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Does Web 2.0 Really Exist?

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You might remember awhile ago, I took a telemarketing call from a company that claimed to provide Web 2.0 services. I strung them along, just to mess with them. On Sept 10th, I did a remote panel session from my home. The panel discussed Web 2.0 technology and its interplay with the government. Ahead of time, the facilitator sent me a list of questions to consider, which I thought would make a good video.

  • Do you consider yourself an early adopter/digital immigrant/digital native? – I’m kind of an edge case. Since the day I realized I could do live video all the time, I’ve been doing it. I consider myself an early adopter in most instances. When it comes to hardware, definitely. With software and web services, not so much. I know that I’ll get tied into one website or another, and it could just disappear. That happened a lot with the .com boom. I’m a little more careful these days about giving attention to one website over another.
  • Is web 2.0 a fad? If it is, is it necessarily bad? – I don’t think it’s a fad, I think it’s a conference. I think the idea is a little disingenuous when it comes to the Internet. We haven’t seen a massive amount of browser innovation. Google Chrome has stepped it up a couple of notches. It has nothing to do with the Internet though. It has to do with the desktop. With the digital divide closing, we’ve come to rely on different services online. I would rather call it a renaissance, than to label it with a number like 2.0.
  • When did you make the switch into the web 2.0 world? Was it a business or personal switch at first? Do you even compartmentalize the two? – No, I don’t compartmentalize the two. No one “makes a switch” into the 2.0 world, it just happens.
  • How do you find out about new web 2.0 tools? – I find them the same way I find out about anything. I find out from friends, such as via email invitations, the chat room and even from Geeks. The more people talk about something, the more aware I become of it. I would just as soon turn to my community to learn about new things. It’s funny because I talk out loud to myself all the time. With the camera running live all the time, I’ll mutter about needing to find or do something. Nearly instantly, someone is telling me they can help. That is awesome.
  • What web 2.0 tool could you not live without? What is your essential business tool? – Email, honestly. Instant messaging. Those really haven’t changed. The tools have evolved to a certain degree. But instant messaging is still so far behind. I can’t think of the last time that I ran a client that was created by an IM distributor, such as Yahoo or AIM. I use Adium, and I used Trillian before that. I still see the web and the Internet as being predicated on a closed, proprietary model. Eventually, though, all software will be open source. I really believe that.
  • It seems like a new web 2.0 comes tool or site out every week, do you try them all or do you wait for the early adopters to weed out the time-wasters? – I’ll take a look. If it seems ok on the surface, it’ll stay on my radar. I don’t stick with one tool or another unless it is of huge value to me. If enough people talk about it, I’ll end up caving in… just like with adding MySpace and Facebook. It depends on where something fits, and what I get from it. It depends on the momentum behind it, and whether it will help me in my endeavors.
  • The twitter effect … breaking news, disseminating information instantly vs. the old methods. – Twitter has been interesting. I don’t really complain about the downtime. I love complaining about the people who complain about the downtime. It’s free! Why are you complaining about something you’re getting for nothing? Anyway, I digress. I made a statement about Twitter during Gnomedex: “Twitter is a place for you to say, before thinking about what you actually think”. You see that somewhat in blogs, but Twitter exacerbates the problem. It can be a serious issue when people are feeling emotional about something.

So, those are my quick thoughts about web 2.0. What’s yours?

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