Is Web 2.0 Overrated?
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Loading ...At least that’s what I felt after attending the Web innovation conference held in Bangalore this week. I don’t understand why folks spend so much time slicing and dicing what web 2.0 means. I could hear some people even talking about Web 3.0 – some of the gifted ones even offered a glimpse into Web 4.0!! Now, come on! Isn’t that a bit too much? We are not talking about a software release which comes in different versions with a predefined set of features. We are talking about evolution of the internet economy here. Don’t get me wrong - I definitely think Web 2.0 is a beautiful thing and the power of communities has a huge potential for the new economy. But that’s exactly my point – people need to think about the applications of this concept, as opposed to getting hung up around the text book or Wikipedia definitions of Web 2.0. Ok, enough with my ranting – it wasn’t all that bad. There were some decent speakers as well – like Rohit from Techtribe who offered some good insights into the dynamics of online communities.
It would be great to see more businesses in India that are built around the power of online communities. A lot of people feel that online communities may not be a good fit for the Indian culture, but I strongly feel that the communities can be very successful if the right incentives are offered to them. I am posting the slides that I used for my topic at the conference – “the future of eCommerce”. eCommerce is definitely an area
which can benefit a lot from community participation. I will put up a link to the Podcast if I am able to get hold of it – alternatively, you can also check at http://www.webinnovation.in which is the official site for the conference.
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December 21st, 2007 at 11:16 am
Every new technology/business innovation goes through this hype cycle…and web 2.0 is at its peak…
BTW, the slideshow is not visible as it’s marked private…
December 21st, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Hi Darpan
I attended your session in Bangalore and it was very insightful. One question that I had - what do you think is the future of mobile eCommerce with online communities?
Thanks
Sumit
December 27th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Google has come up with its own community engagement tool called - “Google Knols”.
Interesting to see how it will shape out. Right now the release is “invitation only”.
Basically the plan is to amass huge amounts of high quality topic specific user generated content and use it wherever. Search Primarily.
You can read more about it at :
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/encouraging-people-to-contribute.html
February 13th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Well…online communities have been immensely successful in India which can be well judged by the popularity of Orkut in India.
And as for the web 2.0 thing…it is not unusual that the world is going gaga over the concept. It is true that people tend to read to much into it but then that’s what common human psychology is all about.
The web 2.0 buzz has not only boosted the communication scenario around the globe but has also added a lot to the world economy.India too is no exception in this regard.
As we all know India has not been very good at accepting changes instantly…it takes time to seep into the Indian psychology and technology in this regard, is no exception. But web 2.0 is gaining pace as I earlier stated that Orkut is doing a great business in India. And not to forget youtube, myspace and facebook. There is more to it…the latest researches show that e-commerce in India will attain great heights by the end of 2009 ! I feel this is enough to prove that India is also accepting that the world already has.
I feel it is the season web 2.0 and so all the buzz around…though I agree to you…to talk about web 3.0 and web 4.0 right now,is just too much !