Web 2.0 in your business?

[Ryan S]

Just wanted to know, how many of you are using web 2.0 for your business. And what you are doing

[Dave A]

If you count dabbling around in business forum sites, about 4-5 years. Although my participation has been more around exploring business related issues than marketing for my business. The business that has come from it has been welcome, but essentially incidental.

My marketing exec has been the one doing the more focused online networking ala Web 2.0 thing.

[Norri]

FreeArticles.co.za takes advantage of Web 2.0. The users decide which articles are worthy of the home page and top of the category pages.

They also submit the article themselves and post comments.

However, that's Web2.0 and not necessarily the social networking aspect of Web2.0. Hoping to build a Facebook app or 2 soon which will help in that regard.

[FreelanceZA]

My business is developing web applications. One of my websites incorporates web 2.0, the social networking aspect of it.

Basically, it is a social network for freelancers. I wouldn't call it a business, I don't profit from it...yet.

[derekjay]

Can we perhaps define what Web 2.0 is for those who might be using certain aspects (blog, forums, etc) but aren't aware of the definition?

[orpaspar]

According to Wikipedia, Web 2.0 is defined (loosely) as

The term Web 2.0 is commonly associated with web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design,... and collaboration on the World Wide Web. A Web 2.0 site gives its users the free choice to interact or collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators (prosumer) of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to websites where users (consumer) are limited to the passive viewing of content that was created for them. Examples of Web 2.0 include social-networking sites, blogs, wikis, video-sharing sites, hosted services, web applications, mashups and folksonomies.

It is a very general, umbrella term and ubiquitous on the Internet nowadays. Luckily with easy access to APIs and mashups nowadays, it is not difficult to add web 2.0 elements and interactivity to a site. However, like everything else related to the Internet, web 2.0 is a buzzword and has its place. Not every website can be implemented as a web 2.0 incarnation.