Beyond the Buzzwords: Web 2.0

Web 2.0 originally meant the second coming of the internet after the dot-com bubble burst, but has taken on new meaning as use of the internet has evolved.  Currently, most refer to Web 2.0 as the user generated web.  This includes any and all sites where content is created by members or users.  Facebook, Wikipedia, LinkedIn and Twitter are all examples of the user-generated web.  Before the dot-com bubble burst, the web was mostly another static publishing media, unique only in how it reached consumers.  Now the web has morphed into a platform in which users communicate, socialize, share and create.  What was once seen as one media has splintered into multiple channels and methods of communication spawning multiple forms of interactive media.  You once simple read what was on the web, you now can take part in creating and shaping it.  That is Web 2.0.