In a nutshell, Web 2.0 is an approach to the internet characterized by the following mechanisms and functions:
- facilitating communication,
- collaboration,
- interoperability/interaction,
- information sharing
- FEEDBACK and commenting
In other words, instead of a static HTML page with functionality that stops after the page loads, the functionality on a page with Web 2.0 continues. It essentially allows users to interact with the site's page as they would a software program. Users can communicate to each other and you, create content independently or collaboratively, and interact through mechanisms allowing the user to determine the look, feel or content of a page.
But to me it is even more. To me it is a new way of communicating. Although it is definatly the technology and availability of the technoloy that allows Web 2.0 to flourish, it is also the the new wave of open information that allows Web 2.0 to exist. This to me is very important. And I think it changes the dynamic between the communicators and the intended audiences. Barriers that formely existed between business and clients, employers and employees, news agents and viewers are breaking down, yippee! to that.
I still talk to too many clients and potential clients who are very scared of feedback, that just want to push communications one way. In fact working for a very largs corporation I have exactly the same arguements. management have a tendency to be extremely scared of what communication goes out and how feedback is received. I know I know, seems off topic, but I don't think so. Web 2.0 gives us all the facility to be transparent. And if negative feedback comes your way, good, it means you can improve and adapt.
This is just one very simple example, there are many more. I deal mainly with start-up businesses and SMB's. Most of them just want a website, great, haven't we heard that one before. Done right and choosing the right functions is a sure way of making even a small business website prosper and do what it is meant to do: inform, advertise, promote and make the deal easy and quick.
I am including here pieces of an article found on Killersites because I strongly agree with what they have to say.
Functionality Before Style
Web 2.0 is not about style. This is one of the areas where many designers, and perhaps clients, get confused. Though trends in design have certainly changed in the past ten years (not unlike any other school of design: from cars to houses), Web 2.0 is about functionality, not looks.
I know many will agree with me. After all, the prolific use of rounded corners, narrow content areas that didn’t span the screen, transparency, etc. came into use about the same time as Web 2.0 functions did. Thus, it’s easy to relate the two. However, separating one from the other liberates the designer to focus on the two very different areas of a site: design and function.
Common Uses of Web 2.0
Examples of Web 2.0 functionality abound. Some examples:
- Communication methods such as those in private messaging systems and “wall” systems (Facebook).
- Collaboration mechanisms as seen in tools such as wikis and Google Docs.
- Interoperability/interaction — functions that allow the user to change the site (not just cool, but very useful for Accessibility).
- Information sharing, aka user-generated content.
Interoperability/interaction is easy to identify. These are any functions that put the power to change the website in the hands of the user. It is, perhaps, as easy as a slide show that the user can scroll through, a lightbox image gallery, or multimedia presentations that the user can start, stop or somehow modify. More complicated examples are evident in Yahoo’s MyYahoo! and iGoogle. Both allow users to include and exclude feeds, move modules around, change skins, etc.
Information sharing, or user-generated content, is evident in any mechanism that allows users to upload information to the site. Commenting, photo galleries, real-time blogging, and any other way to facilitate allowing the user to create what’s on the site/page are included here.
These last two categories, perhaps because they’re either the easiest to insert on a site or because they have the flashiest presentations (the wow factor) are used in over-abundance all the time.
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