Part 1 Of 5 What Is Web 2.0?
By now you have heard the term Web 2.0 numerous times. And if your still stumped as to what exactly Web 2.0 is, I have created a 5 step guide that explains the various aspects of the term. Part 1 will cover the question, What Exactly Is Web 2.0? Look for the other parts of the guide to be added later on in the week.
Part 1 of 5 - What Exactly Is Web 2.0?
If you ask this question to 100 different people, chances are you’ll have 100 different answers. Sites brimming with fresh ideas and technological innovation are springing up all across the web. Bedroom start-ups are once again creating sites that are going global, and fledgling web companies are being bought out by big businesses such as CNET and Yahoo! It’s as if the dotcom boom and bust of 2001 never happened.
The term Web 2.0 was first coined by O’ Reilly Media. Web 2.0 describes a slew of new sites that have gradually appeared over the last two years. They are popular, people oriented sites that pose a definite design and functionality challenge to the staid and sober status quo, typified by the likes of Amazon and other e-commerce Goliaths. These sites are often social environments where ordinary people provide the content, and every thing’s free or as close to free as possible.
There isn’t one technical aspect that defines all of this new activity. Instead, a series of circumstances have come together at the same time. The first circumstance is broadband Internet access. Not only has it made the web access faster, it’s also encouraged the uptake of Internet Services more than ever before. It’s enabled the Internet to become a true multimedia phenomenon. Instead of boring plain text, the Internet now offers an abundance of content for the post-MTV generation.
The second circumstance is today’s 16 to 25 year-olds grew up in a world that already had the World Wide Web. While their parents were using the Internet to buy Tom Jones CD’s on Ebay, the kids were networking with it, making use of instant messaging, bulletin boards, and Peer to Peer software. They were blogging and building their own sites.
A lot of people would argue that Web 2.0 is not Web 2.0 at all rather it’s the final flourish of Web 1.0 The original vision that web inventor Tim Berners-Lee had was a collaborative on line environment, where pages would be editable by anyone and communication was unhindered by distance. With the wave of Web 2.0 inspiration, these initial aspirations are once again rising to the forefront. The most lauded of these new sites are about social interaction and collaborative content. A series of converging technologies has made all of this possible, but it’s the spirit behind the concept that really counts.
Over the next few days I will be outlining some of these technologies, design principles and coding techniques that provide a Web 2.0 experience.
Reference: Practical Web Design
Tell me what your definition of Web 2.0 is by leaving a comment.
Subscribe To Posts
Subscribe Via Email
Stay Updated Via Twitter
Loading ...
Lorelle on 
Steve on 
grande on 
Damn Hairy Human on 
Jeffro on 
John Kolbert
Andrew
GrokCode
prof kienstra
Brad
Stefan Vervoort
Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins
Comment by Robby Rusell on 18 July 2007
As the co-founder owner of a Ruby on Rails Design, Development, and Hosting firm, I’ve had the opportunity to personally work on, build, and deploy many web 2.0-type applications. While the following isn’t true of all new applications that are being launched under this trend, I do believe there are some common characteristics between them. I’ll try to elaborate.
In the beginning, there was the web. Much of the web was a very personal experience for people. We began to see banks moving online and we’d take care of our bills now. Many people didn’t pay for online services (except for maybe the exception of porn, which was still very personal) and much of our social interactions was still being facilitated through other channels. Over the past few years, we’ve seen a huge shift towards applications focusing, not directly towards the individual, but towards groups of people. Collaboration is something that many of of our striving for in our personal and professional careers right now. How can we, as a society, get more out of life together? Often times, the answer to this is… working together.
We’re seeing many startups banking on this collective-style approach to solving problems, whether they be working in the health industry, stock market, developers themselves, DIY (hah) home improvement, to publishing companies. Not only are products aimed at facilitating collaboration amongst a distinct group, they’re also opening much of this to the public, which plants the seeds for other people to take these concepts and adopt them in their own communities.
So, wheat is Web 2.0… to me? Web 2.0 is about us.
Comment by Luis Galarza on 19 July 2007
Robby that was a good information about Web 2.0, and Jeffro you always have some good info here, I want to see the rest of your post about What is Web 2.0?
Another thing. What you guys think will be Web 3.0, Web 4.0 and beyond?
Just I will love to see your inputs on that…
Luis Galarza
Free Internet Marketing Training
.
Comment by Stacey Higginbotham on 19 July 2007
Jeff, I’m interested in speaking with you about InviteShare. I’m working on an article about invite-only betas and was hoping to find someone who had tried to create a network around them. Please shoot me an email as soon as you can. Thanks!
Comment by Jeffro on 19 July 2007
Hello Luis. Check out this post I made concerning Web 3.0 http://www.jeffro2pt0.com/defining-web-30/ Considering were are only in the midst of Web 2.0, I want to see it continue instead of jumping on the 3.0 bandwagon.
Comment by Jeffro on 19 July 2007
Hi Stacey. I never did reach the point of creating the social network that would of centered around the idea of sharing invites. You would have better luck talking to the other Jeff, Jeff Broderick of InviteShare.com as he is the one successfully pulled the idea off.
Comment by Dr.Ritalin on 23 July 2007
Thank you Jeffro for useful article. It was ages I wanted to know what exactly is WEB 2.0 !