A while back, my friend Stii asked me how I would define Web 2.0. My answer to him was this: “Web 2.0 to me, is the democratization of content.” Meaning: We the users now hold the remote control of information. We decide what content we want to see and share with others. Often time web 2.0 platforms also develop according to how we the users end up using them.

Throughout time humans have always liked to interact and share with one another. Web 2.0 is only a digital extension of that desire. Web 2.0 communities are for us today what tribal or village communities used to be for our ancestors. They represent a place where we can make new connections, share details of our lives with them, and discuss topics that matter to us.

Our Web 2.0 communities have also gained a good deal of power in the last few years. Politicians and brands are now using these platforms to speak to and interact with us. See my post entitled Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You, But What Social Media Can Do For You.

With Web 2.0, we have taken the freedom of speech amendment to its maximum. We must remember however, that as easy as it is to upload content that we do want to see, it’s just as easy for us to stumble upon content that we don’t want to see. That’s the downside of democracy. But still a small price to pay for freedom.

Thanks to Brian Solis for this pic.

Technorati tags: web 2.0, stii, community, democracy, content, information, connections, branding, media, news, blogs, social tools, youtube, freedom of speech

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 14th, 2007 at 12:40 pm and is filed under Web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.