The 'What is Web 2.0?' meme is everywhere and everyone seems to have a different interpretation. Here are some of the latest:
Om Malik: "a “collection of technologies - be it VoIP, Digital Media, XML, RSS, Google Maps… whatever …. that leverage the power of always on, high speed connections and treat broadband as a platform, and not just a pipe to connect."
John Hagel: “an emerging network-centric platform to support distributed, collaborative and cumulative creation by its users.”
Susan Mernit: "The enduring lesson of all of the social media and emerging technologies is that we've created an a la carte, do it yourself platform where users can engage with sophisticated forms of search, feeds, metadata and APIs, social networks and identity, and commerce and fill these vessels with their own information..."
Dave Winer thinks it's The Two-Way Web redux. (and it's interesting to note the focus of my weblog before Web 2.0 was precisely that - Dave's Two-Way Web vision).
Wikipedia's current definition: "Web 2.0 is a term often applied to a perceived ongoing transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving web applications, like Gmail, to end users. The proponents of this thinking expect that ultimately Web 2.0 services will replace desktop computing applications for many purposes."
I of course have had more than a few attempts at defining Web 2.0 - here at the beginning of 2005 (when I linked to a bunch of 2004-era definitions), here again on my ZDNet blog (when I linked to a bunch of Sep 2005-era definitions).
p.s. Ken at technosight.com is holding a blogoposium to try and nut out more definitions.
I go around parroting "The Web is a Platform" as my main definition of Web 2.0 - and 'platform' is a word almost always used when talking about Web 2.0. But obviously that's not the whole story and it's not a suitable definition to tell your family. So here is my current Elevator Pitch for Web 2.0 - two paragraphs, so it'd take a few minutes for me to say it in an elevator. But it's a work in progress... let me know your thoughts and tell me what I've missed.
Web 2.0 at its most basic is using services on the Web. Some examples: Gmail for email, Flickr for photo-management, RSS for news delivery, eBay for shopping, Amazon for buying books. That's why the Web is being called a platform - because all of these services are being built and used on the Web. Why Web 2.0 only now though - hasn't Amazon been around since 1995? Why yes, but it's taken until 2005 for broadband and web technology to catch up and reach a 'tipping point' - the Web is fast becoming the platform of choice for developers, business, media, public services, and so on.
So what do I get out of this "Web 2.0", you ask? The advantages of using the Web as a platform is that the services become more social and collaborative - and geographic boundaries are blown away. A lot of the content is actually created by users. For example all of the reviews and ratings entered into Netflix by its users help make it easier to find and filter the thousands of DVDs that are available on its website. Another advantage of using the Web as a platform is that services can be built using data and code from other services - for example Housing Maps is a "mash-up" of Google Maps and real estate listings from craigslist. So Web 2.0 provides services that people can contribute to as well as mix and match.
Oh, I see you have to get out of the elevator now. Did I tell you I have a book coming out on Web 2.0? Wait a minute, I also have two blogs -- why are you running so fast? Hmmm, I guess I need to keep working on my definition :-)
Next week is the last week of my sponsorship arrangement with Onfolio, so I'm putting feelers out for another Web 2.0-savvy company to sponsor my popular Weekly Wrap-up. I've been writing this weekly column since the beginning of January this year - never missed a week. It's become the premium offering of my weblog and the two sponsors I've had so far, ThePort Network and then Onfolio, have been very happy with the results. They each sponsored the Wrap-up for 3 months and so I'm looking for a similar arrangement again.
If you're a Web 2.0 company wanting to get some high quality exposure on a top weblog (and a privileged place in the Father of Web 2.0's RSS feed), then send me an email and let's talk!
Phil Wainewright wrote an excellent post recently entitled The great Web 2.0 application (s)mash-up. He starts by quoting Mohan Sawhney, professor at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management:
"Five years from now, the concept of an application will be obsolete," Sawhney said. "They will all be services, combined, mixed, matched and reused as needed."
Phil goes on to discuss the merits or otherwise of the various "services" vendors lining up to be the dominant platforms and marketplaces in Web 2.0. Note that he particularly focuses on Enterprise markets, whereas my interest is more in the consumer/media markets. But there are crossovers - e.g. Amazon, which has been very quiet this year compared to the other big Net companies, has filed a patent for a web services marketplace (it was filed last year). Phil doesn't sound convinced - yet - that any of Amazon, Google, eBay, Microsoft or Yahoo will necessarily lead the services ecosystem.
He then quotes my post a couple of weeks ago about a 'Publisher Services' company being a dark horse in all this:
"Finally, there are the left-field players, many of them as yet unknown or not considered as potential platforms. As Richard MacManus recently wrote, "Publisher Services has a lot of potential and it may well be the category which delivers the next Google." He was writing specifically about RSS, but the notion applies equally well to all on-demand services, not merely RSS. In the Web 2.0 economy, service publishing and aggregation of all forms is where the greatest opportunity lies."
Emphasis is Phil's, but of course I agree. Disappointingly, nobody took me on about that bold claim I made (I was looking forward to a spirited debate). But I always like to back the outsiders in a horse race. So I'm sticking with my prediction that a 'Publisher Services' company will become a big platform player within a couple of years.
Mike Arrington thinks Tim O'Reilly's Web 2.0 meme map should be simpler and Dave Winer responds, saying it's a complicated self-serving meme and pointing out that the map doesn't include RSS. I've been looking at the meme map closely, while working on the latest chapter of Josh's and my O'Reilly book on Web 2.0 (so yes, I'm somewhat biased in responding to Dave's post). I agree with Mike that we need to distil the meme map down into less complicated language. Concepts such as "Architecture of Participation" and "cost-effective scalability" carry with them a lot of meaning, but they're not easily grasped. So I need to find a simpler way to explain them in the book.
The way I am approaching this dilemma is to use case studies and real life examples whenever possible in the book. So for example when I discussed the Architecture of Participation, I described it in part as "the value of user contributions to a Web 2.0 application - based on the ability for users to easily participate in a system" and I used Amazon book reviews and eBay auctions as examples.
As Dave said, "it's hard work to make things really simple" and I'm certainly finding that to be the case in writing a book about Web 2.0. That's probably true for any non-fiction book though - the writer gets to the heart of the matter by relating things to real life and describing the simple things well. That's why I love Tom Wolfe's and Michael Lewis' books so much.
Finally, Dave ends his post today with this: "Web 2.0 is really simple, it's RSS 2.0." Well I have to disagree with that :-) RSS is a very important enabling technology of Web 2.0, definitely. But Web 2.0 is much more than RSS. It's about people using the Web as a platform to build on. RSS is one of the tools we use to do that, but there are others - APIs, AJAX, REST, XHTML/CSS, etc.
Actually when it comes down to it, Web 2.0 is really about normal everyday people using the Web and creating things on it - forget the acronyms.
UPDATE: Susan Mernit said it way better than me: "The enduring lesson of all of the social media and emerging technologies is that we've created an a la carte, do it yourself platform where users can engage with sophisticated forms of search, feeds, metadata and APIs, social networks and identity, and commerce and fill these vessels with their own information
--And that's the heart of the revolution, IMHO."
Fascinating post by John Blossom on the evolution of content in the Web world. It's similar in theme to AP chief Tom Curley's famous Content and Containers speech last year - and my own extensive thoughts on the matter. Riffing on GoogleNet, Blossom wrote:
"As content and software services merge into common XML-based objects, the lines between publishing and technology services are shifting rapidly. Salesforce.com is an increasingly sophisticated example of how premium content and network-based software services can blend into a single valuable package without I.T. expertise or involvement required. At Shore we call these rapidly evolving packages of Web services "payloads" - digital objects that are a blend of content and technology sent by content providers into a user's orbit that evolve into context-specific services as they are passed from one context to another."
He has a nice line on how the old webpage paradigm is increasingly being turned on its head:
"In the Google network era every page brought down to a local context via the Google network will become its own local Web service, enabled for commerce by virtue of where it's wound up rather than from where it was sent."
Emphasis mine. Check out Josh's and my (note the correct grammer this time) first Digital Web article for more on this theme. Blossom continues...
"There will always be a desire to experience content, communities and major events accessible from a centralized source, but the emergence of the Google network publishing model challenges publishers to be able to make content as relevant as possible in as many distributed environments as possible."
I agree, but I'd add that the creation and storage of the data itself will often still be centralized. Accessible via APIs, yes. But one of the not-so-hidden secrets of Web 2.0 is that data isn't yet as open and free as it could be. Most of the premium Amazon and eBay data is entered into their systems and their APIs carry with them restrictions. I don't see Google or any other bigco changing that anytime soon. Blossom finishes with this:
"...at its early stages the Google network promises to accelerate changes to the publishing industry about as much as the browser started to transform publishing some ten years ago."
I feel the same way, only I think it's more generic than just being about Google. Tom Curley's speech was a major reason why I invested so much time and energy into the topic of Web 2.0. But it's not only the publishing industry being turned on its head, it's the whole media industry.
NewsGator Technologies will be announcing "a MAJOR acquisition" at the Web 2.0 Conference on October 5-7. Hmmm, I wonder who it is. Looking at my RSS Space spreadsheet, Newsgator is one of the leading vendors in the Reader Services category. They also have a presence in the Search space.
I wouldn't be surprised if they acquire a lesser but still bright light in the Reader Services category - say, del.icio.us or NetNewsWire.
But as I said, Newsgator is dabbling in search - both indexing and white label. So if anything I'd probably lay my bets on a search-related acquisition. Perhaps Feedster - Scott Rafer recently left Feedster for more mobile pastures. Or maybe even Technorati!
In another acquisition rumor, SVW reports that Moreover will be bought by "a much larger multi-national company". PaidContent.org says it will be "a Silicon Valley-based public company (NOT a media company)."
The safe bet would be Microsoft because of their existing relationship with Moreover. But they're not SV-based. Hmmmm.
Let the speculation begin! What's your guess?
Just to let you know I've been re-arranging the furniture on Read/WriteWeb over the past couple of days. I went from a 3-column design to a 2-column one and tidied up the CSS. As well as keeping my web design chops up-to-date, I think the layout is a lot cleaner now. I feel like I can stretch my legs out more in this design. Anywho... time to write some more 2.0 posts.
This week: Microsoft vs Google, Web 2.0 coverage galore, Web 2.0 Conference, The Real World: yoga blogging, Techie post of the week: Mini-Microsoft.
The Wrap-up is proudly sponsored by:
Over the last week the number of stories about Microsoft vs Google has reached a crescendo. The best one was a story by CNET entitled Microsoft's nightmare inches closer to reality - the nightmare incarnate being Google. The article had some great historical analysis along with a good poking around at MSN's current strategy.
This week also produced a slew of stories about Google's Wifi and TV initiatives. Plus Microsoft announced a re-organization, of which the most significant 2.0 aspects were:
1) the integration of MSN into its platform product development group, where Windows is developed.
2) Bill Gates' new phrase "server equals service" and it's inherent meaning - the Web is now on an equal footing with Windows, at least publicly.
The problem/challenge for Microsoft is that their software (Windows) products are much stronger than their Web products. Google's strength is of course their Web products. I'll be writing more about this in the coming week.
This week saw a big increase in blog posts about Web 2.0, probably because of the upcoming Web 2.0 conference. Here are some of the highlights (I admit I haven't had time to read them all yet):
- BusinessWeek did a special called It's A Whole New
Web.
- Dion Hinchcliffe wrote a well-linked to post at SOA Web Services Journal entitled The Web 2.0 is Here.
- Tim O'Reilly published a meme
map that was created during FOO Camp 2005.
- MAKE magazine has an audio post entitled
Distributing the Future - Data for Web 2.0.
- Stephen E. Arnold's eBook was released: The Google
Legacy, How Google's Internet Search is Transforming Application Software (costs
US$180, but damn I want to read it!)
There are also a ton of new Web 2.0 blogs, most of which provide a respectful link to the Father of Web 2.0 (Blogs) :-)
I'm travelling from New Zealand to Silicon Valley at the end of this week, to attend the Web 2.0 Conference next week and network with Web folk. The TechCrunch crew is very kindly hosting me at their Atherton ranch-house, so I look forward to attending loads of BBQs! Seriously, the TechCrunch house seems to be a hub for Web 2.0 people currently and I'm honoured to be staying there.
I'm really excited about the trip and looking at the Web 2.0 Conference lineup, it's going to be a huge event. Here is the overview:
""Revving the Web" is the theme for the 2005 Web 2.0 Conference, reflecting the conviction that the web is being transformed into a new application and business platform. Web 2.0 will explore four key topics (computing and operating systems, media and entertainment, communications and mobile, and 'fun and inspiration') through short individual presentations, high-level interviews and lively panel discussions - all with ample time for audience participation and Q&A."
Needless to say, I'll be providing extensive coverage of the conference at Read/WriteWeb and my ZDNet blog Web 2.0 Explorer.
Susan Mernit tells me the 10th annual Yoga Journal conference, a yoga conference in the rockies, will be live-blogged:
"The basic plan is to use multimedia to give the 10th annual Yoga Journal conference in EstesPark, Colorado, the kind of rich multimedia treatment a top-flight techconference receives. This is especially exciting because this conference honors B.K.S.Iyengar, 86 year old yogi and father of yoga in the West, who is coming to this conference from India to teach (and to be interviewed by Annette Beining). We'll have photo galleries (on flickr), podcasting, a range of bloggers, interviews with famous yoga teachers like Rodney Yee and Sean Corme, as well as exclusive footage of Mr.Iyengar and great info on the conference and related issues of wellness, balance, sprituality."
Excellent use of blogs and 2.0 technologies like Flickr! Not to mention very healthy (which is far more important).
I recently discovered a well-written and highly informative blog by a Microsoft employee, called Mini-Microsoft. This week the anonymous blogger wrote about the Microsoft Company Meeting 2005. I browsed the whole blog earlier this week and there's a lot of funny stuff - but also very insightful. One post discussed what Mini-Microsoft thought should happen if schedules slip, which has notably happened with Longhorn/Vista. Mini-Microsoft's advice:
"If you make a bad decision that trips up shipping key products on schedule it should be recognized as horrible failure. SteveB should throw your chair across the room and out the window - with you sitting in it. Chased with a good stream of swear words for you to listen to on your way down. "F------ slipping p----!" That's the leadership accountability I want to see!"
LOL, classic :-))
That's a wrap for another week!
CNET takes an interesting look at Microsoft's history in the Web era and suggests that MSN may now be a key part of Microsoft's Web 2.0 strategy. They write that MSN is already being used as a platform for Windows software releases:
"The search service in Windows Vista, for example, shipped earlier as MSN Desktop Search. In addition, Internet Explorer features, like tabbed browsing, and protection against phishing techniques [...] shipped first through MSN."
What's more interesting is an old Microsoft memo from May 1995 that CNET dug up again, called "The Web is the Next Platform", and what that tells us about MSN's future. The memo was written by Microsoft engineer Ben Slivka (where is he now, I wonder?). Here's TheRegister's coverage of it from December 1998, around the time of the Microsoft anti-trust trial:
By 27th May 1995 Slivka is on version 5 of the document, so we can presume that if Bill Gates read an earlier version, he didn't understand it. Nor indeed does Slivka seem to understand the implications of what he's saying completely. He leads in with "The Web is an application platform (complete with APIs, data formats, and protocols) that threatens Windows."
Later in TheRegister piece...
Says Slivka: "My nightmare scenario is that the Web grows into a rich application platform in an operating system-neutral way, and the a company like Siemens or Matsushita comes out with a $500 "WebMachine" that attaches to a TV… When faced with the choice between a $500 box (Risc CPU, 4-8 megabyte RAM, no hard disk,…) and a $2k Pentium/P6 Windows machine, the two thirds of [US] homes that don't have a PC may find the $500 machine pretty attractive!"
Wow - that was an incredibly prescient thing to say in 1995! Swap "Siemens or Matsushita" with Google, and "WebMachine" with WebOS - and that's precisely the competitive threat Microsoft faces today.
But let's return to the topic of MSN. Ten years ago, the memo made it apparent that MSN was heading in the direction of an AOL - a closed proprietary system 'competing' with the Web:
"There was a time when we thought that we could just 'build it and they will come' with MSN, hence all the non-Internet technologies we developed (Marvel RPC, incompatible Mail & News protocols, MOSView etc.) for MSN. These technology choices were unfortunate, for (in hindsight) I think it is clear that MSN would have been much further along now if we had started from the existing Web and enhanced it. [...] It is possible that if Microsoft forges ahead with its current MSN plan (Blackbird, OLE everywhere, COM/DCOM etc.) and only pays the Internet lip service, we may 'pull a Windows' and end up dominating the online world. All of these other players will spend all of their time bickering about IETF standards and shipping incompatible extensions, and the Internet will end up a mish-mash of incompatible solutions."
On that last point - although the Web still has issues with "incompatible solutions", the core web solutions have in fact solidified. As Lucas Gonze recently pointed out in a post about how systems rigidify over time: "I'm wondering how long the current round of [Web] standards will stick around, and fooling with the idea that it might be for a lot longer than we would expect." I agree, web standards and formats (especially the 'simple' ones such as HTTP, REST, XML, RSS, etc) have proven to be remarkably resilient and I expect them to be around for a lot longer. Maybe even Web 10.0, as Lucas has been pondering.
So yes, over the past 10 years the Web system has certainly rigidified. To the point that in 2005 Microsoft sees Google, the bigco most likely to roll out a WebMachine, as the major threat it's feared all along.
In response Microsoft is integrating MSN into its platform product development group, where Windows is developed. It's too early to know how this will play out, but one thing's for sure - the Web is on an equal footing with Windows for Microsoft now. It took them 10 years to fulfill the destiny that one of their smart engineers, Ben Slivka, mapped out for them in May 1995. But will it be enough to stop the WebMachine?
Darren Rowse (who earns nearly US$200k a year from blogging) has published an interview with fellow "six figure blogger" The Manolo. Here's how The Manolo, who blogs about shoes, makes his/her money:
"In the order of importance, the affiliate sales of the shoes and the fashion, the contextual ads like the google and the chitka, the blogads, then the Amazon, and then the tshirts and the miscellaneous. This, of the course, does not count what the Manolo receives for writing his new column in the Washington Post Express."
To make money from blogging, The Manolo suggests to write well and in an entertaining, lively style. I especially liked this advice:
"Do not be afraid to be different, in the fact, being different it is the advantage in the marketplace where there are fifty hundred new blogs on the topic you have chosen."
Now, I have to admit that since I've gone freelance the idea of earning more money from blogging has become more important to me. I've tweaked the ads here at R/WW a little bit, but really R/WW is never going to make me a six figure blogger - and that's OK, because it's not intended to. I should also note that long-term there is probably a lot more money to be made in Web 2.0 product development than in blogging, if you have some killer ideas and know how to implement them.
Incidentally, if you haven't gone out of your RSS Reader for a while, you won't have noticed my subtle re-design - brighter colours, menu in the top horizontal bar, etc.
But anyway, my point is you need to choose a mainstream-ish topic and then follow The Manolo's advice.
Darren and friends new blogging network is one I'm looking at closely. Called b5media, it includes a couple of tech-related blogs on topics I could easily cover to try and earn some money from blogging. e.g. The Unauthorized Microsoft Weblog.
So I thought I'd throw the question out to you - if I was to create another blog or two with the intention of supplementing my freelance income - what topics would you suggest I cover? Doesn't have to be web tech. I think I should continue my focus on earning my living through analysis and web 2.0 company ideas, but it would be nice to earn a little more from blogging too.
