Web 2.0 – My Understanding
This weekend I had a spare 55 minutes and 33 seconds so I watched a video that ProBlogger recommended. The video was from an anthropologists point of view on Youtube, more or less. The video was packed full of info regarding Web 2.0, YouTube, social media and how people interact online. There was so many applications in the video that I can use in online business, it was just chuck full of good knowledge.
However the largest thing that I took away from the video is an understanding of Web 2.0. There is of course a large volume of information on Web 2.0 available online, but everything that I have ever read has left me still with a lack of understanding of what Web 2.0 really is. By definition Web 2.0 is a lot of things, but definitions don’t necessarily mean a working understanding or an application to make money.
Web 2.0 from my working understanding is about linking people. Its about connecting people online in a social way. Web 1.0 to my understanding was about information, aka the internet was a massive library. In real life libraries are helpful, but I wouldn’t hit one up to socialize. Web 2.0 is about connecting people at their deepest level socially online. If you have ever read any books on people, such as “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie, you will know people are deeply involved with other people. That may or may not make sense, but basically people desire to be around and associate with other people. I am a student of people, and I love to learn about how people interact. Web 2.0 is a platform for people to interact.
Web 2.0 would be like the park, the local club, a conference, the networking mixer, the bowling alley, the pool hall, or the block party down the street. Web 2.0 is all about people, which involves informations, but does not center around it like Web 1.0 did. Its not a library its an event. An ever changing, ever emerging, social event. Its an opportunity to meet people, share my life, to connect, to meet people with my interests, to interact, to virtually dance, to live. Thus Myspace, YouTube, Facebook, Digg, and feed readers exist.
Understanding what Web 2.0 is and how it works is crucial to doing business online. After all Web 2.0 is the internet, it is where I make my money. I have certainly been lacking, but now I realize how much I have been missing.
One example would be blogging. If I were in Web 1.0 then I would write content for the visitors of my blog. Using words like you and your. That would be because I would be writing for information for the reader. However in Web 2.0 I write with I and My. That is because the content is social. I can associate easier with someone, like Shoemoney for instance, who relates their experiences. I see them as a person and I associate with other people. If I write with You and Your I am perceived then as a book would be or an advertisers. If you think about it too much it sounds backwards, write with I and My to influence You the reader. 
Mind you I don’t write just so other people will read, at the time of this post I only have a handful of readers anyway. I write for myself, its an expression of myself and a record for me to review my thoughts. But because of that, readers can identify with me. Franklin Bishop has a great article on Writing Content for Yourself. However that is just one example.
There are many application to Web 2.0 and understanding the social structure of the web. I plan to use my new found knowledge to begin earning more money online. Thank you ProBlogger for sharing.
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Thanks for including me!
Your welcome Franklin, thanks for the great article.
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