Web 2.0 is a technological realization of World Wide Web. It describes the evolving trends in the adaptation of World Wide Web Technology (including web development, web design and information management). Some of the best outcomes of Web 2.0 are Social-Networking Sites, Video Sharing Sites, Wikis, Blogs, and Folksonomies. It would be misleading to comprehend Web 2.0 as a Specific Technological Update; but rather a Revolutionary and Evolutionary change in the way we Use and Utilize the Web. Tim O’Reilly defines the Web 2.0 as, "Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as a platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform."

Let’s make a One-to-One Markup between Web 1.0 (dot-Com) and Web 2.0 through some concrete examples:

Web 1.0 –> Web 2.0: DoubleClick –> Google AdSense; Ofoto –> Flickr; Akamai –> BitTorrent; mp3.com –> Napster;Britannica Online –> Wikipedia; personal websites –> blogging; evite –> upcoming.org and EVDB; domain name speculation –> search engine optimization; page views –> cost per click; screen scraping –> web services; publishing –> participation; content management systems –> wikis; directories (taxonomy) –> tagging ("folksonomy"); and stickiness –> syndication. This list can further be expanded and one can easily draw a comparison between these previous web application combinations. Despite such a wide level of Web 2.0 adaptation, most have missed out the opportunity to understand and implement the Web 2.0 standard. Let’s chalk out the base principles behind Web 2.0:

Strategic Positioning:

• The WEB as Platform

User Positioning:

• You Control Your Own Data

Core Competencies:

• Services, Not Packaged Software;

• Architecture of Participation;

• Cost-Effective Scalability;

• Remixable Data Source and Data Transformations;

• Software above the Level of a Single Device; and

• Harnessing Collective Intelligence.

Web 2.0 appears to be Imperative, but how does imperative buy Fortune for you? Let’s precisely make out what’s basic distinction about Web 2.0 and how these distinctions can harness your organization’s bottom line. Web 2.0 is an APPROACH that attempts to improve how businesses, customers, and partners interaction runs. it opens up a variety of new business models. Web 2.0 is a kind of business revolution in the IT industry caused by the move to the World Wide Web as a basic platform, and an attempt to comprehend the rules for success on that newly created platform. Significant among those rules is this: Develop applications that strengthen network effects to get better the more users use them. Here follows some basic principles that may help you remodeling and developing your existing business model to Web 2.0 standard:

• Don’t consider software as an object, but as a process of engaging users. This can be termed as The Perpetual Beta.

• Your data and services should have re-usability. This principle can be defined as Small Pieces Loosely Joined.

• Don’t think of applications that reside on either client or server, but build applications that reside in the space between devices.

• Remember that in a network environment, open APIs and standard protocols win, but this doesn’t mean that the idea of competitive advantage goes away.

• Chief among the future sources of lock in and competitive advantage will be data, whether through increasing returns from user-generated data.

(Courtesy: EDU.ru)