Web 2.0 or Web Two Point-Blank
What's this all about, and more importantly how do you pronounce Web 2.0?
Web 2.0?
A friend of mine said to me, "Isn't Web 2.0 that high speed internet that universities have?"
To which I replied, "Dude, that's Internet 2."
That's right. When I speak I'm able to place hyperlinks in my words. Anyway, now that you know what Web 2.0 isn't, it's time to learn what it is. Then make fun of it.
Let the learning begin
The best way to learn about Web 2.0 is to pretend like the web didn't matter before 2003. A good starting point is to read Tim O'Reilly's What Is Web 2.0. If you can't get past all the rhetoric, then try Paul Graham's insight into Web 2.0.
How do you pronounce Web 2.0?
Web 2.0 is fun to say. Web Two Point Oh.
Maybe you pronounce it Web Two Dot Oh, or Web Two Point Zero, or how about Web Two Oh for short. Whatever you do, make sure not to call it Web Two.
After browsing through Web 2.0 Conference audio from 2005 and 2004, I noticed some folks such as Brendan Eich (Mozilla) and the announcer for the audio host (IT Conversations) use the first pronunciation above, Web Two Point Oh. Others like Jeff Bezos (Amazon) call it Web Two Dot Oh.
A rose by any other name
What's more fun than saying Web 2.0? Making up parody puns. I've found a bunch of other sites that have done just that.
* Yeah, I know nought is just the British way of saying 0, but it's funny anyway.
Mine are better though.
- Web Two Point-Blank (hey what do you know, that's the name of this page)
- Web Two Pointless (or alternatively Web Too Pointless)
Web 2.0 by example
There's a cute little chart in the O'Reilly article that shows examples of Web 1.0 (boo!) versus Web 2.0 (yay!). But what he didn't tell you is Web 2.0 is only the beginning. Web 2.Blank is the next logical step.
| Web 2.0 | Web 2.Blank | |
|---|---|---|
| Google AdSense | --> | made for adsense |
| Flickr | --> | Zeigerpointer |
| BitTorrent | --> | torrent poisoning |
| Napster | --> | DRM |
| Wikipedia | --> | vandalism |
| blogging | --> | splogging |
| upcoming.org and EVDB | --> | still nothing to do |
| search engine optimization | --> | Google washing |
| cost per click | --> | click fraud |
| web services | --> | illegal screen scraping |
| participation | --> | comment spam |
| wikis | --> | Twiki |
| tagging ("folksonomy") | --> | where did I put that? |
| syndication | --> | information overload |
Buzzword bonanza
Web 2.0 is hearkening in a new wave of buzzwords. Get on board before it's too late.
Web One Point Old (boo!)
- paradigm
- synergy
- proactive
Web Two Point New (yay!)
- folksonomy
- collaborative
- co-op
- blog, blogosphere, blogorific, blogowhatever (smurftastic!)
- podcasting
- Ajax