What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 is like an all encompassing technology / term. Its elements include Collaboration through Wikis, Blogs, Social software, rich user experiences, expanded reach through mobile interfaces, feeds & syndication, mashups, Integration through lightweight REST-ful APIs, Collective Intelligence (light weight reporting to heavy data mining), may be even Search. It would be interesting to explore how businesses will benefit from or use Web 2.0. I would love to get your views.

I think the 'Web 2.0' strategy isn't about the technology or activities by themselves. It's a theory on which communication is based. Instead of the company forcing it's ideas or thoughts outward (Web 1.0), we can now create an open dialog and communication, giving the user a voice. With this communication, we are able to capture data straight from the consumer and learn about their wants, needs, desires, dreams, and behaviors, then react accordingly. We can integrate our companies and brands into the actual lifestyle of each and every consumer, building Brand Awareness, Brand Loyalty, and Brand Saturation.

Brands are now becoming extremely dynamic in nature. The power is switching hands from the company to the consumer. It is a great and exciting time to be alive.

Aside from the consumer now being armed with an infinite knowledge base and having the power of the internet to spread word-of-mouth faster and far more reaching than ever before, businesses should look internally at how their employees would benefit from 2.0 culture.

As the baby boomers retire and the nexters join in to the corporate mix, companies should be prepared to communicate with their employee base in a manner that addresses how they have been raised - online and on demand.

Further that with the capture of knowledge in a collaborative endeavor and you have the business case for implementing social media in the workplace. Grass roots and "lead from any chair" initiatives are the way we are moving as a society. Companies that rely solely on traditional methods of marketing and chain of command will be at a loss to compete in that world.

Attracting and retaining talent as well as keeping in step with customers is key to survival; employees and customers are no longer in a position to be controlled, they need to be understood and responded to. That's how companies will benefit from Web 2.0. It's not the specifics of the technology; they are merely the vehicle. It's adapting to the culture that is the imperative.

The importance of Web 2.0 is providing users the ability to engage and participate. How best to accomplish this is relevant to the user base of the organization and how they can most effectively engage. In my experience too many organizations are viewing Web 2.0 as a virtual Chinese menu of features to plug into their Web properties. This is the absolute wrong way to add value to your Web presence.

For example, one of my clients is a help/support site for a rather large media entity. Allowing their users the simple ability to comment on help articles increases the effectiveness of their content and the value to their community. Web 2.0 doesn't need to be super complex or extraordinarily new and innovative. You just have to provide an effective vehicle for your users and community to interact. This provides more value to your users which ultimately will equal success for your business.

Reference: http://www.spurcommunications.com/

How do these Web 2.0 companies generate revenue?

I have been mulling over some 'fun' things that I'd like to put up on the internet but, I cannot seem to figure out how some of these online sites make their revenue. Can it all be from ad revenue?

For example, break.com is now even paying for content. And can bestparking.com be making it from listing parking lots (and shaking down the lot management)? Granted they only service 3 cities so maybe that's doable. I didn't notice any ads.

Then there's those 43things.com guys: funded by amazon + ads by google

I could go on but I think you get the point. Can these sites really survive on ad revenue? Are they waiting for someone to buy them for their user base? Am I mixing up a few different revenue models here?

you can find out the 25 companies and about them by visiting here http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/biz2/0702/gallery.nextnet.biz2/index.html
I work closely with a lot of Business 2.0 and social media startups(and juggernauts)... so it is interesting to get insight from all of the brilliant peers on here about what upcoming companies they really see exploding! If you have one that isn't on the list tell us about it!

I recently read a post entitled "If Facebook or Twitter Charged $30/Month Would You Pay?" it has got such an outstanding response from all of you on all of my questions (thank you so much by the way), I thought I would share this one with you as well.

The link to the post can be found below. I have outlined a few of my arguments as to why I think social media platforms may not want to charge. Please feel free to read the post. I would love to hear some of your thoughts and ideas. I will make a post about the responses I receive and will publish them live in a few weeks for all to see (names are anonymous).

Below is the Conclusion I could get from reading many articles.

I just reopened the question to provide a quick summary of what I have learned:

- many of these sites are _definitely_ using ad revenue as their main (or only) source
- plentyoffish.com is one of the posterboys for making this work. See this interview:
http://www.workhappy.net/2006/06/interview_with_.html
- a big user base is also valuable to people
- SEO is very important
- and finally, yes, I am naive (but, hopefully, a little less so now)

Thanks for all of the feedback from all of you , too.

Read up on SEO techniques and visit this site:

http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/

I haven't looked through it yet but it seems helpful. I also bought a bunch of books last week including:

- web marketing for dummies (came highly recommended) (plus plain marketing)
- lucrative list building
- instant income

And I'm considering:

- http://seobook.com (can anyone comment on this book?)

The books just showed up in the mail. Thus, still have to read them so I can't actually comment on them yet.