I’ve been reading and hearing a lot about “Web 2.0” and I didn’t really know what it meant. Then Friday I picked up the book How to Do Everything with Your Web 2.0 Blog
. Author Todd Stauffer describes web 2.0 as “the next generation of Web applications that were turning the Web from a sort of static experience in a more active – maybe “useful” – one.”
I did some more research and I came across some material that would make you go cross-eyed, including a bunch of techno-geek babble and a 64 page document on the use of Web 2.0 in education.
However, I’ve narrowed it down to some ideas that are useful to entrepreneurs – baby boomer or otherwise.
First, Web 2.0 means taking the computer nerd saying “information wants to be free” and applying it to your business. This means offering free information to your audience – a blog, a newsletter, teleseminars. It doesn’t mean you can’t make money from Web 2.0, it just means you had better be offering information for free if you want to play.
Second, Web 2.0 is about making connections. If you have a static website – an online brochure – you’re behind the times. You need to be interacting with your audience; forming a relationship with them. Marketing and advertising isn’t just a one-way communication any more. You need to be part of a conversation to be successful.
Third, Web 2.0 is about the cool new technologies – blogs, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Adwords, RSS. But not just the technology, but how it’s used. These technologies allow for fast access to information and allow people to connect in unexpected ways.
Finally, Web 2.0 is about how the internet is unique – there are things you can do online that you can’t do anywhere else. Sean Carton writes, “The Web isn’t TV with clicking. It isn’t print with the ability to link and embed multimedia content. Podcasting isn’t radio you can download.”
I have all sorts of virtual friends and associates – people I do business with, brainstorm with, keep in touch with – most of whom I’ve never actually met in person. Many I’ve never even spoken with on the phone. But because we kept popping up in the same virtual places we eventually started “talking” one on one and finally became friends. That, to me, is the real essence of Web 2.0.
Over the rest of this week I’ll be talking about some specific Web 2.0 tools that can be used by entrepreneurs to build their business.
Andrea J. Stenberg
If you have your own definition of Web 2.0, please leave a comment. I’d love to know what you think.
