Web 2.0 – The new era of the internet?

The keyword "Web 2.0" enjoys great popularity among the media. Let alone google with with an impressive amount of 208.000.000 hits on this art term which comprises plenty of technical, social and economic trends that in turn have developed within the last few years. Web 2.0 was coined by the publisher Tim 'Reilly in 2004 when he was thinking about a title for a developers conference to characterize the new age of the internet use.

What characterizes Web 2.0 applications?

From a technical point of view, Web 2.0 is merely a combination of already existing web technologies. The reason for the social and economic signification of Web 2.0 is the change of passive internet consumers to active participants. On the internet, users publish and create content on their own, they exchange photos and videos, discuss, find friends, business partners and a new life partner. The internet has become an individually shapeable social space for talking, telling and participating.

Characteristics of applications that refer to Web 2.0 can be outlined as follows:

Web 2.0 applications are content-ridden, i.e. content is more important than the layout and design. Content of websites is not anymore defined by the host but rather by users who generate content on their own, so-called user-generated content. The host merely offers the platform.Web 2.0 applications do not anymore follow the classic life cycle of software, projects remain always as beta versions.

Successful Web 2.0 applications

Successful Web 2.0 business models are Youtube, a platform for private videos, Myspace for networking and music or Wikipedia, a free online cyclopedia where users can improve content by changing or updating it. A well-known example for a Web 2.0 application that comes from Berlin is StudiVZ, a platform for networking and exchange of information for students.

Future

The idea of Web 2.0 will have a strong impact on the use of the internet of businesses and consumers within the next few years. Users will become the central point of "their" individual net. A web that is in line with the necessities of users will replace the PC more and more and blur the lines between the different kinds of media. The availability of data, software and services makes it possible for everyone to start their own service - plenty of new business models will pop up.