What is Web 2.0?
Web 2.0 does not refer to a particular technology but to a general trend. There is no checklist to decide what Web 2.0 is and whether you can apply it to your business, but there are several features that tend to distinguish it.
It may be helpful to consider integrating some of the following into your website:
- User-generated content - this is the ability for your customers to interact with your business online, eg by posting information, comments, or product ratings and reviews to your website. This adds real value for other customers and provides you with customer insight and content that is unique to your website. Business blogs are another example of how you can communicate directly with your customers, canvass opinion, and advertise new products or services - see the page in this guide on Web 2.0 tools.
- Collaboration - nearly all Web 2.0 applications centre around some community aspect where users can share experiences and knowledge. Increasingly the web is being used for 'open innovation' or e-collaboration, where organisations are opening up areas of their business to the online community. In doing so, business is using the online resources and expertise available to solve problems or create innovative products or services. Find out about e-collaboration on the open innovation website.
- Online networking and social media - the ability for people to find others with similar interests and express themselves to a community of like-minded people - eg social sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Business networking sites such as LinkedIn can also be used to develop professional networks, to enhance career or recruitment options or simply to keep in touch with former colleagues and contacts. See our guide on online networking.
- Personalisation - the facility to customise the way you view or interact with websites. For example, the ability to set your local area so you get information based on your location such as the news or weather. Web applications or 'web apps' are also growing in popularity, giving users applications they can add to websites or mobile devices like a smart phone - providing personalised web experiences.
Common to all of these is the ability for users to add and edit content - contributing online using different types of technology and interactive media, and creating more personalised web experiences.