Web 2.0: The Next Generation07 October 2005
USA-based publisher O'Reilly first coined the term 'Web 2.0', using it for a conference. CEO Tim O'Reilly remembers:
"Dale Dougherty, web pioneer and O'Reilly VP, noted that far from having "crashed", the web was more important than ever, with exciting new applications and sites popping up with surprising regularity. What's more, the companies that had survived the collapse seemed to have some things in common. Could it be that the dot-com collapse marked some kind of turning point for the web, such that a call to action such as 'Web 2.0' might make sense?"
Even so, other explanations are available. Wikipedia suggests:
"Web 2.0 refers to a perceived transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving web applications to end users. The proponents of this thinking expect that ultimately Web 2.0 services will replace desktop computing applications for many purposes."
Web analyst Richard MacManus puts this more simply:
"For corporate people, the Web is a platform for business. For marketers, the Web is a platform for communications. For journalists, the Web is a platform for new media. For geeks, the Web is a platform for software development. And so on."
Journalist Om Malik adds:
"I define Web 2.0 as a 'collection of technologies - be it VoIP, Digital Media, XML, RSS, Google Maps... whatever... that leverage the power of always on, high speed connections and treat broadband as a platform, and not just a pipe to connect."
Look for examples of Web 2.0 and you'll find the online photo management and sharing tool Flickr, the free encyclopedia Wikipedia, and the project management application Basecamp.
The reality is that Web 2.0 is the switch from static web sites to fully-fledged web-based applications that offer increased interactivity and personalisation.
