What Sites are Strong Examples of Web x.0?
Author: DMA
It's one thing to know there are different levels of Web functionality (1.0, 2.0 and 3.0). It's a better thing to do hands-on research so those distinctions become more familiar. Here are some excellent sites for you to explore - take notes and brainstorm how these might help you build a better Internet experience for your brand.
Web 1.0 - To see this in action, take a good look at your own Web site and see if it only offers static, one-way information from you to your visitors. It would not be nice to single out any existing sites as Web 1.0, but you'll know them when you...read them.
Web 2.0 - The big brands are all easy experiences of interactivity. And chances are, you have never really explored them!
- So now is the time to visit YouTube to witness video uploaded by users all over the world (search for an old commercial or video you remember; it's great fun).
- Then it's off to MySpace to see the largest collection of personalized Web pages in the world (look up a brand you love, like Victoria's Secret or Pepsi to see how many "friends" they have). If you think you're ready for your own social network, the third-party leader is Ning or you can install your own application on your servers thanks to KickApps.
- Next stop is Wikipedia. Go ahead and create a quick account and click the "edit" option to see how easy it is to update information on a Wiki. Then give it a whirl yourself at Wetpaint or PBwiki - it's free.
- Last stop is Google's Blogspot, one of the largest collections of blogs in the world, or the even more expansive Wordpress. Search for a sports team you like and see how many hundreds of blogs pop up. Read at least one post. Comment. Repeat.
Now take another look at all of those Web 2.0 pages from above. See those search bars? See those "keywords" at the bottom? See the RSS or Atom feed options? See the options to "Digg" or mark it as "del.i.cious"? Those are the funnels, the targeting tools, that are helping users pinpoint, categorize, rank and channel related content for themselves and for the next users who search for similar content. That is what is transitioning us into Web 3.0.
And please take note - everything above is available to you for free.
Is this starting to feel like too much information? Imagine how the World Wide Web feels! Don't worry about grasping it all right now. Just know this - if you want to stay current, connected and relevant to your brand base, interactive Web 2.0 functionality is a minimum requirement for your Web site. Upcoming posts will walk you through some of those options.
If you want to go a little 3.0 before you go, click the "Digg" button next to one of these posts (or another article you read online). Create an account, and submit something to the community.
Now, go surf the Web - and, please, come back and post your reactions after the first time you use some of these wildly inspired sites.
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