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Recently, I was reading about the much-hyped "Web 2.0" that's supposed to change all of our lives. Frankly, I still can't figure out what it's supposed to be. When I first heard the term, I thought maybe it was something to do with how the Internet is actually "wired together" (for lack of a better term). Like a software version upgrade, I thought it might relate to the actual structure of the Internet. Maybe version 2 would be faster, better, or more secure.
Unfortunately, it's nothing that cosmic or interesting. In fact, as far as I can tell, the Web 2.0 moniker is basically marketing hype put out there to try and sell venture capitalists on Internet companies again. The whole thing gives me a sickening case of deja vu.
This is not 1999, after all. Did software companies learn nothing from the whole Dot Bomb experience? Building an entire business around a non-existent revenue model because a Web site now uses some new whiz-bang technology is the same thing that happened before.
Web 2.0 pundits claim that's not the case though. As I understand it, Web 2.0 is supposed to be all about people joining together in "new ways" of communicating. Except that these new ways are suspiciously like the old ones. Blogs are often cited as part of the Web 2.0 experience. But at its core, putting a comment on a blog is really not too different than what went on with bulletin boards (BBS) that were online in the early 90s. Somebody wrote something; then someone commented on it. Sometimes people even shared pictures too.
Thanks to Web 2.0, we have prettier versions of this same type of information sharing. But that's all it is. Big deal. Maybe it's because the hype about real estate investing is starting to die down, so people are looking for the "next big thing." Frankly, I seriously doubt Web 2.0 is it.
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