What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 is a term that refers to the new style of web sites that allow user-generated content. This can be anything from a blog which allows user comments to sites like YouTube that allows members to upload videos for all the world to see.

One of the first Web 2.0 style sites was Amazon and it's ability to allow users to post book reviews. This was and is very popular with Amazon visitors. The visitor has an experience that mimics real life. Average people are commenting on books that we are considering purchasing. We tend to trust a book review from someone we know or meet just because we feel it is unbiased. They are not necessarily trying to sell us anything.

The new web 2.0 experience is very much user-driven. Sites like YouTube, Flikr, Technorati and Digg are essentially controlled by the users. They create the content and decide how it's displayed by ranking it. The articles, pictures and videos that are voted the most popular receive greater exposure.

Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia is created by it's users. The entries are entirely written by the general public.

Blogs are the backbone of Web 2.0. Blogs have been around for a while. At their simplest a blog is just an online diary where entries are displayed in reverse date order, with the newest at the top.

Blogs were decentralized from their very beginning. Blogs are a great example of how emerging voices are not only being heard but amplified. Blog postings, typically updated daily, can also include images, photos, links, video and audio.

Then of course, there are the social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. These are immense web communities with hundreds of millions of users. They allow subscribers to create web spaces where they can share their thoughts, music, videos and pictures. People can become your friends and then stay in contact with all your various activities.

There are also sites like del.icio.us, that allow you to bookmark your favorite sites and share those bookmarks with others.

These types of sites have become incredibly popular. The users of these sites now control the content. This creates a very rich and ever-changing experience that is very engaging.

Thanks to Douglas Reach writes for Online Marketing Review. Online Marketing Review provides tips and techniques, products reviews and articles to assist you in becoming a successful internet marketer. Learn the basics of article marketing, SEO, Web 2.0, list building and traffic generation.