Tim Berners-Lee
Is Web 2.0 a distinctly different application of Internet technology or, as Internet pioneer Tim Berners-Lee described it a “piece of jargon”? This is a serious question for marketing executives grappling with issues about where to spend advertising and promotion dollars in puzzling economic times.Initially the Web was used as a way of publishing and retrieving information. Viewers were limited to viewing content only the site’s owner could modify. Web 2.0 refers to Web development and design capable of communication, secure information sharing, and collaboration.
Web 2.0 applications like Facebook, You Tube and Twitter have redefined politics, but continue to find resistance in the corporate world. An article in Chief Executive Magazine offered this explanation:
“Traditionally, the architecture of corporations has been vertical and closed. Corporate cultures are characterized by rigid hierarchies managed as top-down organizations. The architecture of Web 2.0 platforms, by contrast, is essentially social and their design is open, horizontal and transparent.”
However a new day may be dawning. Forrester Research forecasts accelerated spending on Web 2.0-from $764 million in 2008 to $4.6 billion in 2013. Here’s the way Chief Executive Magazine summarizes the situation:
“Corporate executives, once intrigued only by the hype and buzz around Web 2.0, are now embracing social media to boost productivity, foster innovation and market their new products.”
However, it would be surprising if there were not critics. Author Andrew Keen, who half-seriously thinks it would be a good idea to abolish the Internet, writes:
“The Internet is creating an endless digital forest of mediocrity: uninformed political commentary, unseemly home videos, embarrassingly amateurish music, unreadable poems, essays and novels.” He calls it a cult of digital narcissism and amateurism which undermines the notion of expertise.