Daniel Cortes’ Marketing

Web 2.0 has been and continues to be quite the buzz. Some Internet users say there’s no such thing. Other Internet users argue quite strongly that Web 2.0 is not only real; it is the reality of the future. They say Web 2.0 is ushering into existence a new Internet world that will totally change the face of the Internet as it is currently known. Some Internet marketers are counting on Web 2.0 to revolutionize online business. Others are waiting for the ‘fad’ to wear out and be replaced by the next big thing.

So who’s right? - Everyone. Web 2.0 isn’t a physical, real object that Internet users can touch. It isn’t a box of software promising financial gain and fame. It is an easy to use means of getting customers involved and it drives traffic, site ranking and sales. Internet business owners don’t have to believe in the reality of Web 2.0 to profit from it. However, if current trends are any indication, website owners who do not embrace Web 2.0 could severely cripple their profit potential.

User generated content (UGC) sites like YouTube and MySpace are setting records for site growth and site income and doing so in record time. Using user generated content can set a new business hurling toward high rankings as though the website was rocket fueled. As with all new developments, there are issues to resolve and areas that need work. Overall, user generated content can be a website owner’s best weapon in the struggle to succeed online.

The new world wide web, Web 2.0, has been called a collaborative human brain. It is web-based, user-driven computing. It’s Internet users gathering, chatting and leaving trails of where they’ve been. Web 2.0 is changing the world of online business, moving the act of business from the desktop into the Internet. Business is now a web-based world instead of a desk-based one. At the heart of Web 2.0 is user generated content.

User generated content (UGC) is content created by users and includes audio, video, and written material. Web 2.0 based sites encourage visitors to comment, rate, review, upload videos, create profiles and all sorts of activities that involve them in the website community.User-generated content is all about participating, posting and producing. Internet users actively participate in business and personal forums. They post product reviews, professional comments and personal comments on any and every website that allows them to do so.

Yahoo Answers is one of the most popular of services that rely on volunteer experts to give people answers to their questions. The site, which now has 60 million users and 160 million answers, marked its one-year anniversary in early December of 2006. YouTube is one of the largest user generated content success stories. Celebrities aren’t the stars in these videos. Common, everyday people of all ages and all walks of life are recording themselves and their worlds. They post the videos on YouTube where Internet users from all around the globe can view and share them. The ability to share is a big factor in the popularity of user generated content. YouTube videos are showing up on late night talk shows, daytime talk shows and all over the Internet in blog postings, messages and emails. MySpace, another front runner in user generated content, is all about the power of public personalization. What began as a place for teens and young adults to put their visual stamp on the Internet has evolved into an immense market for businesses.

Social networking and social bookmarking are changing how users surf and how companies present and promote themselves. Eager Internet users bookmark or “tag” everything that catches their eyes.  Blog posts, videos, websites and website content are all fodder for the user generated content social mill. According to the user generated content site Wikipedia, the backbone of Web 2.0 is RSS or really simple syndication. RSS allows users to instantly receive current content the moment it goes live. All that’s required is a feed reader (free) and a feed burner button on the site. There’s no waiting for email notifications or telephone alerts.

Some websites are relying entirely on user generated content to provide content while other webmasters are using it to enhance content. Either way, user generated content provides excellent potential for growing business. Even better, user generated content tends to be free of charge. Users can subscribe to RSS feeds and get all the latest information about a business, topic or website delivered instantly. Users can also use RSS to gather information from a variety of sources into one place, creating their own special mashup or mixture of information. With the arrival of Web 2.0, people are no longer mere site visitors they are site changers, site builders and site monetizers. Allowing users to post content freely can result in substantial increases in traffic thanks to the rapid increase of content.

And I think we truly are at the beginning because Web 2.0 continues to evolve. The fluidity and speed with which it does so is amazing, even to those accustomed to seeing technology become out of date overnight. Web 2.0 is all about changing from desktop driven processes to web-based processes. Thanks to synchronous processes, files can be sent to and from the web much faster without the need for refreshing or starting over. This results in instant news, instant information, and instant consumer gratification.

Today’s Internet surfer is changing the way web sites are designed and the way they operate. Simple, interactive websites inviting user participation and user generated content are fast becoming the preferred website style. The learning curve for accessing website functions is getting shorter and shorter. So is the time required to do things online. Current Internet business web designs are adopting the less-is-more attitude, sporting cleaner, leaner looks. There’s plenty of white space and brighter, more vibrant covers inside the website. The way people consume online information and the delivery of that information is changing.

Internet users can use RSS to subscribe to a multitude of website updates, music updates and email alerts. Digital delivery of information is fast becoming the norm. It’s all about getting what is wanted and getting it immediately. The use of social book-marking sites is leading to new ways of navigating the net. Standard search engines are no longer the only way. Internet users can visit social bookmarking search engines like Stumbleupon and vote on the websites returned in the search.

Users can search bookmark sites by tag, by user, by list and more. The current generation of Web users is active readers, more than ready to post their comments regarding a blog topic or review the service received for money spent on products. Ratings and reviews are all the rage. Web 2.0 users expect to be able to tell friends about a site simply by clicking a button. They also expect to be able to easily subscribe to RSS feeds for constant updates regarding content that interests them. Former web surfers are now island hoppers, following social links all over the web. Blogs and websites can be subscribed to via RSS feed.

There’s no need to fill out email update forms when a click of the mouse gets updates delivered 24/7. Some of the most popular websites are strictly social. MySpace, Facebook and similar sites revolve around socializing. Users create profiles, decorate their pages, invite friends to join them and make the most of their online world.

Other social bookmarking sites are all about news or music or other topics. More and more often, social bookmarking is all about Internet marketing and other Internet based business. Social interaction connecting rating and reviewing and readership has become such an issue that corporate webs are changing. USA Today, LA Times, The Washington Post, and other big sites are tackling the revision of old websites into Web 2.0 sites. NBC is reported to be integrating user-submitted videos, such as pet videos and wedding woes. CNN.com and nytimes.com weren’t happy to hear that www.boingboing.net a group blog, was getting more traffic than their sites were, can you belive that?

So, why are so many businesses re-designing traditional websites? Because socialization and user generated content are at the heart of today’s Internet economy. The fact that customer feedback can be used to offer new services and adjust old ones doesn’t hurt either. Big business can know instantly how readers really feel about issues, about company websites and about the company itself. Smart website owners all over the Net are harnessing the power of user generated content to grow their websites faster and make more money.

To read More about Web 2.0 and User Generated Content: Click Here

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This entry was posted on Sunday, February 10th, 2008 at 10:11 pm and is filed under Internet Marketing Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.