the .blog of Sean Sullivan

First of all, what is Web 2.0? What is this crazy buzzword “Web 2.0″ that people keep throwing around. Well, to be honest with you, it really depends on with whom it is that you are talking that determines your definition. Probably the most famous of this Web 2.0 age are sites with heavy social networking aspects such as myspace and thefacebook. However, the concept of Web 2.0 goes a little bit further than just a glorified title behind sites that provide the ability to set up a profile and link it to other users. What we are seeing happen in this age of Internet technology concerning sites is a revolution in the sense of content delivery.

On the Internet, content is always king. It is the hardest piece of the puzzle when designing or putting together a website. How do I optimize my content for my prospective customers? What are the most important pieces of my business that should be displayed on my front page, where my traffic lands and dictates the length of their stay? On true Web 2.0 sites, you as the site owner don’t necessarily make those decisions anymore. The most popular sites on the Internet currently– YouTube, del.icio.us, digg.com– all of these sites have a major factor in common. That commonality between these sites is the ideal of what sifts to the top is the content that users choose to place there through rating, views, etc…

I am going to raise an interesting question. Can this content model adapted by major Internet sites be applied to traditional business sites? To enter this realm really requires innovative thinking but provides an excellent opportunity to break the mold. The issue that I think you see brewing throughout the Internet is that users have been infected with this disease of active involvement in dictating the presentation of a site’s content. We like to provide our input. We like to rate things. We like to give quick little blurbs and our two cents on products we have purchased or services that we have used. How many business owners will take the risk of giving their site visitors a completely open channel to actively involve them in their business site’s content and deliverance of that content? It may be a radical thought or concept because these traditional business sites have a very standardized way of spelling out what it is they sell/do. However it is something I am looking to investigate/experiment with further because this interactivity disease that Internet users have developed is only going to get worst and there’s no cure in sight. I would be curious to see what readers input / ideas are on this particular topic.