Web 2.0: Transforming Far Beyond Recognition

We recently covered Web 2.0 transcend new frontiers wherein we wrote,"small pieces - loosely joined are creating new functionality by combining these different services. While location-based advertising revenue is only beginning to emerge from the new mapping services, the tools being made available, known as application programming interfaces, have already led to an outburst of innovative applications. Clarence Wooten writes,the web is clearly changing before us. Most folks don’t have a complete picture of what’s happening, What’s different about today’s Web is that new technologies and behaviors that have popularized the blogging phenomenon, are also transforming the Web from a medium where information is simply published and remains static, into a platform where applications reside and services are distributed. This transformation is being referred to as Web 2.0- a collection of small pieces of loosely joined technologies coupled with a movement towards collaboration and interoperability. Implications of Web 2.0 will be far reaching. It has already significantly affected how to use the Web. Information is not received only through Google or Yahoo but through services like del.icio.us, Technorati, and Gataga. Collection of feeds can be used to create TagClouds that generate automatic folksonomies that allow me to analyze the popularity of related information (tags) over time. An arms race is clearly already happening between Yahoo and Google as evidenced by a spate of recent micro-acquisitions of promising Web 2.0 startups Flickr, Dodgeball, Blo.gs, etc. These strategic acquisitions are a clear attempt by each to acquire knowledge, technology and data to position them to capture mindshare and advertising dollars from the changing Web.
Open API’s are enabling the creation of apps on top of apps – TagSoup and the Craiglist - Google Maps hack illustrate this.Web 2.0’s impact shall be felt more with the emergence of platforms for the development of rich Internet applications and services. Ajax is enabling the creation of plug-in free Web apps that rival the performance of client-based desktop applications. These developments represent the very tip of exciting innovation to come — innovation that will require a new approach to venture investing led by a new breed of angel and venture investors that are able to successfully balance irrational exuberance with prudent funding to fuel the creation of new platforms for growth.