Scott Leibs, CFO Magazine
March 1, 2008

Web 2.0, Confusion 1.5

The article makes several cogent points. Much of the talk about Web 2.0 is market hype. And many novel things quickly lose their interest. Still, fundamental evolution of technologies in the field, like AJAX (Asynchronous Java Script and XML) permit a better user website experience when properly used. So the term "Web 2.0" is indeed a way of saying "there are new things out there". That makes "Web 2.0" a useful term.

If users find a new technology truly useful, that new technology will stay. So I think blogs about new laws, new technologies, and human concerns will remain. But I will certainly never want to blog about some incidental sundry product I've purchased. Only if a product was expensive, defective and I felt unfairly treated might I want to blog about it. Who has the time and interest to blog about any triviality? Probably only bored teenagers with plenty of time on their hands.

The internet media is, unlike TV and radio before it, not a unidirectional broadcast media. Its fundamental characteristic is interactivity. Only when companies understand this fundamental difference from other media and understand the things about which their customers would interact, will their businesses find the appropriate approach to optimally use the internet for the well-being of their customers and their own customers' relations.

Steven Calkins
Cross Media Solutions GmbH
Germany

Posted by Steven Calkins | Mar 18, 2008 6:10 AM ET