Xercel Blog

What is WEB 2.0?

According to Wikipedia:
Web 2.0, a phrase coined by O'Reilly Media in 2004, refers to a supposed second-generation of Internet-based services — such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies — that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users. O'Reilly Media, in collaboration with MediaLive International, used the phrase as a title for a series of conferences and since 2004 it has become a popular (though ill-defined and often criticized) buzzword amongst certain technical and marketing communities.

Characteristics of Web 2.0

While interested parties continue to debate the definition of a Web 2.0 application, some suggest that a Web 2.0 website may exhibit some basic characteristics. These might include:

• "Network as platform" — delivering (and allowing users to use) applications entirely through a web-browser
• Users owning the data on the site and exercising control over that data
• An architecture of participation and democracy that encourages users to add value to the application as they use it
• A rich, interactive, user-friendly interface based on Ajax (more on this in a future article)
• Some social-networking aspects

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What Does This Mean For You?
These days, it’s important for your web site to be a value for your customer. Think customer interaction and valuable up-to-date content. Some first steps you could take to migrate your Web 1.0 web site to a Web 2.0 Solution:

IF your web site sells products from different vendors
YOU COULD add an area below each product where registered users could leave feedback about their experience with this product and rate the product on a scale of 1-5.

IF your web site is an online catalog of your products
YOU COULD create a portion of the site where you ask customers to leave valuable information for other customers. E.g. You sell pots and pans, ask your customers to leave tips/tricks for using your product and a great recipe they created using your skillet.

IF your web site has no products and it is simply an online brochure for your company.
YOU COULD build or integrate a solution for providing your customers with news on your industry. Within this portion, allow users to register and post information about your industry. Much like a blog. You can ‘rent’ blog applications to integrate into your web site from web sites like www.typepad.com.

The ideas are endless. If you would like to take your basic web site from a 1.0 basic web site to a well structured user centered web site that can be considered Web 2.0, contact me at ptawadros@xercel.com or call us toll free at 1-866-293-7235 and we can help you get on the correct path for success.

Up next: What is AJAX? (its not a house cleaning product)

Posted at 01:00AM Jan 11, 2007 by Xercel Blog in General  |  Comments[2]