What is Web 2.0 and why is it important for writers?

The term Web 2.0 has been around a few years but it has now changed the way the internet is used.

Web 2.0 revolves around you as consumer and producer of information. The internet is now a two way communication tool where you participate in information and networking instead of just a shop front of static sites.

People post video and blogs, and they read blogs and watch video. They twitter with mobile phones and download ebooks, newspapers and magazines onto mobile devices. People leave comments on forums and blogs, and they get feedback on their posts. They network on Facebook, MySpace and have friends all over the world.

They post photos from mobile phones wherever they are. Surfers leap from site to site, expecting related content. Static websites do not hold their attention for long. They want quality information now, for free as much as possible, and will go elsewhere if your site does not immediately give them what they want.

Time Magazine's Person of the Year 2006 was “You” and this is when the focus of the internet really changed. People trust other people. They don't want marketing messages from the companies that produce – they want reviews from other people whose opinion is unbiased. They want to read news from people who are there and who they trust more than journalists who belong to news media with ties to government and big corporations. They also want to connect with like-minded people, regardless of where they are in the world and online community enables this.

Technology has changed to allow even non-techy people to create their own blogs, post video, photos and information online. It is easy to change your words into a broadcast, or your speech into a podcast or your mobile into a video camera. This puts the power into the hands of anyone who can use a computer to put their information online.

This means that you, as an individual can produce and sell your own content online.

Your site can have more readers than an established newspaper. The Huffington Post has nearly 9 million readers per month and is more valuable than some newspaper companies. Entertainment blogs like Perez Hilton dominate the gossip columns.

You can network with millions of people who want to hear about your topic. The top 10 websites in the world contain some of the web 2.0 sites – YouTube at number 3, Facebook at number 5, MySpace at number 7, Wikipedia at number 8 and Blogger.com at number 9. These are made by people producing and contributing to content, as well as consuming it.

Web 2.0 has enabled Publishing 2.0…check out the following post.

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