July 15, 2008

The Basics of Web 2.0 - Don’t Fight the Internet

Wikipedia defines Web 2.0 as “a second generation of services available on the web that lets people collaborate and share information online”.

Web 2.0 is not a new version of the World Wide Web but an improvement of existing methodologies by utilizing the strengths of the web as a platform. The expansion of Web technologies has made it easier for people to interact by uploading and downloading content, with sites such as YouTube, eBay and Google.

Over the last 5+ years we have gradually seen the introduction of several web based technologies such as social bookmarking, social software, podcasts, wikis and RSS feeds. Each of these technologies has sought to improve the users experience and what it means to use the web, thus allowing the user to take more control.

The original perception of the “web” was as a one-way information superhighway with little or no interaction with the user and only served to interlink documents. Web 2.0 sites allow the user to do more than simply retrieve information. The user becomes the architect for that site by participating and generating content.

Improvements in web technologies have seen the introduction of Rich Internet Applications. It is possible that you have heard phrases such as “Ajax” and “Silverlight” thrown around. These are techniques that have evolved and have the potential to improve the user experience on a browser based application…

By improving the user experience of a site you can drive in more traffic. The introduction of Web 2.0 applications has seen the birth of a whole new economy. The obvious example here would be eBay but with huge amounts of traffic being directed towards commercially driven sites, many more companies are reaping the rewards of the revenue generated by users wanting to share their lives with the web!

- Mark Grassick, Lead Web Developer at Bluhalo (Part of the Mighty Mouse Digital Network: Gyro Digital)

Posted by Kristen

Tags: Communication, Web best practices