Web 2.0

I’ve heard a lot of talk lately about web 2.0, but when I think about it, I’m not sure exactly what that includes. Sure, I know about some things - I have a blog (2 actually!), and I have my own website. But there’s more to Web 2.0, so I thought I’d try to figure out exactly what’s involved and what I think of it.

Wikipedia (arguably part of web 2.0 itself) defines web 2.0 as a trend in World Wide Web technology, and web design, a second generation of web-based communities and hosted services such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies, which aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing among users.

So here is a list of some of these things are and what they do:

Blog: If you’re reading this, I guess you already know what a blog is, but I’ll explain anyway. A blog is basically a webpage where the content of the page is added by the user, with each individual entry as a new story. You can get a blog in a number of places, including Blogger, WordPress, BlogSavvy, and many others.

Wiki: A wiki is similar to a blog in that the content is supplied by the user(s). However, rather than just one series of entries, like a blog, a wiki can be made up of many pages, and users can make changes to existing content rather than just adding new things.

Collaborative Tagging (Folksonomy): These websites allow you to make your own tags for things and share those tags with others. These sites then have the ability to show everyone’s tags collectively, so you can see all sites tagged with the same word. Del.icio.us and Ma.gnolia are a couple of examples of this type of site.

Google everything: Most of google’s applications allow you the opportunity to “share” – allow others to view your calendars, documents, website, maps, etc. So they’ve really jumped on board this wave.

Social Networking: These websites allow you to create a profile and then share that profile with people to whom you choose to link. The most famous of these for the younger generation are probably Facebook and MySpace. However, there are similar sites more focused on professional collaboration – like LinkedIn and Doostang. Social sites like facebook can be very convenient for keeping up with friends you don’t see often, since “newsfeed” shows recent changes people make to their profiles, and these often include pictures, events, and other information.

Second Life: I haven’t used second life personally, but it seems to be a 3D version of these other sites, and also one where you make up the information about yourself. You can have a house, a business, etc. Basically all of the things you have in real life, but without leaving your computer screen. The funniest joke I’ve heard about this concept is in Chuck Klosterman’s book “Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs”.

I’m sure there is more to web 2.0, but that’s all I’ve got for now.