What is Web 2.0?

The term "Web 2.0" was first coined at "a conference brainstorming session between O'Reilly Media and MediaLive International" (What is Web 2.0). The two companies were trying to determine if when the dot-com industry started collapsing, the web was going to go with it, and if this was going to be an overall trend for the internet buisness. Dale Dougherty, vice-president at O'Reilly, said that no, the downfall was simply a new beginning, which he called Web 2.0. Some examples for this new web were "Google AdSense, Flickr, BitTorrent, Napster, Wikipedia, blogging...cost per click, web services, participation, wikis, tagging, syndication" ( What is Web 2.0). One major piece of the Web 2.0 is the web as a platform or jumping off point for users searching for more information, user controlled content, services instead of packaged software, etc. (See What is Web 2.0 for flow chart) They outlined three example comparisons: Netscape vs. Google, DoubleClick vs. Overture and AdSense, ans Akami vs. BitTorrent. The first program or website were the mainstays of Web 1.0 while the second program or website are newer mainstays of the new Web 2.0. Another piece of Web 2.0 is "harnessing collective intelligence," or that the companies are embracing the ability to link to other people who have the information they may be looking for or who may be able to add important information to the discussion. Basically, not being scared to link to other sites. It doesn't mean you'll lose buisness, it just means the user will get more information from multiple places. Also, included in the collective intelligence is blogging, where great information can actually come from the user. Next, they discussed how the newest big-thing to own instead of a company that creates things that people use to access the web is data. "The race is on to own certain classes of core data: location, identity, calendaring of public events, product identifiers and namespaces" (What is Web 2.0). They also discussed that instead of having huge pieces of software people use for the internet, people are now looking for services. Companies must change their core operating procedures to: "Operations must become a core competency and Users must be treated as co-developers" ( What is Web 2.0 ). Another important piece is that software and services be universal and applicable to numerous types of devices. And finally, they discussed making the web full of rich user experiences.