Translating the Web 2.0 cool factor and hype
In my role one of the opportunities I have is to translate Web 2.0 and Social Networking jargon and hype into “what does that really mean for my business” terms. Obviously a lot of people understand the coolness, intrigue and opportunity of Web 2.0, but what I feel has been missing is the common language around what tag-based folksonomies, mash-ups, RSS, open APIs, aggregation, etc, really mean to customers and our ability to facilitate connections with and among them. How’s it going to make their life easier and more efficient? Well, in the spirit of tapping into others’ “thinking” in the blogosphere, I did a search to see who else has thoughts on translating geek speak into common language.
Although I found a few good commentaries, the one that caught my eye is Mike Stopforth’s What is Web 2.0? post. I found the full post to be a good read, I pulled the following snippets as highlights:
“A Frustrated Crowd:
Humans hunger for relationship - especially consumers (or customers). In the ‘real world’, we are a disenchanted and frustrated lot - further removed from the corporations who make our clothes, bank our money, insure our goods and even cook our food than ever before. This is not natural, and as a result many of us (consumers) are pissed off. We long to engage in dialogue
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My 2 cents…we’re all naturally drawn to relationships and finding others like us. So much of what we do on a day-to-day basis can now be done with little to no human interaction…and we’ve asked for it. That doesn’t remove the fact that we as humans still need interaction to grow.
“Rupert Murdoch had this to say about Web 2.0 in a recent Wired News article:
To find something comparable (to Web 2.0), you have to go back 500 years to the printing press, the birth of mass media – which, incidentally, is what really destroyed the old world of kings and aristocracies. Technology is shifting power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media elite. Now it’s the people who are taking control.
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My 2 cents (now 4 cents)…Web 2.0 brings power to the people! We have control over the experience and great opportunities to connect with others like us vs. being stifled by a one way communication to and from the “establishment.”
“Software as an experience. Web 2.0 is about the humanification of the web - the humanification of software. It’s about designing interfaces that match, not contradict, the way we normally communicate with each other.
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My 2 cents (6 cents all up)…again it’s about the warm body using the web. The technology enables, but the person participating in the experience makes it real. The human layer needs to overlay the geek speak.
“Beta is better. When a Web 2.0 company slaps a ‘Beta’ stamp on a product, they’re saying, “We have made something for you to try. We’re not sure it’s perfect yet, but we’re open to criticism and experimentation. We want feedback from you - let’s have a conversation.
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Another couple pennies…Companies are being more transparent and engaging with their community earlier in the product lifecycle. Result…much more customer centric/driven products. Customers have a say.
“Viral Marketing (or Word-of-Mouth on Steroids) Web 2.0 is a culture, a way to interact, to share and to collaborate. It is about the bigger picture, about getting the most out of any given network of individuals.
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And for a full dime…Word-of-Mouth is huge in a Web 2.0 environment. And best thing about it is – especially in a business setting – that Word-of-Mouth is the voice of the customer and that’s worth a lot of dimes. J
In coming posts I hope to be drilling deeper into specific scenarios related to driving a new dimension of community for IT Pros...the audience my group focuses on. For now I was just pleased to uncover others in the business of translating the folksonomic wonderment of a predictable, serendipitous, mashed up Web 2.0 experience.
