Web 2.0

In both online and offline media, the talk is of ‘Web 2.0’, but how many of us can claim to know what it actually means? Logically, ‘2.0’ refers to a new version of something, but how could there be a new version of the Web? The Web is still based upon the same HTTP protocol, the system of IP addresses has not changed and we cannot upgrade like we do with software, so in terms of an improved World Wide Web it must refer to something else. 
 

Stated in simple terms Web 2.0 means ‘an interactive Web’. There are many contradictory definitions, but everyone agrees that interactivity is at the heart of the concept. 
 

If Web 1.0 was about presenting simple static content (articles, white papers, etc.), Web 2.0 is about using advanced technology to blog, build virtual communities and exchange data (from plain text to video clips).  Users are encouraged to actively participate, generate content, collaborate and even define new functionality.
 

Web 2.0 is giving business owners new opportunities to grow and develop their business through business and social networking sites, commercial podcasting, commercial video and improved access to the global market. This, in turn, has led to an enormous growth in the popularity of the web. 
 

In terms of technology, the most prominent features of Web 2.0 are new interactive platforms (Ajax, Flash and Flex are amongst the most popular, improved standards for website building (XHTML, valid code, Cascading Style Sheets, clean URLs, usability and accessibility) and advanced means of syndicating and aggregating data, like RSS and Atom feeds, audio and video streams and podcasts. Various web APIs are also very popular among web developers, because they allow them to create advanced software quickly and easily. 
 

Blogs, forums and social networking sites are playing a very important role in the development of Web 2.0. As mentioned above, Web 2.0 is all about interactivity, and these types of websites are interactivity itself. They are platforms where user-generated content grows daily at a tremendous rate; they are places where a very genuine sense of community is formed in the virtual environment of the web. The word ‘places’ is apt: those of us who spend a considerable amount of time in various virtual communities on a daily basis, really start to regard them as physical places, a kind of virtual "cities" that can be visited at will. Isn't it a miracle of the 21st century? 
 

The main principles of Web 2.0 were formulated by Tim O'Reilly and John Battelle during the first Web 2.0 Conference, in 2004. Despite much criticism and controversy, the term was quickly adopted by the majority of Web users. Many successful business owners, e.g. the owners of popular social networking platforms, actively started using it the term for marketing purposes; as a result, the original meaning became somewhat blurred. It often happens to buzzwords: people tend to use them without understanding them properly. One of the purposes of this article is to shed some light on what Web 2.0 actually means. 
 

The value of the Web 2.0 opportunities for business have been so great that they surpassed the dot-com boom.