Social Media Marketing

What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 is the term given to describe a second generation of the World Wide Web that is focused on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online. Web 2.0 basically refers to the transition from static HTML Web pages to a more dynamic Web that is more organized and is based on serving Web applications to users. Other improved functionality of Web 2.0 includes open communication with an emphasis on Web-based communities of users, and more open sharing of information. Over time Web 2.0 has been used more as a marketing term than a computer-science-based term. Blogs, wikis, and Web services are all seen as components of Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 Infograph

Web 2.0 Tools

Web 2.0 is about revolutionary new ways of creating, collaborating, editing and sharing user-generated content online. It's also about ease of use. There's no need to download, and teachers and students can master many of these tools in minutes. Technology has never been easier or more accessible to all.

Web 2.0 is a Social Web The idea of human society merging with a network of computers might sound like the bad plot out of a pulp science fiction novel, but it is a fair description of what is happening in our society today. Not only are we increasing our usage of the Internet -- from how much time we spend on it at home to how we are increasingly carrying around a version of it in our pocket -- but we are changing the way we interact with it. This has led us to a social web where we aren't just getting information dumped to us from a computer, but we are reaching out to connect with other people to hear what they have to say on a subject. We do this in the form of social media sites like blogs (Techcrunch, Mashable), social networks (MySpace, Flixster), social news (Digg, Propeller) and wikis (Wikipedia, Wikia). The common theme of each of these websites is human interaction. On blogs, we post comments. On social networks, we make friends. On social news, we vote for articles. And, on wikis, we share information.

What is Web 2.0? It is people connecting with other people.

Web 2.0 is an Interactive Internet

These Web 2.0 ideas of bringing the power of people into the Internet wouldn't be possible without the technology to support it. For the collective knowledge of people to be harnessed, websites must be easy enough to use that they don't stand in the way of people using the Internet to share their knowledge. So, while Web 2.0 is about creating a social web, it is also about creating a more interactive and responsive web. It is in this way that methodologies such as AJAX become central to the idea of Web 2.0. AJAX, which stands for Asynchronous Javascript And XML, allows websites to communicate with the browser behind the scenes and without human interaction. This means you don't have to click on something for the web page to do something. It sounds simple, but it is not something that was possible until the last few years. And what it means is that websites can be more responsive -- more like desktop applications -- which means that they are easier to use. This allows websites to harness the collective power of people because the more difficult a website is to use, the less people that are willing to use it. So, to truly harness that collective power, websites must be designed to be as simple as possible so as not to get in the way of people sharing information.

What is Web 2.0? It is an easier Internet.

Top 10 Most Popular Web 2.0 Websites--November 2012

YouTube	www.youtube.com	Video sharing website
Wikipedia	www.wikipedia.com	A free encyclopedia built collaboratively using wiki software
Twitter	www.twitter.com	Online social networking service and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based messages of up to 140 characters
Craigs List	www.craigslist.org	Local classifieds and forums for jobs, housing, for sale, personals, services, local community, and events
WordPress	www.wordpress.com	A semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability
Flickr	www.flickr.com	Helps users share their photos and enables new ways of organizing photos and video
IMDB	www.imdb.com	The world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content
Photobucket	Offers image hosting, free photo sharing and video sharing	www.photobucket.com
Blogger	www.blogger.com	Google's free tool for creating blogs
Tumblr	www.tumblr.com	A microblogging platform and social networking website, owned and operated by Tumblr, Inc