What is Web 2.0 and does your business need it?

In its simplest form Web 2.0 empowers the small business owner to make decisions based on business needs, not technology. Web 2.0 provides a large resource base of pre-written and tested web applications, the small business owner can mix match applications, graphics, templates, databases and API’s (Application Programming Interface) to accomplish customer relationship goals that two or three years ago were simply a dream and/or beyond the reach financially of many small businesses. This new technology allows small businesses to compete with the big boys for the first time since the inception of the Internet. Used correctly Web 2.0 can empower the small business owner as never before.

TimO’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media, regards Web 2.0 as any business embracing the web as a platform and utilizing its strengths (global audiences, for example).  O’Reilly considers that Eric Schmidt’s abridged slogan, don’t fight the Internet, encompasses the essence of Web 2.0 — building applications and services around the unique features of the Internet, as opposed to building applications and expecting the Internet to suit as a platform (effectively “fighting the Internet”) gives any business a real advantage.

Here is a Wikipedia summary of the term Web 2.0: It is a term describing the trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users.  These concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based
communities and hosted services, such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies.