bizuo | business you.0™

What Sites are Strong Examples of Web x.0?

2008-03-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

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).
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.
Last stop is Google's Blogspot, one of the largest collections of blogs in the world. Search for a sports team you like and see how many hundreds of blogs pop up. Read at least one post. Comment. Repeat.

Web 3.0 - this is the AMAZING stuff. First stop is a "content aggregation" site. Jump right in with NetVibes or iGoogle. See those home pages with all the widgets? You can scroll or search through thousands of options to choose custom content you want to appear on your home page. Your custom home page might have widgets for: your first-choice newspaper, today's weather, the blog from your preferred presidential candidate, daily fitness videos and your favorite online poker game.

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.

bizuo

What is Web Anything.0?

2008-03-27T17:07:00.000-07:00

We've all heard the terms Web 1.0, 2.0, 3.0. So what do they mean - and more importantly, what do they mean to you as a business person?

Web 1.0 was about accessing content. This was the dawning of the Internet Age, and the revolution was digitized. Thanks to Netscape, your AOL account, Juno.com, etc., you could connect to the Internet and read information immediately. That information, however, could be published only by those who understood how to code and upload. Web 1.0 was a revolutionary but one-way street.

Web 2.0 was about interacting with content. Once new tools made it possible for users to start publishing their own content to the Internet, Web 2.0 was born. Videos were uploaded. Blogs were posted. Wikis were...pediaed. And Time declared "You" the person of the year for embracing the newly accessible World Wide Web and exploding it into billions of pages of content. Web 2.0 was a two-way street...with people driving all over the road.

Web 3.0 is about aggregating content. Have you counted your bookmarks lately? Done a Google search and gotten fewer than 20 pages of results? The free-for-all of the interactive online community generated a lot of content, but how do you wade through it all to find the specific content you want? Thanks to keywords, tags and feed-driven widgets, Web 3.0 is enabling users to park themselves in one space on the Internet, find the content they want and draw it directly down to where they are. Web 3.0 is like the parking lot of the world's biggest burger joint with car service. On skates. You stay nice and comfy in your car, and we bring your order to you.

bizuo

What is "Business You.0"?

2008-03-26T18:46:00.001-07:00

Business You.0 blends:

business Strategy
you as a brand visionary; and
whatever version of the Web serves your strategies the best: 2.0, 3.0. 100.0, etc.

Rely on this blog for regular tips, insights, interviews and excerpts to help you navigate new media and expand your brand.

Not sure if new media is necessary for your projects? You might also be waiting for the whole "cell phone craze" to pass. Or to build a Web site until you "absolutely have to." To quote the venerable Shinseki:

"If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less."

New media is a must for any business effort today. Of course diving into Web 2.0 and 3.0 is uncharted territory for you! And all you're reading now is how everyone else is using it and you're light years behind. Not to worry. With this blog, you will learn what Web 2.0 (and beyond) is, how you can use it, when you should use it and why.

Subscribe to the blog on the right, or revisit regularly for the latest trends and specific tips on how they apply to your company's mission. And most importantly, find simple instructions on how to do it yourself - and when not to.

Your questions, comments and contributions are welcome below.

bizuo