The Changing Face of The Web

A revolution is starting to happen. There is a movement starting to grow that will forever change how we share information. It is Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 is not a new internet. It is not the latest software fad from Microsoft. It is how people will access and process information in the future. Web 2.0 is a phrase that was coined by O’Reilly Media in 2004 during a conference discussing upcoming technologies.

The point of Web 2.0 is to allow a great multitude of users to effect the current technology. Web 2.0 relies upon creativity and peer response to heighten one’s productivity and experiences. It gives everyone input into how the product is developed. This is known as open source technology. Open source is a program that is able to be manipulated by anyone. The most famous example of an open source website is Wikipedia. There, users not only can read the article for each subject, but edit them as well. It has become highly successful and leading Web 2.0 company. No longer will programmers guess at what will be features consumers desire, the consumers will drive the programmers in the proper direction. The purpose of Web 2.0 is to no longer force customers to purchase pre-packaged software and continually install updates. The websites become the program and it becomes the job of the site’s host to keep it current. There are those among the leading authorities though that thinks that by allowing everyone to have access causes a “too many cooks spoil the broth” syndrome. While they welcome extra sets of eyes to look for possible weak security points, they worry that control can quickly become lost.

The web’s nature is that of change. It changed how quickly we could receive information. It changed business practices, teaching methods, and opened avenues thought either dead or impossible. It changed not only the way we purchase goods and services it changed the way we communicate and the way we learn. It has made our planet extremely small. It used to be thought of as unsafe to shop online, but seemingly everybody has purchased something off of EBay at one point or another. Instant messaging, email, and social networks such as Myspace and Facebook have ripped away boundaries and have re-allowed people to use the written word to share their thoughts and feelings with the world instantly.

Speaking of EBay, it is another great example of an early Web 2.0 pioneer. A Web 2.0 company delivers a service that people are in need of. It does not give them a dead-end program; instead it offers them a way to connect with other people with similar interests. In EBay’s case, they don’t actually sell any products themselves. They offer a “community site” that allows searchers to interact with one another. They are simply the go-between, in much the same way that a delivery truck delivers stock from warehouse to store.

Another key Web 2.0 feature is called Tagging. Tagging is the process of placing websites into personally defined categories to make searching easier. The study of this is known as a Folksonomy. Each time someone tags a site it is grouped with other sites with the same or similar tags. This allows a more “personal” approach to keyword searching as opposed to “cold” technical keywords. Sites like del.icio.us allow people to save their searches and access them from any internet interface in the world. No longer are people chained to their own computer. They can get to their saved sites from their cell phone, blackberry, PDA, anything that can get online with.

Other popular Web 2.0 sites include Digg.com, Shoutwire, Technorati, and BitTorrent.

Web 2.0 is not just for the internet though. Chris Anderson, Editor of Wired magazine and author of The Long Tail believes that business models will change because of this revolution. “We are moving form mass markets to millions of niche markets” he states in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.

He goes on to say “In the old model, markets have limited shelf space. You only have room to stock the things that are most popular. Now we have markets that have infinite shelf space that don't have to discriminate between the conventionally good or the things that predictably sell well. We can offer everything and then measure what's actually popular. As a result, you can access the whole curve, and what you find is that the long tail, or niche item, is a big and growing market.”

Only time will tell if Web 2.0 is the next step in the evolution of technology or merely a crossroads where it a makes a turn. One thing is certain though, whatever it is it is bound to change where we are now.

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