What is Web 2.0 exactly?

This question has been haunting many laymen as well as technologists. For many it is one of those newfangled internet words which we have got used to and understand but can’t really put a finger to what it really is.

It is easier to define Web 2.0 in terms of what it is not. It is not software. It is not a web platform. It is not an application. It is not what we usually understand as a traditional, click-through, passive web site.

Web 2.0 is essentially a nebulous and evolving framework which is used by prosumers. ‘Prosumer’ is both a producer and consumer. When a website extends prosumeric experience to users, it transforms into Web 2.0. It means that users of Web 2.0 are interacting, collaborating, creating and consuming content. The word content generation and consumption takes on a new meaning here. The makers or owners of Web 2.0 sites are no longer responsible or more specifically are independent of its content. They merely provide the framework or skeleton for information exchange. The muscle and mass in the form of content is provided by users.The changing dynamics of internet which we are witnessing today is because of the shift from a traditional, intellectual property conscious content provider to a more open, collaborative environment. This can be compared to the clash of the second wave and the third as explained by the futurologist Alvin Toffler in his seminal book “ The Third wave” .

The new generation of thinkers, from every conceivable field: science, technology, economics, religion and media, are changing the way we do things. The new wave storming the internet is Web 2.0.Let us look at how the internet world is shaping up. Dating and friendship have crossed international borders. Relationships have changed and metamorphed into new relationship-free contracts. Living together has become a norm. This kind of loose coupling (no pun intended) is the hallmark of new society. This experience translated to the internet has given rise to Web 2.0. Here too, the line dividing the user and creator has disappeared and apparently seamless. Relationships between an owner, creator and user have blurred and mingled as one single entity. This is the point at which Web 1.0 has diverged from Web 2.0 in essence and in spirit.

The true nature of Web 2.0 is not defined by technology, but by a new communication paradigm. Web 2.0 is a movement, a revolution which is shaping our new world. The association with the internet is the umbilical cord which holds the human with the machine. Web 2.0 is therefore something which goes beyond the internet.

eManual Table of Contents

Introduction .... 3

Elements of Web 2.0 - collaboration, Wikis, Folksonomy, collective intelligence and wisdom of the crowds ... 5

Social networking - forum, blogs, RSS feeds, ratings, OpenID and more ... 8

Who owns the data? ... 11

Social Bookmarking ... 13

Google, Adwords and Adsense, Emergence of search engines and SEO ... 15

Web 2.0 and technology, Mashups ... 17

Open source and Software as a service ... 18

Enterprise 2.0 ... 21

Emergence of 'Semantic Apps and Web 3.0' ... 23

Conclusion ... 24

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