What is Web 2.0 Anyway?

The fourth annual Web 2.0 Summit is going on. Should you care? Most of you probably don't, but you should, a little.Of course first we all have to really understand what Web 2.0 really is. And we better do it quickly because Web 3.0 is coming around the bend.

Most of us understand it as user-generated content -- the blogs, wikis, social networking sites  but that's a limited definition and don't get too cozy with your understanding of it anyway. As Richard Martin points out in InformationWeek about the latest Web 2.0 Summit, "To be sure, the whole notion of "Web 2.0" is still in enough dispute that at least some of the time will be spent, as usual, defining just what the term means and how it continues to evolve."

But definitions aside, Web 2.0 is indeed evolving and there are ways for small and midsize businesses to easily take advantage of some of its tools. I asked yesterday where's the beef in web 2.0 for small and midsize businesses. I wanted to know why so many of you were not interested in using Web 2.0 tools.

One of the readers responded: "It's not that we're not interested in using the tools. But - and I think what this study is saying here is pretty clear - nobody is doing it well enough that it makes these useful. Enough with the bells and whistles when it comes to providing info. Focus on the content, not the technology."

But many of Web 2.0 tools are useful, easy to use, and cheap. Blogging is an easy way to connect with your customers and just check out what this concrete business did to get the word out about what they do:

They've had 1,573 views and judging from the production, they didn't have to empty their bank accounts to do it.

And as blogger Wendy Bounds says in Wall Street Journal Online, "But if a concrete company can do it, anyone can."