Web 2.0 *Is* All Hat *and* All Cattle

By Steve Rubel
Expert Author
Article Date: 2006-01-30

The San Francisco Chronicle has a big piece on Web 2.0 that gets to a fundamental question.

Is Web 2.0 just some marketing hype or is a real revolution going on here? The article describes a Web 2.0 site as one that carries consumer-generated and/or tagged content. It also talks up sites that are powered by Ajax and it features quotes from all the regulars you read about on TechCrunch.

This Chron piece misses a bigger point. Web 2.0 isn't marketing hype. It's not about the social Web applications - e.g. blogs and RSS - or even about Ajax. Web 2.0 is about a true renaissance in our excitement for the Web as a platform for innovation. Web 2.0 is about our enthusiasm that we survived the dot-com boom wiser for it and ready to take technology to new heights after a brief lull. So let's focus on the corral, not the signpost. Shall we?

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About the Author:
Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.

He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.

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