What are Web 2.0 Technologies, and Why Do They Matter?

Web 2.0 Technologies

• Broadband connectivity
• Increase in downloadable media
• ‘Always on’ internet
• Hardware miniaturization
• Falling cost of Central Data Storage – leading to a lot more uploading and downloading of material.

Web 2.0 software

• ·      Blogs
• ·      Wikis
• ·      Social Bookmarking (delicious)
• ·      Media-Sharing Services (YouTube, iTunes)
• ·      Podcasting
• ·      Social Networking Sites (Facebook, LinkedIn)
• ·      Social Presence Systems (Twitter)
• ·      Collaborative Writing and Editing Tools (Google Docs and Spreadsheets, Gliffy)
• ·      Syndication and Notification Technologies (Google Reader, RSS)
• ·      Start Pages (NetVibes, iGoogle, Pageflakes)
• ·      Bricolage (the act of experimentally building new artefacts, e.g. adding widgets to the borders of your blog)
• ·      Mashups (Yahoo Pipes)

Why do these technologies matter?

Because they are catalyzing a massive growth in user engagement.