Thoughts on Web 2.0

Out of the ashes of Web 1.0, which was commercial (anyone remember pets.com?), basic, less focused on interactivity, and more focused on force-feeding content to the viewer, has risen Web 2.0. Web 2.0 has an increased focus on connecting people and making them responsible for providing their own content, and not just to products they might buy or information they might acquire. That’s not to deny that Web 2.0 has its commercial aspects as well… sites which were originally ad-free have taken on targeted advertising; businesses are using Web 2.0 technologies to connect users who are interested in their products. But it's undeniable that there is a marked difference in initial intent of Web 2.0 sites. Their intent is to connect, empower, share, and provide the platforms to make all of this possible. Out of Web 1.0 technologies like email, chatting, and the personal web site (when's the last time you saw a website with "Hello World" written in that famous early web font in black on a gray background?) come sites like MySpace , Friendster, and Facebook today. These social networking sites include many of the messaging capabilities that were previously separate from the realm of the personal webpage, and also provide an easy platform for the end user to express and explain him or herself. There's no need to write those tags and painstakingly dictate the placement and size of your personal pictures; you now hit the "upload" button and your social networking site displays them for you. Did your friends and family grow weary of your oversized emails bearing glad tidings and 7 MB worth of low-resolution image attachments of your trip to Topeka? Now you upload them to Flickr or the like and they can check them out at will with less waiting and strain on their own workstation's resources. Did you want to share your thoughts with the world but grew weary of formatting them? No problem-- blog hosting sites like this one take care of that for you; you type and they do the rest; no fees required. Were you worried you'd never be discovered by Hollywood, or at least by the 378 other people with an intense interest in your ability to do backflips? Now you can film yourself performing and post it to YouTube. In a fame-obsessed culture (the simultaneous rise of reality TV and reality web being no coincidence), it is no wonder Web 2.0 has taken off. In this world, anyone can grow up to be famous. And isn't that less stressful than growing up to be president, anyhow?