Learning2.0 : Journey to about2findout.com

Web 2.0 is the web's new evolution. Or it's technology. Or it's just a catchy buzz word. Or it's hype. I don't care if it's one or all of them, to me there is something different about the internet than when I got to know it back in university, and I like it, I want to find out what it is and I want to be part of it.

So what is it? You can find out on wikipedia. And Dion Hinchcliffe lists the year's best web 2.0 explanations on his blog. Some folks hate the term, others already speak of web 3.0. I'll give you one definition:

Web 2.0 is a term that captures the widespread sense that there's something
qualitatively different about today's web. - TIm O'Reilly

Some characteristcs (in my humble point of view):
xevolution is the use of collective intelligence (the wisdom of crowds)

• social factor is more imporant than the technology, it's about people this time ; one interesting
• continuous improvements leading to perpetual beta instead of release cycles
• open, sites expose their services through API's so that other sites can include them - these composite applications are called mashups
• richer browser experience (mainly because of AJAX technology)
• the web is the platform
• simple - lightweight programming, basic services, easy to use
• user controls the data, not the site owner
• mostly free or low cost, based on advertising revenue - many make losses

Popular web 2.0 sites include myspace, facebook, friendster, secondlife, flickr, google, blogger, del.icio.us, technorati, feedburner, wordpress, youtube, wikipedia, linkedin, craigslist, etc. I'll be reviewing a lot of them in the coming time. Stay tuned on my discoveries :-).

Labels: web2.0