Could "Web 2.0" Kill Web 2.0?

Buzzwords are key to this business. I did fight back long ago, but now I'm much more accepting, understanding that old notions with new handles are what the press and end user communities are looking for. It's kind of like pop culture for technology.

I'm responsible for a few of them, if not creating them, than promoting them into the mainstream, so I can't afford to sound too much like a hypocrite here. However, I've also seen how emerging notions and the buzzwords that follow them, can put a bad taste in everyone's mouth if they are overused and over-hyped.

The latest, is "Web 2.0," which I've blogged about here. Basically Web 2.0 is anything and everything associated with modern Web applications, and it seems to be moving from a very narrow and meaningful definition to something that is much too broad and far reaching.

Marketing is doing this. As I'm meeting with VCs these days I'm finding that all of their pitches in the last several weeks were Web 2.0 applications. However, upon a closer look they are mere static Web sites, clearly not in the core notion of Web 2.0 if you ask me. But, nobody is asking me. They are just leveraging a hot term to make their product look better. Thus, the term is being diluted. Hence, it will be tagged as hype, and nobody cares for hype in the long term.

Web 2.0 to me is really something that defines the disruptive technology that is now shaping the new Web, including use of Web services, rich clients such as Ajax, and the empowerment of the user to create their own dynamic and meaningful content. However, most of all the Web 2.0 is a platform where many disparate systems can communicate to automate business processes in and between enterprises, the global SOA. If we keep that goal in mind we'll be okay. If we go off target the Web 2.0, the term, will be a dot bomb.

Posted by Dave Linthicum on March 29, 2006 06:32 AM