What is WEB 2.0

You might have heard the phrase “web 2.0” a lot of late, and with that phrase, you might be wondering exactly what this web 2.0 is. It’s not a tangible thing. There hasn’t been an overall upgrade to the internet framework. Instead, when you hear someone mention Web 2.0, what they’re referring to is the language used to describe the internet and subsequently how people are using the internet.

Essentially, what Web 2.0 is, is a change in the way software developers use the internet, and the products that are produced. For example, there has been a sharp shift in the reason people get online in the last ten years.

If you look back to 1997, when the internet boom was first taking off, the most popular websites were all business media and a couple of simple webpage building sites, with Geocities sitting atop the pile. However, after the revolution that was e-commerce and the attack that Google has mounted on the market share that is the internet, things changed.

Fast forward a decade and today’s top internet sites are composed of the two or three search engines everyone uses and half a dozen social networking and user created content sites. The Wiki-mentality has taken the world by storm and today’s websites are largely collaborations of mass opinion and knowledge rather than the top down dissemination that the old media always relied upon.

Web 2.0 is the mentality in which these new sites operate, and the services they offer. Instead of using the existing technology to put online a singular web page with a singular opinion, created by a corporation or an individual, today’s websites offer tools for everyone to use and create opinions and share with each other.

Today’s browsers are able to offer users entire programs and applications for immediate use. Google has integrated word processing into its features and Flash videos have made instant media easier than ever, without the resource hungry media players.

Web 2.0 is about innovation and thinking of new features that offer web-base programs for immediate use, and the mass sharing of ideas with the world. Users create, own, and change the data on a website now, instead of just viewing it.

Essentially, when someone uses web 2.0 to describe an aspect of the internet, they are referring to the democratic, user initiated, feature rich websites that have become economic and social giants in today’s internet. You Tube, Myspace, Facebook, and Blogging have become so massive because of the ability to allow users total freedom over how they present themselves and interact with others, that the internet itself has changed dramatically.

And so, describing web 2.0 is as simple as pointing you to any of the most popular websites that you likely use on a daily basis. Wikipedia is an example of web 2.0, along with Flickr, your best friend’s blog entries, and any piece of software that allows you to share your interests with the world in a social networking atmosphere.