December 20th, 2005
Why I Use the Term “Web 2.0″
by Joshua Porter | 
5 Comments
I use the term “Web 2.0″ because:
- It is easier than saying “all the lessons we’ve learned so far about what works on the web that might be worth paying attention to”.
- It signals we’re talking about the Web and newness and something being different than it was before
- It represents a change to networked, online applications, services, and APIs.
- It’s easy and fast to say and use, and can be used by marketing people, software people, VCs, designers, whomever.
- I’m a writer. So it is in my best interest to use terms that people use, and people use the term “Web 2.0″
But if someone doesn’t want to use that term, if they’re somehow offended, if they think it’s an attempt at self-promotion, or to ride some hype wave into prominence, then fine, I’ll use whatever term they want to use.
…as long as we understand each other.
ABOUT
Bokardo is the blog of Joshua Porter, a web designer/developer, researcher, and writer. I live in Newburyport, MA, USA.
Designing for the Social Web
Building a social web site or application? I wrote a book just for you!
Find out more or order from Peachpit or Amazon
Greatest Hits
- Five Principles to Design By
- The Del.icio.us Lesson
- Designing for the Social Web: The Usage Lifecycle
- Facebook's Brilliant but Evil Design
- Digg's Design Dilemma (Part II)
- 7 Reasons Why Web Apps Fail
- 7 More Reasons Why Web Apps Fail
- Which Movie to Watch? An Overview of Recommendation Systems
- Ugliness, Social Design, and the MySpace Lesson
Upcoming Speaking Events
- Voices that Matter Conference
Nashville, TN / Jun 10-13, 2008 - North Shore Web Geeks Meetup
Newburyport, MA / June 19, 2008 - d.Construct
Brighton Dome, UK / Sep 4-5, 2008 - Web 2.0 Expo
New York, NY / Sep 16-19, 2008
LATEST POSTS
- Co-evolving
- Bill Gates upset with Windows Usability
- Social Design Patterns for Reputation Systems: An Interview with Yahoo’s Bryce Glass (Part II)
- Social Design Patterns for Reputation Systems: An Interview with Yahoo’s Bryce Glass (Part I)
- 5 ways to improve reputation systems
- Why You Shouldn’t be Afraid of Customer Reviews
- Learning 2.0: The Threat (and promise) of Social Interaction
- Free Books: Smashing Magazine Books Giveaway
- Speaking at 2008 d.Construct
- The growing importance of Design
Comments ( 5 Responses so far )
1. Robert on December 21st, 2005 (Comment) #
Exactly my thoughts: why use any other term if we understand eachother perfectly?
2. Francis Wu on December 21st, 2005 (Comment) #
I use the term Web 2.0 ’cause it’s faster than saying “Cluetrain for the Web usually with a dose of AJAX”.
3. Julian on December 28th, 2005 (Comment) #
Ditto. I am sick of people claiming that the term “Web 2.0″ is a fad, because the technology has been around longer than the term has.
“Web 2.0″ stands for a long list of developments on the internet that change the way we think of the web, use the web, and sell the web.
4. Charlie Wood on January 18th, 2006 (Comment) #
My wife asked me yesterday what “Web 2.0″ means. I told her that in the 90’s there was the Web boom. Then the boom became a bubble, then the bubble burst. Then there was a 4- or 5-year period of stagnation, both in technology and in the technology industry. Then things started happening again–RSS took off, companies started getting funded again, Google went public, people figured out how to do much cooler UI’s in a browser, big companies started opening up online API’s, and little companies started throwing parties again. That’s Web 2.0.
Like Josh says, call it whatever you want. But if you want me to understand what you’re talking about, just say “Web 2.0″. (Include the quotes if you want to emphasize the fact that you’re not drinking the kool-aid.)
5. thecreator on January 31st, 2006 (Comment) #
The normal human brain has a max memory retention limit of 10 characters. Web 2.0 fits nicely within that limit. Spread the hype.