July 8, 2007 – T-machine.org

This question keeps coming up, and most people just need a simple answer. This is the quick and dirty explanation I came up with for some colleagues with the added emphasis on concrete benefits rather than just theoretical ideas.

What is Web 2.0?

“Web 2.0 was the moment we stopped using computers and started using the internet” – frantic

…is a brilliant answer, I love it, and it sounds really short, but takes at least 10 minutes to explain properly. Probably more like an hour, if we’re being honest here. If you already know what Web 2.0 is, and know lots of examples and counter-examples, that sums it up neatly. But cryptically.

Theoretical definition

(my super short summary of: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html)

Data is the most important thing in the world
Mass-market consumers are the most important business-partner in the world
Software that you can use today is more important in every single way than software that “works” or is “good”
Quantity (of consumers) beats quality: use Network Effect to get vast numbers of users very quickly
The internet is part of every platform. You are *always* selling stuff to the internet, *even when you think you aren’t*

Maybe explaining what the concrete benefits are will help.

Here goes…

OK, what does it actually do?

Web 2.0 has four main benefits:
1. A clever trick lets you use “the internet” as your development team, your sales team, your marketing team, or your support team. Increase your output by a factor of 100!

2. Make money out of other people’s data

3. Use other people’s development teams to build features for you

4. Provide a user-experience that is so many times better than anything you’ve ever done before that your sales increase substantially just because it’s so much more pleasant to use