Web 2.0!? Great…Does this mean I have to buy a new internet?

So what the heck is Web 2.0? The phrase has been soaring around the internet like a pesky fly for quite some time, yet it remains a mystery to anyone outside the web development sphere. Now the phrase is turning up in the outside world leaving confused expressions in its wake. Well have no fear, for I shall probe the mucky depths of the internet and dredge up some shiny slivers of much needed explanation.

First off let me explain that Web 2.0 does not mean that you will have to buy a new internet… I am sure you already understand that, but my post title may have a scared a few readers. I know it scared me.

What ever happened to Web 1.0?

The history of Web 2.0 goes all the way back to the days of Web 1.0 or as most people call it, the dot com bubble. After the bubble popped in the fall of 2001 all but a few internet companies remained in business. Some feared that the days of internet startups were over. Boy were they wrong.

After only a few years, new and very successful businesses started popping up all over the web. The difference between these new startups and the old ones is the essence of the Web 2.0 phrase. It’s basically a new model for doing business on the internet.

Not all new sites are Web 2.0 sites.

There are a lot of people who slap the Web 2.0 label on anything they can. It started to be used more as a marketing phrase than a description of an internet movement. While there are some common visual themes that a lot of new sites use in order to call themselves Web 2.0, the actual core concept of the phrase is very rarely understood.

These days any site with shiny text, rounded corners, the “wet-floor” look, and the word “beta” slapped on their name are being called Web 2.0. When used in this context it is just a buzzword with little to no real meaning. But when used correctly the phrase entails so much more.

There are eight core concepts behind Web 2.0 as put forth by Tim O’Reilly.

• The web is a platform
• Users can control the action
• Provide services, not software
• Build an architecture of participation
• Design to be scalable
• Remixable data source and data transformations
• Device independence
• Harness collective intelligence

A web site does not need to meet all of these criteria or any set thereof to be considered Web 2.0. These concepts are simply the main idea behind the movement.

To sum it all up, Web 2.0 is all about the users and how to make the internet a better place for them. True Web 2.0 companies are succeeding beyond the wildest dreams of the dot com era. By providing useful services in a friendly community environment, Web 2.0 sites are encouraging people to come back again and again to use, discuss, and even improve the company’s service.

Web 2.0. Power to the (internet) people.