask500People
takes polling responses and mashes them up with Google Maps, all displayed in real-time.
The possibilities are endless, with mashups being one of the most promising for
those with imagination and inductive thinking skills.
Corporate sites
The bigger the corporate, the harder the change, and even the smallest must observe
the following if they are to engage in Web 2.0:
- Permit users to interact with your site.
- Many of your employees will be super web savvy, so it makes sense to get out of
their way " … so intranetworked employees can converse directly with internetworked
markets" (cluetrain.com).
Don Tapscott and Anthony D Williams recently published Wikinomics –
How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, in which they emphasise how all
successful web applications of the future – including transformations of current
Web 1.0 applications – will be open, peer and sharing focussed and global in activity.
And boy, do these authors practice what they preach! The last chapter is written
by viewers.
If all this is of interest, take a good look at Dion Hinchcliffe's Web 2.0 blog,
or just browse for 'Web 2.0 + business applications', or 'Web 2.0 + business applications
+ blogs'.
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