I just saw this excellent YouTube video describing Web 2.0. It fits in very well with my definition of Web 2.0 that I posted earlier - Web 2.0 is connecting people. Take a look:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE].

The video is just over 3 mins long and is very well done.

As I look at the definition of Web 2.0 on Wikipedia, one thing that stands out most to me is the “social” element. All the technologies - blogs, social bookmarking, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds, APIs, etc. - at the very essence bring about a “connecting of people”. For example -

• Blogs help people post their thoughts and lives openly to others;
• Social bookmarking helps one share what they found on the Internet with others;
• Wikis let people document collaboratively.

Now, I will go one step further and say that these very Web 2.0 technologies allow a recipient of the information to quickly turn around and comment, reply or influence that original piece of information.

• I can post my comments openly about any blog posts I read; this allows me to either agree, disgaree or present a different perspective than the one presented by the author. My comments are literally physically tied to the original blog post and literally physically very close to the original blog post
• I can approve a social bookmark or bury it; my response is literally physically tied to the original bookmark and close to it
• In a wiki, I am one of the many authors; or I can post comments and influence readers of the original content

To me that is what Web 2.0 is all about - democratization of the Internet. It’s a step beyond what happened when web sites first came about. With web sites, everyone was posting content and was able to say things to a wide audience easily. Now, this next step in the evolution of the web is this: all the world wide users of the web decide which content is good and which content should be buried.

So, what is Web 2.0? The term “web 2.0″ is attributed to Tim O’Reilly. There is a fair amount of discussion and explanation in Wikipedia. I suggest you read this first. However, Tim O’Reilly recently posted an updated definition on his blog. I strongly suggest taking a quick read through that too. There are some interesting comments around that post, but I really like what Mr. O’Reilly has said in his post.

Oh, and in case you were wondering who is Tim O’Reily, he is the O’Reilly behind a famous line of technical books and technical conferences. You can read all about him at good old wikipedia!

Needless to say, I am not all new to Web 2.0. Being a regular Internet user (surfer) I have regularly visited and used many of the sites that “qualify” as Web 2.0. So, what would be some sites that qualify as Web 2.0 (in my mind)?

There are the perennial favorites such as Digg, Del.icio.us, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr and Wikipedia. But I personally qualify even sites like Amazon, Y! Answers and Salesforce.com’s AppExchange as Web 2.0. Why? Because they do what to me Web 2.0 is all about: Democratization of the Internet. No offense to O’Reilly Media and the great minds of the Internet world; it may seem like I am disagreeing from their definition when in fact I am only building on their definition. But more on that in a future post.

Visit the sites above and familiarize yourself. You can navigate around and just browse the content. It’s like going to a new city and learning to live like the locals - you will stare at the big skyscrapers in Chicago for only so long before you just stop noticing them. The next time you are on the sites get yourself a login and post something. The best part about these sites is that some of them even give you an introduction to the people behind the sites.