Posts Tagged ‘digg’

Tobias today had a post about the term 'Web 2.0'. He's not the first to disagree to using the term, but I feel that Web 2.0 is not about technology, it's a movement. So I felt compelled to write a reply to his post. Since the comment got rather lengthy, and expresses my opinion about Web 2.0, I thought it would be appropriate to post the comment on my blog as well. Here's Tobias' point:

'So, please, stop that stupid "Web 2.0" term. It simply sucks.'

And here is my reply:

I disagree. Technically, you're correct. Yes, the technology has been around much longer, and yes, the web technically consists of hypertext and other technologies.

But that is not what Web 2.0 is about. Web 2.0 is a movement, not a technology. It is the next generation of the internet. It is much broader than the set of technologies it is built upon.

For starters, it is the difference between the early, mostly static, web that was just a way of presenting information in various ways, and the new, more interactive, collaborative, way to deal with information on the web.

And it's not just about Ajax. It's also about how sites like Flickr, del.icio.us and digg.com thrive and make the web to the collaborative experience it currently is.

It's also about how RSS and podcasts provide new ways of distributing information.

In many ways, the web is growing up. What better techie-term to apply to that than 'Web 2.0'? If you ask me, the term fits perfectly.

Also, it's not about marketing. The best 'web 2.0' sites hardly do marketing. They grow because their communities embraced them for what they provide, for their usefulness.

Was the renaissance bullshit because paints and brushes already existed years before? No. So the fact that the technologies that make up Web 2.0 are older than the realisation that we're moving in a new direction does not make Web 2.0 bullshit either.

It's evolution.

It's combining existing technologies in creative ways and making them work in a way beyond what their inventors had thought of.

So please, stop the 'the web 2.0 is bullshit because the technologies already existed for years' bashing and start to realize that the internet *IS* evolving and maturing to a degree where we can truly speak of a 'next generation'.

We're all already a part of it, whether we want to or not.

Welcome to the future.