Ask O’Reilly : What Is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 usage has become widespread and often being used asa marketing buzzword – but what does it mean?

Wikipedia says “Web 2.0 is a term often applied to a perceived transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving web applications to end users.”

O’Reilly has compiled an article is an attempt to clarify just what we mean by Web 2.0. Some excerpts below -

“The concept of “Web 2.0″ began with a conference brainstorming session between O’Reilly and MediaLive International. Dale Dougherty, web pioneer and O’Reilly VP, noted that far from having “crashed”, the web was more important than ever, with exciting new applications and sites popping up with surprising regularity.”

Web 1.0 –> Web 2.0
DoubleClick –> Google AdSense
Ofoto –> Flickr
Akamai –> BitTorrent
mp3.com –> Napster
Britannica Online –> Wikipedia
personal websites –> blogging
evite –> upcoming.org and EVDB
domain name speculation –> search engine optimization
page views –> cost per click
screen scraping –> web services
publishing –> participation
content management systems –> wikis
directories (taxonomy) –> tagging (”folksonomy”)
stickiness –> syndication

But what was it that made us identify one application or approach as “Web 1.0″ and another as “Web 2.0″? Read on.

The Web 2.0 Conference brings the intelligence, innovation, and leadership of the internet industry together in one place at one time. The second annual Web 2.0 Conference takes place October 5-7, 2005 at the Argent Hotel located in beautiful San Francisco. Web 2.0 2005 is sold out, and registration is closed.