Web 2.0 an umbrella term first coined in 2003 by O’Reilly Media that meant the second generation of the web. This second generation is defined by a new more powerful interactive web. The first is the interactive use of social networking, blogs and wikis. The second is new technologies such as Ajax which allows web applications to work more like desktop software. Web 2.0 presents new challenges and opportunities for Internet marketing strategies.

Web 2.0 includes the change from individual isolated websites to blogging with RSS feeds to quickly broadcast and allow responses. Content management systems were prominent in web 1.0 and then Wikis came into being allowing web users to update content. Web 2.0 has been made more powerful with Ajax which allows web applications such as Google maps to function.

The Participatory Web
Web 2.0 is marked by a social interaction. Weblogs, or “blogs,” as they are called are easily created and updated by those with even a minimum of technology know-how. Blogs make use of RSS (Real Simple Syndication). This allows blogs to use XML feeds to broadcast postings across the Internet in a very short time. RSS (Real Simple Syndication) allow blogs to use XML feeds broadcast postings across the Internet in a very short time. Blogging has moved from 3 million in 2004 to 84.5 million blogs that Technorati is currently tracking .

A Wiki is a website that allows visitors to add, remove, and edit content. The word wiki is a Hawaiian word meaning “quick.” Wikis are generally designed with the philosophy of making it easy to correct mistakes, rather than making it difficult to make them. The English-language Wikipedia has the largest user base among all wikis.

Ajax
Ajax is a newer technology allows web applications to work in real time without the continual need for refreshing content. Ajax is short for Asynchronous Java-Script + XML. This works by introducing an intermediary Ajax engine between the user and the server. Instead of loading a web-page, at the start of the session, the browser loads an Ajax engine written in Java-Script and usually tucked away in a hidden frame. So the user is never staring at a blank browser window and an hourglass icon, waiting around for the server to do something.

Web 2.0 may have started out as more marketing hype, but it has evolved into a real way to describe the evolution of the web. The web continues to evolve and change. Businesses need to evaluate their web design and SEO strategies to make use of Web 2.0. So when will Web 3.0 be here?

Doug Williams, Internet Marketing Consultant

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