What is Web 2.0?

I’m giving a presentation on Tuesday to a group of sales people who work for a news distribution company looking at exploiting Web 2.0 tools. One of the things they want to know is “What is Web 2.0?”. You can use the standard definition propagated by the followers/disciples of Tim O’Reilly, who see Web 2.0 as the emergence of Web-based services. But is this too broad of a definition for people grappling with the idea of collaboration tools, Wikis, blogs, video-sharing, etc.? I mean, the echo chamber understands Web 2.0 and us “insiders” are gulping down the Kool-Aid as quickly as new cool Web 2.0 services can be produced. But what about everyone else? What about all those people still on the outside looking in – otherwise known as the mainstream?

To me, an basic definition of Web 2.0 is it’s active/dynamic Web; the place where people do things. This is different from Web 1.0, which was static and mostly involved accessing material that you would have otherwise had to have read in a newspaper, magazine or book (and all those flawed IPOs made by companies with little revenue and but lots of hype). One of the most creative ways to explain Web 2.0 and how it’s changing the Internet is this video, which I’ve watched several times already. The video was created by Michael Wesch, an Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University. (Hat tip to Somewhat Frank for giving the video some much-warranted attention)

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