Web2.0 … its about money search.
Web2.0. I hate the label, but its here to stay (at least for the short term). What is it all about you ask? Well I guess that depends on who you talk to.
I would like to think its about accessibility and useful, easy to use standards-based web applications. But I fear its not about that at all. Its actually about search. More specifically its about developers building services with the sole aim of getting bought by Google. Or Yahoo.
Nifty search and sort algorithms can only do so much, but people can do an awful lot more. People are the sorting algorithms of the future, making meaningful associations between online content. Thats why we are seeing a lot of things like Squidoo, Rollyo, ma.gnolia.com and del.icio.us: they all ask *you* to layer over and draw themes across otherwise hard to link web content. Enough people put the same content under the same tag, and a pattern emerges. A pattern that the aforementioned search-engine lot will be very keen to get their grubby little mitts on.
Now, I am not necessarily against this. As long as the applications offer utility and are easy to use then I am all in favor. But what happens when every developer vies for the same space … not all will survive. Now thats my worry. Whats going to happen when services dissapear (read ‘cash runs out’)? What will happen to my stuff that was in it? Will it be lost? Time will tell.
Add comment February 6th, 2006