What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities, hosted services, and applications; such as social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies.
Web 2.0 encapsulates the idea of the proliferation of interconnectivity and interactivity of web-delivered content. Web 2.0 technology encourages lightweight business models enabled by syndication of content and of service and by ease of picking-up by early adopters.The term first became notable after the O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004. Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but rather to changes in the ways software developers and end-users utilize the Web. This information is from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0


In our initial brainstorming, we formulated our sense of Web 2.0 by example:
Web 1.0 Web 2.0
DoubleClick --> Google AdSense
Ofoto --> Flickr
Akamai --> BitTorrent
mp3.com --> Napster
Britannica Online --> Wikipedia
personal websites -->blogging
evite --> upcoming.org and EVDB
domain name speculation --> search engine optimization
page views --> cost per click
screen scraping --> web services
publishing --> participation
content management systems --> wikis
directories (taxonomy) --> tagging ("folksonomy")
stickiness --> syndication
This information is from: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html or http://www.oreilly.de/artikel/web20.html


Here are just a few examples of Web 2.0:
· web-based email
· online banking
· project management tools
· word processing
· spreadsheeting
· news feeds
· online radio
· video hosting
· geomatics and mapping services
· car anti-theft tracking and gps
· home security surveillance
· dating and relationships services
· psychology and medical counselling
· headhunting and executive job searching
· sports team organizing
· photo gallery services
· music and file sharing
· computer virus scanning
· computer hardware testing
· private investigator and confidential search services
· wedding planning
· consignment and flea market trading (e.g. eBay)
· price shopping for consumer goods
· digital photo processing
· logo design and graphic arts services

All of these services, and many more, are now available online through the web. Some of these services are free (powered by advertising), while others cost subscription fees ranging from 5 dollars per month to 5000 dollars per year.
This information is from: http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/w/f/web20.htm