Mon, Apr 23, 2007 11:36 EDT

Web 2.0, It’s Starting to Make Sense

Posted by: Michael Hugos in Best Practices

Topic: Applications

Current Rating: Comments: 7

I’ve been using the term Web 2.0 in conversations since last year but secretly I felt like a jerk when I did so because I wasn’t entirely sure what the heck it meant. I read the O’Reilly white paper “What is Web 2.0” and knew it had something to do with web sites that interact with people and gather information about them and where people added content to the site and made it more valuable as they added more and more content. That’s pretty vague though, I know.

But in the last few weeks I’ve gotten some real clarity about what Web 2.0 means. Web 2.0 is based on abstract concepts like: use the web to offer a service instead of software; address “the long tail” instead of just the head; leverage customer self-service and algorithmic data management to create a tailored experience; co-develop content with users; and use unique and hard-to-recreate databases to drive the business. These are now more than just abstract ideas; here’s what made those ideas come alive for me.

I’ve been very busy lately and I like to listen to music while I work. But I’m no good at creating iPod playlists and when I’m involved in my work it seems like a CD only lasts a short time and then there is silence and I have to stop what I’m doing, get up and select another CD. And I have a tendency to play the same small collection of CDs over and over again. I needed my own private DJ who would learn my tastes and then play a mix of tunes I would like.

Then I found a web site called Pandora. Pandora streams music over the Internet for free and allows me to create “radio stations” that each play a different type of music depending on what I’m in the mood for. They can do this because for the last seven years a group of musicologists has been analyzing and cataloging tens of thousands of songs in an undertaking they call The Music Genome Project. They have tagged each song with hundreds of characteristics such as the tempo, tonality, instruments used, vocals, etc.

I type in the name of a band or a song I like and Pandora creates a station by that name and starts creating a playlist by lining

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Tue, Apr 24, 2007 2:23 EDT

Web 2.0, It’s Starting to Make Sense

Posted by: Tim Westergren
Rating:

hi Michael -

Just wanted to say thanks for the wonderful post. I was forwarded this by someone in our office. I don't usually do much blog posting, but I do feel compelled to write when someone creates a great thoughtful piece like this. I really feel like you captured what we're trying to do.

Particularly pleased to hear that you're finding new music you like. That's what this is all about.

thanks again for you support.

Cheers. Tim (Founder)

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Tue, Apr 24, 2007 18:18 EDT

Web 2.0, It’s Starting to Make Sense

Posted by: Iader Galindo R
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Yes, Web 2.0 is a user experience like Pandora Radio Station, is not just Technology es about user needs, easy use and direct benefits. Another radios station using Web 2.0 user experiences are

www.last.fm and www.slacker.com

my favorite is slacker

enjoy it!

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Tue, Apr 24, 2007 18:38 EDT

Web 2.0, It’s Starting to Make Sense

Posted by: Anonymous
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I am glad to see that this has impacted you on an emotional level. This is what Web 2.0 is all about…creating a sense of "this stuff finally works, it is effortless and easy to understand". Too often applications are built without honestly taking the user and technology into the end result. Typically development teams, project groups and companies say that they are limited by the technology, budget, time, and resources and cannot implement what the user really needs. In today's environment this is not an acceptable excuse. Make it work for the user. Hold off on projects until you have the team or the budget or the time. Users really matter! Technology needs to enable our audiences and provide value at every stop. Think about user personas, data relation, the business requirement and for heaven sakes the user interface. Let's drop the term Web 2.0 from our vocabulary and start to understand that it is really building Web applications and communities in a meaningful way.

It's an exciting time to be on the Web!

Thanks for the post,

Adam
balancemedia.com

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Mon, Apr 30, 2007 8:14 EDT

Web 2.0, It’s Starting to Make Sense

Posted by: Ronnie
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Hi,

I am amused and delighted but here in our country we are facing high costs to use internet so I guess we are far from exploring opprotunities like you said. Especially with steam data transmission like listening to a radio station on the internet.

Great piece.

Thanks

Ronnie

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Wed, May 16, 2007 5:36 EDT

Web 2.0, It’s Starting to Make Sense

Posted by: Anonymous
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Thanks Michael for this tip. Unfortunately, because I live in France, I could use Pandora only once before it was cut off. Apparently, they're now waiting for a license and until then, Pandora is only available to users in the USA.:-(

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