Is Web 2.0 as a "look and feel", techonolgy or strategy dying?

I'm not really asking this question, but I think it's a comment worth making since only this morning, I received a comment that Web 2.0 is dying.

I then decided to take a look online out of curiousity and I was amazed at just how worlds apart people's idea of Web 2.0 really is.

You have some who think it's all about "look and feel" and, for me, I do think that has something to do with it, but let's just consider what the old "flat" looking Internet Explorer looked like a few years back compared to today or the icons for Windows in the days of dos.  How many of you would want to go back to that "look?"  I know I certainly have no intention of going back there and if I use software that still has this old syle look, my thoughts usually go along these lines … "when are these dinasours going to catch up with the times."

You then have the camp who argues whether the integration of Ajax, flash and web 2.0 is all it's cracked up to be and just because a site is interactive, this does not make it Web 2.0.

So, I bet you want to know what camp I'm in right?

I'm in the camp that says forget about terminology and exactly what it all means, who's definition is right and who is or isn't right. 

My arguement is to look around the web, see what is changing, what impact these changes are having on the dynamics of the web and jump on the bus before it pulls away!  

Google didn't buy YouTube for $1.65 billion and Feedburner for $100 million for nothing.  MySpace and the other social networking sites are not getting more traffic than Google because of people's understanding of the term Web 2.0 … people are using these methods of either communicating, finding information, sharing information or doing business because they work!!

So, whether you think Web 2.0 is a fad, or a buzz word or it's just plain stupid and it's soon going to die out with the dinasours, I think the bigger fools are those people who are still trying to maintain the status quo in the hopes that their opinions will be heard and people will move away from Web 2.0 (whatever that means to them), instead of evolving their business model in line with the changes in cyberspace.  

For what it's worth, here's my opinion …

You need to think of Web 2.0 as a  means to creating a rich user experience …

"The noise of Web 2.0 is too loud, we are on a grease slide toward interactive websites such as blogs, social media has enough hype that it has a big enough following and whether or not you feel this has all been hyped up by the media and big Internet Marketers, we are already on a grease slide and there is no way of clambering back to the top without doing yourself and your business some serious damage." 

If you feel that your target market have no idea what RSS feeds, widgets, social webs or mash-ups are then my suggestion is that YOU educate your target audience on how to make the most of these tools and applications on your site before your competition does!

Now go forth and "Mash-Up" your competition!

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