Web 2.0 -- What is it? How can I use it?

The first question that most people pose about Web 2.0 is "What is Web 2.0?" I'll give a brief history for you, and some definitions.

For a long, long time, the internet was all about information. You would visit a website, get whatever information, images, or other sources that you needed, and you would move on to the next site -- revisiting the original site only if something changed, or you needed to re-check the information. Over the last decade, however, our use of the internet has been changing.

New platforms for business have opened up. Many new ideas have come to the market. New concepts include online commerce, the idea of "wikis" (or publicly editable encyclopedias), sites like MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube -- and so much more. These are things that no one could have imagined when the Internet was invented (by Al Gore, right?).

Here is his exact description of what he meant by Web 2.0:

"Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move of the Internet as a platform, and an attempt to understand the rules of success on that new platform."

In other words, Web 2.0 is an idea -- the idea of using the web creatively in order to have successful websites (which offer more than just information). It has been used to refer to websites with advanced functionality -- like Facebook or YouTube.

So, can your website be Web 2.0? It certainly can be. By selling online alone, you are already stepping over that threshold. However, there are some other aspects of Web 2.0 (video marketing, as an example) that you can use to make your website more appealing. Equally, if not more importantly, is making sure that you use Web 2.0 to your advantage. Using sites like Facebook, Twitter, Squidoo -- and many more -- will allow you to take advantage of the ways the internet has evolved.

There are essentially limitless new possibilities that can help you market your website, or otherwise help your website succeed.

For more information on how a quality coaching company can help you achieve your business goals, and can help you take advantage of the new ideas of Web 2.0, simply visit www.thriveli.com.