Web 2.0 - The Basics and what it is?Web 2.0 is everywhere around us, simply everywhere. Whether it is the latest newsabout the World Wide Web, or a review on any blog, or the latest website buzz, Web2.0 is ruling the world today. Web 2.0 is the most powerful force in the webtoday, a force that relies purely on innovation than invention and a force that isgrowing every single second. Yet, Web 2.0 had it’s humble beginnings.What exactly is Web 2.0? Is it some kind of new software? Is it AJAX enabledwebsites or is it just innovative services? Nope, Web 2.0 is just a buzzword, acatch-phrase, however you like to call it. Infact after the initial dot cot bustthe WWW was suffering as people had seriously no real interest in it and it wasstarting to get lame. It was then that the concept of “Web 2.0 really began in a

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conference brainstorming session between O’Reilly and MediaLive International.Dale Dougherty, web pioneer and O’Reilly VP, noted that far from having “crashed”,the web was more important than ever, with exciting new applications and sitespopping up with surprising regularity. What’s more, the companies that hadsurvived the collapse seemed to have some things in common. The dot-com collapsemarked that the web was not about just websites, it was a turning point for thewhole of the web. The people agreed to call it Web 2.0, spicing it up and makingit sound all-important in the first Web 2.0 conference and thus was born Web 2.0.So let us come back to our original question. What is Web 2.0? The World Wide Webis continuously evolving, 24/7. It is not a new technology which fuels thisevolution but instead interaction and attitude. Simply said, Web 2.0 is thecollective term for the evolution of the web from simply websites to interactionand innovation. It is the 2nd generation of services available on the world wideweb. That’s all!Tim O’Reilly defines Web 2.0 as such‘Web 2.0 is the network as platform, spanning all connected devices; Web 2.0applications are those that make the most of the intrinsic advantages of thatplatform: delivering software as a continually-updated service that gets betterthe more people use it, consuming and remixing data from multiple sources,including individual users, while providing their own data and services in a formthat allows remixing by others, creating network effects through an “architectureof participation,” and going beyond the page metaphor of Web 1.0 to deliver richuser experiences.’If you don’t understand it, don’t try to! These guys are known to confuse the heckout of normal people, so stick with what I have said above.There are tons and tons of elements and characteristics that are part and parcelof Web 2.0 and at the same time help it to further evolve - AJAX, Tags, Blogs,Podcasts, Wikis, Feeds, social networking, social bookmarking, Memes, social news,etc. A few best examples of Web 2.0 services/websites are Digg, Del.icio.us,Flickr, Netvibes, Gmail, etc. The original web dubbed Web 1.0 used to be justwebsites and surfing. Web 2.0 is different, it’s very base is interaction andcommunication. Democracy and Public Participation are what Web 2.0 is reallyabout. Web 2.0 is about the individual and not the group, it aims to serve benefitto every single person surfing the web, the person with different thinking and notjust the mid-section. Web 2.0 also depends on Hyperlinks more than content andflash more than static images.Web 1.0 is nothing but just static HTML pages without the option to comment. Whatabout Web 2.0? Take a look around, it’s just about everywhere, even this very blogis an example of Web 2.0. The main purpose of Web 2.0 is that the web must changeto something that really enhances our life. Web 2.0 aims at developing the whole