Web 2.0 has become quite the buzzword lately and you’ve probably already heard different explanations already. It can become quite frustrating to get your arms around the entire concept and different interpretations of the concept. When asked, many people will just look it up on Wikipedia and then get sucked into why Tim O’Reilly is the father of Web 2.0 yada yada. Then you get sucked into one brainstorming cloud or mind map to the next until you are completely confused. Others will explain it best they can but only from their own POV (Point of View).
How Web 2.0 is Changing Marketing Forever
Here’s a fun test to try.
If you have different departments for IT, Development, Marketing, and Executive it is even more fun. If not, try going to the best person you can for each of these POV’s.
Go to someone from each background and ask them “What is Web 2.0?”
Here’s what you will probably get:
IT Department
IT says : What is Web 2.0? UGH! What’s wrong with you people! You’re like the 100th person to ask me that today. Go on to Wikipedia and see for yourself, I’m BUSY!
You say : Dude, lay off the Red Bull.
IT says : Sorry man, Web 2.0 has something to do with clouds or something. I don’t know what the heck that means but it sounds like there are no servers to manage so I’m out of a job.
You say : Oh, well uh… Good luck with that.
Developer
Developer says: What is Web 2.0? Well, that just means we gotta use AJAX. Lots and lots of AJAX.
You say: What the heck is AJAX? The cleaning stuff?
Developer says: No! What a n00b. AJAX stands for Asynchronous Javascript And XML. It’s all the rage right now.
You say : Right…. So what’s so important about Web 2.0?
Developer says : All I know is that the more I keep using AJAX in my new projects the more chances for me to get paid, go AJAX! <begins chanting “AJAX, AJAX” repeatedly>
You say : Nevermind, goodbye.
Marketing / Design
Marketing says : What is Web 2.0? All I know is that is needs to be shiny!
You say : Shiny? What needs to be shiny?
Marketing says: All of it! I just got this shhhaaweeet iPhone.Can’t get enough of those shiny buttons.
You say : What does that have to do with Web 2.0?
Marketing says : EVERYTHING! People are asking to make these clean and shiny style websites every day! Oh, yea, and people like big shiny buttons too with not much explanation of what they are for. It’s just gotta look simple and don’t forget…
You say : Shiny?
Marketing says : Yea!!? How’d you know? Man, you catch on fast! Stay shiny!
You say : Uhh, sure.. Thanks…..
Executive
Executive says : What is Web 2.0? Well, it’s a fancy buzz word I like to use when bringing in clients and investors.
You say : Why do clients or investors care about Web 2.0?
Executive says : Beats me! I heard it the other day from my IT department and Marketing. Clients just can’t get enough of it! I told my golf buddies the other day that we were going to buy a YouTube Channel and blast all of our product demos to the masses. We’ll make millions!
You say : Ummm… You don’t have to actually “buy” a YouTube channel, it’s Free…
Executive says : Nothing FREE in this world! Now go do me a favor and find some blogs to put on our site so I can impress our staff about how hip of a company we are!
You say : But.. It doesn’t work like that, you can’t just find a blog and put it on…. nevermind.
How much you want to bet that it’s just exactly this way in so many companies out there? When point of views get involved with a topic as broad as Web 2.0, things can get a bit crazy. Buzzwords are born.
Web 2.0 with No Point of View?
The best way to get a broad understanding of what Web 2.0 is, would be to take POV (Point of View) out of the equation entirely. There is a video that will inspire and motivate you about what is happening as the Internet evolves. I offer this as another way entirely of looking at what the 2.0 age of the world wide web is all about.
What do we do with Web 2.0?
Ok, so enough about what is Web 2.0 – What do we do with it once we get it? There are many things. Here’s ours.
We use Web 2.0 to our advantage in order to grow startups and expand small businesses. There’s a lot more out there now than just searching for things and ending at a destination. Now we are beginning to truely interact online putting less dependency on the search engine behemoth known as Google.
Social Networking, Social Shopping, Micro-Blogging, Video, and a whole lot more is out there with opportunities to get your business growing. Syndicate your next marketing campaign through the use of video, podcasts, RSS Feeds, PR, and much more. You will begin to find that recency in today’s world is starting to become more popular than authority alone. If you are interested in learning more, let us know. There’s a lot of ground to cover so we want to hear feedback from you on what you want to talk about.
It’s our goal is to provide as much information necessary in order for you to do what it takes to make a web-base business successful . If you can’t do it, that’s another story. We can just do it for you. The choice is yours!
What do you do with Web 2.0?
You’ve heard about what we like to do with Web 2.0. So please tell us what you are doing with Web 2.0? What POV do you come from? We’re already getting some great feedback and suggestions on what your biggest pains are in marketing online. Next week we’ll cover the next big mystery out there… Twitter.
Let us know what you do with Web 2.0 – please comment.
