This morning, Dion Hinchcliffe spoke about Web 2.0 and its place in the online world, a presentation which (despite its overly-long jam-packed-with-slides delivery) had plenty of useful things to say. Here are a few of the key messages.
Firstly, what does ‘Web 2.0′ mean? A Web 2.0 application takes advantage of network effects — i.e. the more that other people have or use a service, the more value it has. Social network effects increase this value due to their immense potential for rapid growth and large reach. The small percentage of sites that manage to hit critical mass and use network effects experience astronomical growth, but others trying to compete in the space have a lot of trouble fighting established network effects.
What’s the core value of Web 2.0? Rather than a fancy interface or even user lock-in, it’s data. Unique, hard-to-recreate information that gets more valuable the more users there are; data your competitors don’t have and your users don’t want to have to build up again. But rather than encourage competition, another core asset of Web 2.0 is the platform concept; the web is the platform, open APIs and mashups encourage reuse of the data you control in new and exciting ways.
Most successful web companies are doing this now, and it’s the stuff that’s definitely going to power the future. Plus, if you encourage users to create applications on your platform, chances are they’ll think of plenty of uses you would never have dreamed of, nor had the resources to create (Facebook is a great example of how this can be mutually beneficial to everyone involved).
While many of the core classes of data online are ‘claimed’ by large players with huge networks, there are still plenty of niches unclaimed and plenty of opportunities for new entrants into the data scene. Success is harnessing a niche, making your space and getting hold of data — then letting others play with it.
