Social Software Explored

I found this excerpt from another blog ( http://www.librarystuff.net/ ) yesterday and was compelled to write about it.  I was a part of the original Interent boom and although I was only working at an ISP building small local sites and applications, it was an exciting times.

 I know that some people out there that will say Interent Software development has never gone away  . A part of me would have to agree but there is a certain formula similar to the following which is making Internet Software development interesting:

Power of Internet = Technology Innovation ^{( No. of Users with Broadband Access )}

What I mean is that there is the exponential power related to the number of users on the Internet.  Application developers have more “customers” now than ever and more and more funding is being placed back into idea companies.  Sure they actually need to have the software built these days and they need at least 500,000 registered users but that isn’t so difficult with the increased user base available.

So everyone wants to put a label on this and I guess it makes sense.  I am not one to argue with the masses and this movement in order to get any press has to have a term.  Who am I to argue?

Anyways, more proof that this is real:

An interesting piece in USA Today via the CSM about Web 2.0. Some quotes to think about:

“The
ideas may not be new, but the technical ability to carry them out is.
And now, most Americans have a broadband Internet connection. It’s
always on and can display videos easily. The cost of storing files such
as photos and video online has dropped dramatically.”

…

“In
one sense, Web 2.0 is a way of thinking about business. “There’s a
really powerful fundamental shift in just how people create
technologies and companies on the Internet,” Bard says. But it’s also a
social movement, providing new ways for people to come together.
“Hundreds of millions of us on the Web feel we’re building a new world,
and we want to contribute,” Mr. Weinberger says. “Something truly
remarkable is going on.”

The idea of Web 2.0 as the
community-driven Web reflects something fundamental and enduring about
human nature, Werbach says. “People want to collaborate and share
information and ideas with their friends and be part of communities,”
he says. Web 2.0 helps them do so.”