Web 2.0
Posted by Mike Mon, 03 Oct 2005 19:24:00 GMT
As Tim O'Reilly and Tim Bray say: 'there's still a huge amount of disagreement about just what Web 2.0 means'. Herewith, my summary of O'Reilly's piece What Is Web 2.0.
O'Reilly describes priciples shared by successful 'Web 1.0' successes and interesting recent applications. See the meme map that came out of a brainstorming session of a FOO Camp conference.
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The Web As Platform
Web as platform is an old idea but it's implementation has been refined. See Netscape vs. Google, DoubleClick vs. Ad Sense, Akamai vs. BitTorrent.
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Harnessing Collective Intelligence
Open Source software, open content, collaborative categorization, viral marketing, all rely on a collective intelligence. Site attributes such as extensive (permanent) hyperlinks, low barriers to participation, organized content and meta data facilitate or enhance the affect of collective intelligence. Blogs are a special case of collective intelligence (and RSS a special attribute) in that the collective intelligence only emerges from a critical mass of blogs/articles.
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Data is the Next Intel Inside
Based on the way they approached their databases, MapQuest is a Web 1.0 story and Amazon is a Web 2.0 story. MapQuest licensed map data from Tele Atlas, but did not enhance (e.g. user annotations) or control the data. Amazon licensed ISBN data from R.R. Bowker and enhanced the data with data from publishers and customers. MapQuest was soon joined in the marketplace by competing services (Yahoo, Google, MSN) and Amazon is the standard source for bibliographic data.
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End of the Software Release Cycle
In Web 2.0 software is delivered as a service not a product.
O'Reilly suggests a number of fundamental changes to the business model of software companies.
- Operations must become a core competency. Google has become experts at managing the servers that deliver their web services. And the expertise is closely guarded.
- Users must be treated as co-developers. Release early and often (daily, hourly) and/or a perpetual beta. Real time monitoring of user behaviour.
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Lightweight Programming Models
Simple, lightweight service interfaces appear to be successful with the masses (i.e. the intelligent collective). (One assumes that housingmaps.com enhances the value of Google maps?)
Three lessons identified:
- Support lightweight programming models that allow for loosely coupled systems
- Think syndication, not coordination
- Design for 'hackability' and remixability
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Software Above the Level of a Single Device
ITunes, Tivo, blackberry...
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Rich User Experiences
Google/Flickr/Basecamp are at the forefront, but Yahoo and others have made AJAX the basis for major product releases.
O'Reilly finishes with a summary of the core compentencies of a Web 2.0 company:
- Services, not packaged software, with cost-effective scalability
- Control over unique, hard-to-recreate data sources that get richer as more people use them
- Trusting users as co-developers
- Harnessing collective intelligence
- Leveraging the long tail through customer self-service
- Software above the level of a single device
- Lightweight user interfaces, development models, AND business models
