CAUTION: This post contains some very mixed up metaphors.
One might still ask, what is Web 2.0? It is something better described by marketing than by reality. Somebody (O’Reilly Media actually) decided that as of 2004, the internet had entered the second revolution where Google and other online mainstays replaced the original tools of the first generation internet. The kids in the virtual trenches are probably aware that the internet is actually an ever-evolving beast rather than something that is neatly packaged every few years into a new edition (like traditional software). Still, services like YouTube and MySpace have come to define Web 2.0
I italisied the bits that I liked. This whole business of Web 2.0 and all the other 2.0 bandwagons ignores one fundamentally important point: the people who are driving it are not talking about it, they are just getting on and doing what they need to do.
Most of the people uploading photos to Flickr are not talking about how they are now Web 2.0-ing it. When they send email via Gmail or message via Windows Live / AIM / Meebo they don’t consciously think that they are striking another blow for this wild Web 2.0.
It’s the rest of us who are creating lots of noise about what the tools are that are creating all of the static that disguises the signal.