 What is Web 2.0? Is web 2.0 really changing the world? Is it all about design - large sans serif fonts, gradients, shiny buttons, and lots of white space? Is it all about google maps mashups, AJAX applications, or Getting Real?
Your resident geek might tell you that those things make up Web 2.0. Sure, the popular design style involves those design elements, and those same sites often use the latest technologies to aggregate data, and display it in new and exciting ways. But it’s more than that. Web 2.0 is an earth shattering, world changing paradigm. Web 2.0 changes who decides what you see, and watch, and read. Web 2.0 is all about YOU! Ironically, the start of web 2.0 didn't even happen online. It came with the first media instance of entertainment built on things that you and people like you had created - America's Funniest Home Videos.  Bob Saget America's Funniest Home Videos was a voice ahead of its time. It was the first show to recognize that real life is more entertaining than canned programming. America's Funniest Home Videos unleashed a disruptive technology that has culminated in the social media explosion that we see today. After watching America's Funniest, normal broadcast television started to lose its shine. People have steadily lost interest in the traditional programming, and broadcast media has become more and more like AFV, hence the advent of Reality TV (not so really real, but at least attempting to pass itself off as real). By the mid 90's people began to realize that the Internet was a platform that they could voice their opinions and show off their friend's pratfalls to a worldwide audience - on the cheap. While the broadcasters tried to figure out how to control this, the rest of the world was sharing funny pictures, jokes, and their opinions on the latest news using the Internet. Turns out, we really didn't need someone to tell us what to watch, and when we could watch it. Technology has caught up with our appetite for original and fun entertainment. So the next time you are watching the beatboxing flute player on youtube, you can thank Bob Saget and America's funniest home videos for bringing user generated media to network television. |
