What is Web 2.0?
February 19, 2007

The term “Web 2.0” has been tossed out at a few meetings I’ve attended recently. When asked to give a definition, people tend to start gesturing grandly—seeming to imply that this new thing is a wonderful invention that will make your life better, happier, more productive—just what you’ve heard a million times before. In reality, Web 2.0 is a tool just like any other tool. I’m a great believer in tools because their purpose is to make my life easier. And if anything is going to make my life easier, I’ll embrace it with open arms.

The challenge is discovering how a particular tool can be put to use making my life easier right now, right here. It took a little while to get past the grandiose terms in which Web 2.0 is always couched, but I finally figured it out. Web 2.0 is TiVo for my computer. I tell a site what I’m interested in, and the info I want is delivered to me. As with all tools, knowing the best way to use Web 2.0 is the key to getting the most out of it. To that end, here are betas from two familiar sites that can help bring the info to you:

Blogger--Search.blogger.com—yes, Blogger can help you create your own blog, but this beta (run by Google)gives you a list of blogs on any topics you choose

Zillow--www.zillow.com/myzillow/Favorites.htm—Zillow is everything real estate, and now their beta delivers the real estate info you request right to you

Know of more? Send them to me at neprice@tmworld.com and I’ll add to the list.

Posted by on February 19, 2007 | Comments (2)