web 2.0: the new social media
wiki’s, networked communities, vlogs, youtube, myspace, podcasting, internet phones, folksonomy and everything inbetween that involves 2 way communication online, sharing, building online communities… fall into whats being called ‘second generation’, or web2.0.
O’Reilly Media officially laid claim to the term 2.0 in 2004, and it has been critisized as a buzz word with little meaning by the godfather of www himself, Tim Berners Lee.
This essay would argue that even though it may just be a term, or a ‘buzz word’, it does represent a huge change in generational communication preferences, and has opened the door to the new, and i would say definately improved socialy driven media.
The world is alive with the ability to reach across time, place and space and really discuss issues.
Instantaneously.
Arguably, this is deservedly a buzz.
This generation of global communicators rasies hopes and challenges in democratic and free thinking; political, social, cultural, artistic- pretty much every topic we can think of is open for discussion in a previously unimaginable scale today.
This essay would argue that our generation of active bloggers deserves a buzz word, and history may show this period of time in the years to come, one of the most influential times of our existance because of it.
So exactly how does O’Reilly compare web 1.0 and 2.0?
Take a look here…
| Web 1.0 | Web 2.0 | |
|---|---|---|
| DoubleClick | –> | Google AdSense |
| Ofoto | –> | Flickr |
| Akamai | –> | BitTorrent |
| mp3.com | –> | Napster |
| Britannica Online | –> | Wikipedia |
| personal websites | –> | blogging |
| evite | –> | upcoming.org and EVDB |
| domain name speculation | –> | search engine optimization |
| page views | –> | cost per click |
| screen scraping | –> | web services |
| publishing | –> | participation |
| content management systems | –> | wikis |
| directories (taxonomy) | –> | tagging (“folksonomy”) |
| stickiness | –> | syndication |
Overall, the common thread is the sharing capacity that generation web 2.0 emulates, and the ability to edit what other people have published. We are unified authors, and have melded into one giant information mutant, combined in our thoughts and blogs.
Angelo Fernando looks at social media, and the impact online networking is having on the way companies are marketing their products and services, no longer able to separate themselves from what the consumer demands.
Rather, the consumer becomes an integral part of the system. Discussing a variety of new online media phenomenoms, including this comment on podcasting, Fernando examines the effects of web 2.0:
In podcasting, the word conversation isn’t used lightly. Unlike blogs, where authors and readers “converse” via comments and TrackBacks (a protocol for communicating between blogs), podcasting gives the audience a true voice. That’s right–the audience is very much a part of this new media conversation.
The term social media is a catchall phrase for everything that the old media is not, and it is where consumer-generated content rules. The audience, whether or not it is made up of “consumers,” takes charge of the content and defines the rules of engagement.
With the birth of podcasting and vlogs especially, the new web 2.0 allows us to be literally seen and heard, respond and relate.
Definately worth buzzzzing about!!
