One of my readers Taewoo Danny Kim recently
compared Web 2.0 to the Semantic Web and I think he hit on an important point. He wrote
in an email that Web 2.0 and the Semantic Web are…
“…basically moving towards the same thing (web as platform) from two different
directions: web 2.0 more from the business side and the Semantic Web more from the
political (W3C) and academic (research) side.”
Here on R/WW I tend to focus on business applications of ‘Web as Platform’
technologies, so I think twdanny is spot on. I’ve focused a lot on innovative software
companies like Bloglines, Feedburner, Flickr, Amazon, Google, Yahoo, PubSub, etc. But
pretty soon I’ll start to more fully explore how non-techie businesses are being
transformed by Web 2.0.
Over the past couple of months I’ve had email exchanges with people from various
backgrounds: e.g. lawyers, investment analysts, librarians, journalists, marketers, PR people, educators. Plus of course technologists! I’ve also had emails from Internet executives
who’ve told me they read my blog and like my ideas (much to my delight!).
I want to hear your stories
Web 2.0 is more than just a Silicon Valley phenomenon – it’s transforming nearly every
industry. There’s certainly been a lot of talk about how journalism
is being disrupted. I think most other industries are too and I’m planning to explore
that in the coming months.
So keep an eye out for a wider range of business-related Web 2.0 stories on Read/Write Web.
If you’re a non-geek reading this, I’d love to know what interests you about Web
technology and how you believe it is transforming your career or life. Plus if you have
any specific topics you’d like me to write about, let me know! In either case, please
leave a comment here or email me at readwriteweb AT gmail DOT com.