The Death of Web 2.0? C’mon…
I am so tired of hearing certain people who have no idea what they’re talking about speaking about the death of Web 2.0. If you’ve been reading my blog, you know my belief regarding Web 2.0 - Web 2.0 a better and more effective way for us to act upon the same human needs that we’ve always had such as connecting, communicating, and receiving feedback from others. Social networks, blogs, and podcasts, represent our new way of communicating and interacting with the outside world. The need to communicate and receive feedback from the outside world has been with us since the dawn of time. This need is not going anywhere. Once people received the ability to vote, upload, and create content on the Web, there is no turning back. Web 2.0 is here to stay.
I do believe that today we see too many Web 2.0 products that are practically offering the same services and that at some point soon the process of “survival of the fittest” will take place in our Web 2.0 world. During this time we will see only those Web 2.0 services which best accomodate our needs outlast their competitors. We will view the fall of many startups and the rise of a few dominant ones in each sector. The strength of these dominant leaders, such as Facebook and MySpace in the social arena and LinkedIn in the professional arena, should not be underestimated. These services will flourish, improve, and lead us to better, more customized and personalized Web solutions in the future. These Web 2.0 platforms will not disappear - they will simply improve to better and more effectively satisfy our needs. Web 2.0 will not die - it will simply evolve.
Thanks to Ludwig for the pic.
September 27th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
Web 2.0 will never die, because it was never born. There is just The Web, all of this Web 2.x, Web 3.x, blah, blah etc. is just a lot of hot-air and vacuous buzzwords. The Web has been evolving since it was created and it is what it is at any given point in time.
The definition of “Web 2.0″ is about a meaningful as the definition of the term “hair metal,” which is to say “absolutely meaningless.”
September 27th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
Phillip:
I see your point regarding the web simply evolving and yet we still need such terms as Web 1.0, Web 2.0 in order to define different periods of web development. The same “meaningless” argument could be made regarding giving different names to different periods in history, as history is also always simply evolving. And yet we define different periods of history by different terms.
September 27th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
[…] Death of Web 2.0 deemed premature. Web 2.0 can’t die until irrational exuberance has killed our rational thought (all of it), VCs, start pouring on the gasoline, and the Net-arati have produced a new Industry Standard and a new Jason Calacanis […]
September 28th, 2007 at 12:17 am
Without doubt we are seeing a transformational shift online from most other mediums. Most likely a little past tip of iceberg but still enormous growth to come; we are talking about the globe here!
September 28th, 2007 at 1:39 am
Great topic Ayelet
I have a different perspective on the what/where we are on the Web x.x stage. Many people view Web 2.0 as the time were user-generated content and social networking rule the world. While this is true, it is only partially true.
You also have to look at this in context with the different underling technologies that allow us to communicate in so many different ways. Just look at this page on your site - I see MyBlogLog, Flicker, Twitter, RSS subscription and Technorati - oh yeah - powered by WordPress. All are different “me tools” built on various platforms. Google Maps or Kayak.com (a very cool travel website) would not be possible without the use of AJAX or other rich internet applications.
Also from a business prospective, how do you get a handle on this? How do you measure the effectiveness of visitors engaging with your organization with so many different channels? This is a challenge that I see very frequently with my clients, as I am sure in many ways you do as well.
From a date-driven view (something I tend to do), this is a good post to relate to,
http://blog.webanalyticsdemystified.com/weblog/2007/09/web-analytics-20-i-am-more-worried-about-web-analytics-30.html
September 28th, 2007 at 4:16 am
Hello Ayelet,
Web 2.0 is just the beginning…I think that 2.0 is one of the first evolution stages of something that will keep growing in future.
I see ‘web 2.0′ as a tag for the period we are living in.
Which tag will we give to the next evolution stage?! Web 3.0? or maybe we will start to feel more the influence of the ’semantic web’? To early to say…
Nice post,
Andrea
September 28th, 2007 at 8:20 am
I see the distinct difference in Web 2.0 being short, up till now, brief conversation with a bottom up approach. Where I saw pre-Web 2.0 being about polished broadcast messaging from a top-down approach. I think Web 2.0 allows consumers to interact with companies at levels of the organization not otherwise possible several years ago. For example, we now have executives that blog and consumers who read and comment on their thoughts. There have been numerous examples where consumers have made a difference by gaining access to executive management through blogs. In a pre-Web 2.0 world, this would not have been possible. The ability for consumers to interact at different levels of an organization and make a difference is gaining popularity. I think you will see that companies of the future are not about one size fits all, but more about product customization and personalization for consumers.
September 28th, 2007 at 8:23 am
[…] Phillip Rhodes Comment on “The Death of Web 2.0? C?mon?” […]
September 28th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Doug:
Thanks for the mention on your blog.
Walter:
I agree. Web 2.0 still has enormous growth potential around the world.
Jeff:
Very good point indeed. Web 2.0 is not only about user generated content. It is about all the me tools which you mentioned - widgets, rss feeds, etc., and also of course, Ajax.
From a business prospective it is hard as you say to measure such things as successful conversations with your audience and brand awareness. However, as I wrote in my previous post to this one, relationships are the new metric for ROI and only businesses that understand this will be able to successfully market their product in the future.
Thanks for the interesting article. As I do see the amazing potential of the mobile internet industry, I will point out that it is the best Web 2.0 applications which will continue to be offered in the future.
Andrea:
You’re right. Web 2.0 is just a tag for the phenomenon we are seeing now, and yet its core roots are here to stay even if the name of the tag will be changed in the future.
Chris:
Web 2.0 has opened the conversation channel between the consumer and the company. Now consumers are holding the power more than ever over how they want their products/applications to work.
September 29th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
I think that Web 2.0 never born. It’s only marketing issue - all of the Web 2.0 and more.
I agree with Phlipp’s words.
September 29th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
To all those who agree with Phillip’s words, I must say:Where have you been in the last couple of years? Web 2.0 is live and kickin’ in MySpace, in facebook, and elsewhere.