Web 2.0

You have probably heard the phrase "Web 2.0" thrown around a lot.  Its used frequently by the tech-savvy to describe a trend in technology that has grown ever more prominent since the rise of the internet - particularly in the last five years or so.


Wikipedia defines Web 2.0 as:

A term associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. A Web 2.0 site allows users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators (prosumers) of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to websites where users (consumers) are limited to the passive viewing of content that was created for them. 

Web 1.0, therefore, represents a time when websites were generally used to throw information out there, to be retrieved by anyone who wanted it.  Today, users and creators are one and the same.  It no longer takes a tech or an IT department to create a website, build a blog, or publish a video.  As users became creators, the line between the two has blurred such that most current websites are interactive.  Sites have surveys, forms, games, etc. that allow users to both receive and send information, interacting with a dynamic webpage.  At the very least, a good many of the companies with a grounded web presence offer links to social networking sites like Facebook or LinkedIn in an effort to engage users.  Engaged users are not only more likely to keep coming back, but they can help you to continually adapt the site to bring in more users.


This give and take of information and ideas is key in the world of online business, building a web presence, and even politics.  Social media and Web 2.0 have molded our world in ways subtle and obvious.  It was not terribly long ago that Twitter helped civilians coordinate a revolution in Egypt, after all, and though some claim Web 2.0 is a fad, this seems to me to be more of an evolution.