What is Web 2.0?

• Posted by B Jones on December 6th, 2005 - Comment on this Post »

There has been a lot of talk lately about “Web 2.0″, and if you are like me, you were kind of only getting a really vague picture, if you were understanding the concept at all. I think this can be attributed to hundreds of people, who had no clue what Web 2.0 was, writing long drawn out articles about it. Well, this isn’t one of those. Its just the main features. Short and simple.
Web 2.0 Features

• One of the most important features of Web 2.0 is that a lot of the value is contributed by users.
• More users = More value
• Users can experience content and goods on their own terms (RSS).
• Users take part in the creation of the site.
• Users can customize their experience.

One really good example of Web 2.0. is Delicious (http://del.icio.us/). It is a tag based, social bookmarking sites. Each user has a profile where he or she can compile a list of favorite sites. Sites are then ranked based on user popularity, so del.icio.us is a great resource for finding good websites.

One reason why the flood of Web 2.0 articles were kind of confusing is because they made it seem like this was some kind of brand new technology. Well its not. These features have been around for a while now.

So I hope this article helps to clarify the definition of Web 2.0 for some of you. Otherwise, don’t worry too much about it. Its all around you, and you are actually using it now. This blog is Web 2.0.

B

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