Web 2.0 and The State of Confusion

The confusion of the term “Web 2.0” is slowly diminishing and getting widely known and accepted. Although with the different published opinions among the experts, of exactly what Web 2.0 really is, has slowed down the process of understanding the concept.

It has been said by the experts that Web 2.0 is a buzzword. What is a buzzword? Buzzwords are typically intended to impress one’s audience with the pretense of knowledge, according to Wikipedia. Buzzwords typically make sentences difficult to dispute, on account of their cloudy meaning. Is Web 2.0 a buzzword? My thoughts on this is… maybe….maybe not.

Without using any hype or buzzwords I am going to give a compact definition of Web 2.0 for a non-tech audience to grasp the fundaments and leave the complexities to the so called noted experts.

Web 2.0 is not a new technology. It is not a product, company or service. It is a way of interacting with others on the Internet.

Some say that Tim O’Reilly (a conference organizer, publisher and speaker) popularized the phrase Web 2.0 at a 3-day conference in San Francisco, California in October 2004. The phrase “Web 2.0” was meaningless to the majority of people until that time.

My personal opinion, Tim O’Reilly (I'm sure without intention) surfaced all this confusion with his attempts to clarify just what Web 2.0 meant.

Web 2.0 sites have been around since the beginning of the Internet; these sites were just not labeled for its characteristics in the earlier years. Of course as technology progressed so did the functions of the site progress.

Web 2.0 is a term or label being used to describe sites that are interacting with members or customers. These sites allow people to automatically change Web 2.0 sites by adding content and interacting with other users of the site, would be my first, most compact and simplest definition.

An example is people becoming involved in the development of a site by participating in the creation of content (Forums) and interacting with others using that sites application, is a defining feature of Web 2.0.

Co-developers also known as “architecture participants” are looking for ways to get online users interested and involved. The reason for that is the more you use the sites application the better that site becomes.

Wikipedia another example of a Web 2.0 site (the anyone-can-edit online encyclopedia) is written by readers, and with more participants content contributions increase the value of Wikipedia's site.

Besides Wikipedia, other well-known Web 2.0 sites are social-networking sites like MySpace, a community site where users can create their own page and then invite their friends and others to join.

If you as a visitor to a site, can add information and receive feedback you can consider that site to be a Web 2.0. If you can add photos, post comments, add a video and sound bits to that site you are visiting, you can say that site is a Web 2.0.

In other words…… Web 2.0 is a term or label, which has been given to websites that have certain interacting characteristics that are available for you as a user or visitor.

Do I feel this information is important? No…It is only the definition of a concept and a phrase “WEB 2.0”. You will continue to function and interact with other Web sites whether you understand or not.