Web 2.0 is white hot at the moment, and not just because of the hype, but because of the insane amount of stuff that‘s being built for it right now.
I know, I know. It sounds like the Cluetrain Manifesto all over again. Well, it kinda is.
Except that it‘s actually happening today all over the place and you can use it now (see BaseCamp, BackPack, del.icio.us, Flickr, Kiko, DropCash, Meebo, AjaxOffice, Bindows and dozens of others if you‘re not sure.)
Of course, VCs have latched onto Web 2.0 big time and that‘s fueling fears of a new bubble. But this only obscures the real value in it.
I‘ve been closely examining O‘Reilly‘s Web 2.0 meme map and it really is a set of interlocking, reinforcing concepts. The more I study the Web 2.0, the more I realize this visualization is key.
Imagine:1)
Using the entire Internet as your API for new applications. The leverage and reuse possibilities are probably boundless.
2)
Permalink requirements make your Web 2.0 applications stable, even when they‘re based on a dozen underlying services all over the Web.
3)
Trust becomes a critical service in the Web 2.0 platform (which is the entire Web). Leveraging
Wikipedia entries, Google PageRanks, Amazon Reviews, del.icio.us bookmark counts, and many others makes collective trust a measurable, quantifiable, and so vitally, a reusable service in the Web 2.0 stack.
4)
Remixing data with high quality Web 2.0-friendly sources yields new possibilities and value. This is one of the bigger concepts that would help many organizations leverage Web 2.0 the most. When they ask: Why care about Web 2.0? Tell them: You may only be realizing a fraction of your potential. Read the Wikipedia entry article link above to see how remixing information can quickly add vast value to your IT infrastructure.
As important though, is the tangible value which the Web 2.0 provides today:
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Leveraging The Long Tail. Amazon and eBay used this idea to build companies worth billions and billions. This is how. Web 2.0 provides both the audience and the services.
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Small Pieces, Loosely Joined. Monolithism is dead, we can‘t build big stuff like that any more. It‘s not agile nor can what you build be aggregated, deliver sustained value, or even survive for long.
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Self-Service and Participation. Fostering this lets you capture new value in your Web 2.0 apps 24 hours a day.
Examples: Tagging, ranking, trackbacks, reputations.
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Radical Decentralization. Single sources of function are single sources of failure and are unacceptable now. And they don‘t scale to either deliver or capture significant value.
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Emergent Behavior. Your Web 2.0 functionality can be reused, remixed, aggregated, and syndicated and the resulting value reintegrated back into your application.
There‘s lots more and all of the tenets of Web 2.0 feed back into each other, it really is intriguing.
I know you won‘t be convinced without examples. Play with the some of the Web 2.0 I mentioned at the beginning of this post.
And then Google for ways people are remixing, aggregating, and syndicating this stuff. You will be floored.
