The Most Important Thing About Web 2.0
Posted on April 12th, 2006 in Usability | 5 Comments »
The vast majority of people in the world have no idea what Web 2.0 means. Indeed, the vast majority of savvy web users have no idea what Web 2.0 means.
Out of 6.5 billion people on Earth about 1 billion have internet access, with penetration deepest in North Asia, America and Europe. Forget about people in Africa and the Middle East. The point is that even when you consider a pool of 1 billion people, the world is ignorant about Web 2.0.
The implication is that talking about Web 2.0 is a useless exercise except amongst geeks. It is technical. It is about jargon. It is gee whiz, technobabble. For the vast majority of people, it is a useless concept. So, if you talk about Web 2.0, know your audience. Know their thirst for geek information, silly jargon, development tips, new services, and whatnot.
If you’re developing a real tool for real customers, please be sure to stay away from “Web 2.0″ as a term, or any other related term. You can focus on functionality to a point, but even that isn’t the trick. And, don’t focus on usability either. That is expected. Instead, focus on end user benefits. Focus on value. Then maybe, just maybe, the raw eyeballs will become real people, with real money.
Possibly related: How Web 2.0 Killed Microsoft
5 Responses
At last, someone is talking some sense about web 2.0! I am one of those frustrated people who sit on the boundry of web geekdom and normal web user and quite frankly every time I see or hear about web 2.0 I groan, get a couple of lines into an article and then switch off.
If it really is the next big thing, great. Tell me all about the benefits and show me some examples of how it will improve my life. Please don’t tell me about what it is in pure techno geek terms.
Stay away from Web 2.0 as a term, yes.
Much like we shouldn’t talk about UCD, or usability, or HCI, or Human Factors except to the people who practise them.
At its base, Web 2.0 is (should be) an increnmetal improvement over how we went about designing web experiences in the past. No “real” people should notice anything different except that the sites and apps they use suck a little less.
And frankly that’s what all this shit is about anyway… making people’s lives suck less (and maybe someday suckless). Well, the people with web access anyway.
Suck less versus suckless: Excellent nuance.
Whoohoo!
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