Web 2.0 Characteristics

The five characteristics that define Web 2.0 are dynamic content, user contribution, social media, online applications, and harnessing collective intelligence. Dynamic content is organic and changes every second. It's basically a mash up of information. A real-world example of dynamic content would be the iPhone application that combines the yellow pages with Google maps. It makes it easier for the viewer to navigate their destination by seeing the address not only in writing but as well as on a map in relation to their location. User contribution is pretty self-explanatory. Outside viewers contribute their own information, ideas, creations, etc. into a website that allows other viewers to see their work. A real-world example of this, besides the obvious YouTube, would be eBay. eBay allows people to post products that they are trying to sell to other people. It also allows potential buyers to read the feedback these sellers have received in terms of their reliability with other customers. Users contribute to eBay in a variety of ways that allow a great amount of networking to happen. The third characteristic of Web 2.0 is social media. Social media is online media that provides opportunities for socializing, connecting, sharing, etc. The most popular forms of social media today would be networks such as facebook, myspace, and twitter. Each of these networks has unique ways that people can communicate with one another through the internet. Whether it be tagging someone in a picture, "poking" someone just for fun, or "liking" someone's status, there are a variety of ways that people are able to communicate through these massive networks. Online applications are the fourth characteristic of Web 2.0. These are applications that are generally thought of as things you would traditionally buy and install on to your computer. Using modern technology, people can now easily access this software through online applications and download it themselves right in the comfort of their own home. An example of an online application would be the Adobe Suite. A buyer can go onto the Adobe website and purchase a variety of packages that include different elements of their software such as Flash or Photoshop and pay right then and there. The software then automatically downloads with a few clicks of the mouse. This saves them the trouble of going out and buying a tangible version of the software in a CD form and having to install it all on their own. The final characteristic of Web 2.0 is harnessing collective intelligence. This characteristic enhances our productivity and saves us time since it assigns keywords to content. A real-world example would be the ability to bookmark a web page. By bookmarking a particular website, one can easily navigate back to the information they had found there that was relevant to whatever they were researching. It saves a person the time it takes to find that website once again and he/she just has to simply click the bookmark to find the same information they had found before. In conclusion, technology has come a long way from what it used to be. It's ever changing and is becoming quite advanced with the various applications and networking abilities that people are able to use today. Web 2.0 became a huge step up from Web 1.0 with its interactivity and dynamic data. We can only imagine how advanced Web 3.0 will be in the future and the amazing abilities that technology will have.