The Game Has Changed: What is Web 2.0?

For those of you who have an ear tuned for web speak, you have probably heard the term "web 2.0" thrown around with increasing frequency. It seems basic enough, the newest version of the web, but what does it mean exactly?

In it's essence it is the popularization of UGC or User Generated Content in mainstream websites. It is now very commonplace for a website to engage its visitors to enter in their own opinions or to post their own media for free.

This paradigm shift has occurred for two major reasons. The first is a change in the way search engines rank websites. For instance, blogs or a website that has a blog within it will almost always be rated higher than a similar website with static content. Google, Yahoo! and others are constantly checking and rechecking websites to see which ones are generating new and useful content. The websites that update more often will receiving preferential ranking in search results.

The second factor in the trend towards UGC is marketing. More and more companies are realizing the value of advertising to consumers while they are at their computer. Demand for online advertising has increased. At the same time, the cost for hosting data online has decreased. Relative to potential online marketing revenue, it is very cheap for a website owner to host images, videos or blogs in exchange for a user who will continually come back to that site.

Both these reasons compound, and create a very strong motivating factor to change the way online companies mould their business models.

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