Web 2.0

In the early millennium (around 2001-2002) the internet interface and capabilities expanded dramatically resulting in a rebirth of the internet for a new generation of users. With the release of "Web 2.0", the internet transformed the way in which internet users used the internet , along with the purposes for going online. Tim O'reilly and Medialive International first held conferences defining the new direction of the internet. With the dot-com collapse many new websites were registering every day with pioneering ideas which O'reilly says was a call to action for Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 was a new way for users to interact on a social level on the internet, enabling them to have more influence on the websites itself and to participate in an up and coming social collective of ideas.One of the new main core values was that each user could share with each other, thus,creating thriving communities that interconnected. Some of the most popular web 2.0 brain child's are sites such as Youtube, Facebook and Blogger which have become a flourishing success.

This is a graph by Tim O'reilly showing the evolution of Web 1.0 to 2.0, although Tim Berners-Lee the creator of the internet dismisses this saying "Web 1.0 was all about connecting people. 'It was an interactive space, and I think Web 2.0 is of course a piece of jargon, nobody even knows what it means. If Web 2.0 for you is blogs and wikis, then that is people to people. But that was what the Web was supposed to be all along." and that "Web 2.0" was a buzzard for corporations looking to get increased revenue. 

                                                         Web 1.0           Web 2.0
                                                  DoubleClick     -->     Google AdSense
                                                             Ofoto     -->     Flickr
                                                         Akamai     -->     BitTorrent
                                                       mp3.com     -->     Napster
                                          Britannica Online     -->     Wikipedia
                                          personal websites     -->     blogging
                                                              evite     -->     upcoming.org and EVDB
                             domain name speculation     -->     search engine optimization
                                                    page views     -->     cost per click
                                             screen scraping     -->     web services
                                                     publishing     -->     participation
                       content management systems     -->     wikis
                                  directories (taxonomy)     -->     tagging ("folksonomy")
                                                      stickiness     -->     syndication

Youtube offers a service like no other on the web. The creators made a platform with a basic skeleton which had a user friendly format and then let the public make the database content by uploading videos of just about anything. This was one of the first ways for individuals on a global scale to communicate and share to each other or just observe using video's. After one year of operating, in mid June they had 65,000 uploads per day showing that this was an internet phenomenon which was going to grow.Google who now own Youtube makes money with it's ads on the webpages. In the past year, they increased the presence of adverts by automatically playing an advert video before the user can watch their desired video which is a blow to the user but a great asset for Google revenues. Youtube is a success story, as it truly harnesses the Web 2.0 idea of the user population making the content and publishing it, in turn helping bring the idea of a social internet closer.

Web 2.0 is not only a great way for company's to make money but also for the average civilian too. Youtube now has thousands of "normal people" who have made themselves youtube celebrities with Vlog's or sketches. By having a theme or some kind of gimmick they can capture the audience who will in turn, sometimes subscribe. Many users have seen to get promotion deals or sponsorship when there video views get into the hundreds of thousand mark creating a lucrative market for an average civilian. For example Fred Figglehorn became a Youtube partner, meaning they would give him money depending on how many users watched and subscribed to his videos.  

Sorry to make you watch this but he has 2,361,767 subscribers and 877,781,979 video views. Impressive stats, but its unfortunately a waste of time for me to watch but a great money maker.

On the other hand, whilst Web 2.0 boomed and created new markets of it's own, it often helped narrow other corners of the market where they used to be market leaders. This is especially concerning to me as a journalist because News company's and their papers are seeing a decline in readership in the millions. This is a result of sites and other attributes such as Twitter and Digg,  who also successfully harnessed the user population to spread news or link to articles the individuals deemed as important, which in turn helped the rise of the citizen journalist resulting in a decrease in a need for a Newspaper.