Brave new world
Picture an average boring town with a bland high street and polished concrete skyscrapers. Now picture the most electrifying town you have visited. Think bustling club scene, hip restaurants, boutiques and all that jazz. That's the supposed difference between the old, passive Web and its successor, Web 2.0, whose name was coined in 2004 by O'Reilly Media. Web 2.0 is lively, loud and personal. Indeed, the second-generation upstart may feel like a mirror: when you look into it, you may see yourself staring back.
The reason is that, to make a presence on the Web, you no longer need to know Java, Flash, etc. You no longer even need venture to, say, GeoCities, which offers you a free website and the tools you need to build a simple, splashy vanity page or two. Nor must you be famous for being famous or possess a talent/frightening attribute.
You can just rock up to an online hangout such as MySpace, Friendster, Tribe.net, LinkedIn or LiveJournal and festoon it with your 'stuff'. That means everything from the music you love to pictures of your significant other to travelogues and poems. Indeed, you can flaunt just about anything relevant to your identity, hook up with others and share your tastes in all areas - no moderation required.
Sure, these frills are trashy but at least they help attract attention and make you stand out from the
crush created by the throng of winking social-discovery sites. Beyond them, droves of mutant Web 2.0 contenders exist.
The roll call includes the likes of Amie Street (music promotion and discovery), Ask City (local search), BlueDot (bookmark-sharing tool), Digg (hot news hit parade), YouTube (your videos), Flickr (your photos), Netvibes (tailored news stream), Pandora (tailored music stream) and WordPress (blog tool).
Notice how, despite their novelty, most Web 2.0 sites are vaguely useful. In fact, many act much like programs, so maybe we should call them 'prites' or something equally snappy and fatuous. For instance, BlueDot enables you to steer your friends to sites that catch your eye in a flash - no need to compose an irritating chain e-mail.
BlueDot neatly illustrates how the Web we have woven is automatically weaving us together, creating a true network: a computing community of people not pages, linked by a desire for contribution rather than consumption. To enter that community, you click on a button that does not just say 'OK' but 'Go' or 'Come on in'. The catch is that the several billion friends you meet on your Web 2.0 travels may be about as sincere as public-relations professionals. Sure, you may feel close to Lonelygirl15 because she features on your contacts list, but don't assume the feeling is mutual.
Also, the more 'friends' you make in cyberspace, the more the quality of communication dips. The exchanges are liable to grow ever shorter. Eventually, you may become just another name in a chain letter - forwarded e-mail junk bordering on spam. To me, that sounds suspiciously like the interactive Web 2.0 spirit turned upside down.
