Li and colleague Josh Bernoff advise companies to first understand the "social technographics" of their customers — six broad classifications of Web fluency — and map those to company objectives and strategies before considering any specific technologies to deploy.

Companies that do that increase their odds of keeping pace with Web 2.0 as it evolves. Which raises the question: Is there such a thing as Web 3.0? Yes, but that's a topic for another day — perhaps one best addressed in a podcast or RSS feed.

Scott Leibs is a deputy editor at CFO.

The ABC's of 2.0

While Web 2.0 can be hard to define, it's often used as a blanket term for a handful of specific technologies, including:

Blogs. Officially "weblogs" (although using that term will draw blank stares), blogs can be online diaries but more often take the form of a running conversation between a site owner and people who visit that site. They often focus on a specific topic or issue, and some Websites may feature many blogs.

Mash-ups. A combination of content from various sources that results in something new, such as a map combined with photos, restaurant listings, weather reports, and so on.

Peer-to-peer networks. A method of sharing files on the Internet or private networks that distributes content across many machines.

Podcasts. Downloadable audio/video content meant to be played back on portable media players (like Apple's iPod) or PCs.

Social networking. Online communities that allow members to share contacts and other information. Can be public (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn) or private (run by a company or other organization, with membership limited).

RSS. Really Simple Syndication, a way to subscribe to online news, podcasts, and so on, often with a means of viewing them in the aggregate.

Wikis. Collaborative content-creation systems that allow for multiple authorship, with Wikipedia being perhaps the best-known example.

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