The term web2.0 was originally presented by O'Reilly Media (A well known media company publishing books and websites on various computer technology topics). It's a term that refers to a new generation of websites (social networking websites, wiki-based websites etc). These websites take advantage of web application technologies and give web users the ability to collaborate and share their experiences, views, opinions and interests while they surf the web.



The web2.0 is a revolutionary phenomenon. Let's talk about the most basic characteristics of the websites using the web2.0 concept:

- A web2.0 website should be completely interactive and dynamic with a friendly user-interface based on the latest web2.0 technologies like AJAX.

- Web2.0 websites should deliver web based applications to Internet users and allowing them to make use of these applications through a web browser.

- A web2.0 website should implement social networking capabilities allowing users to interact with each other and create friend lists.

- A web2.0 website should be a democratic website where users will be able to add value by interacting with the web based application.

- A Web2.0 websites should allow it's users to exercise various controls over the website data and content (adding/deleting/editing content).

The conclusion is that web2.0 websites are build on participatory web based applications focusing basically on user experience and collaboration.

Examples of successful web2.0 websites

Although this new Internet revolution or trend is not widespread among web developers or Internet marketers yet, millions of users are actually participating in such websites. Not a lot of them are aware of the web2.0 concept but they are already an active part of it.

Here are some super-successful websites utilizing the web2.0 technologies:

- YouTube.com : The concept of YouTube is very simple. It allows Internet users to share their favorite video files with the entire world. YouTube gained so much popularity in such a little time. Everyone was surprised when the giant search engine Google bought the YouTube company for over 2 billions dollars!

- Wikipedia: The most famous online encyclopedia. It's free, it's huge, it's quite a resource for everyone and it's updated every single minute since anyone can edit it's contents. Which is why it became such a popular web place.

- Social Bookmarking websites like Digg.com : These type of websites like Digg.com offer users the ability to create friend lists and share their favorite websites, opinions, stories etc with people all over the globe. The popularity of these social bookmarking websites is increasing every day, making the website owners rich!

- MySpace.com: I bet you've heard of MySpace.com. This website will allow you to create your own profile, friend list and personal homepage adding whatever you want on it (text, images, videos, links, etc). It will also allow to share your profile and web page with other MySpace users. Amazingly simple but so clever. MySpace.com is now one of the most visited websited in the entire Internet.

What do all these websites have in common?

The web2.0 concept. These websites are active web based applications. They all allow internet users to actively participate and customize the way the website looks and feels, thus giving the pleasure and impression of collaborating to the online community. The web2.0 is so evolutionary because of it's simplicity and it will become even more widespread among website designers and internet marketers.