Web 2.0

The dot com era is making a comeback. Last time it was e-commerce, this time the buzzwords are social bookmarking, tagging, folksonomy, rss, rich user interfaces, wikis, and, of course, blogs.

Tim O'Reilly's What is Web 2.0 and Wkipedia article Web 2.0 are good starting points to understand this phenomenon.

As expected, Google and Yahoo are the big players in this game. But the innovation is oft led by start-ups which are then bought by these big companies. Try searching for "Google buys" and "Yahoo buys" in news search and you will get the point.

Flickr and Google Maps are often cited as examples of the rich user experiences. And they also known for their extensibility by providing API's(Google APIs and Yahoo Developer Network) for other developers.

Some of the names which are oft repeated in Web 2.0 articles and discussions are:
- http://del.icio.us/
- http://www.digg.com/
- http://www.technorati.com/
I am still trying to understand what these ideas are meant to deliver.

Also, if you are a Yahoo user, try the My Web 2.0 Beta(I think it is based on http://del.icio.us/, which it bought in Dec-05). And Google members can check orkut.

We all are affected, directly or indirectly, by these waves of technological changes and it would be interesting to see how long Web 2.0 lasts and what if finally evolves into.

Btw, don't forget to check the Webby Awards 2006.