by Ann E. Smith

Created on: June 24, 2008

Every few years, there are certain buzz words that just take off in the business world, and before you know it, they are a part of your everyday jargon. For example, years ago a PowerPoint presentation was called just that - a PowerPoint presentation. Skip forward a bit, and people now refer to it as a deck. There was the trend of pinging someone versus the old-fashioned wording of e-mailing them. Low-hanging fruit became common wording in strategy sessions, and inboxes no longer referred to plastic black trays at the end of your desk.

In this world of ever-evolving changes in word choices and hip semantics, it naturally goes to flow that terms in the technology arena pop up at the speed of lightning. Within a few short years, WiFi and URLs are part of our everyday language. Texts no longer mean school books, and social networks, not the corner bar downtown, are now the places to see and be seen.

With your daily information overload and multiple multimedia interactions at an all-time high, who has time to keep up with all of this? Really, it's not easy so don't be embarrassed if you are increasingly hearing of Web 20. but not really grasping a good concept of what it is. In an effort to keep this simple and not provide too much detail, here is a high-level overview of what Web 2.0 is and is not, in essence, Web 2.0 for Dummies.

Web 2.0 is not an upgrade of the Internet
Often when a number is behind anything related to software or the Internet, it is easy to think upgrade or software patch. No doubt, your mind easily makes that assumption based on your experience with various software products. In this case, however, Web 2.0 is not an upgraded World Wide Web.

Web 2.0 is a new way of using the Internet
Think back to when you got your first personal computer at work. A strong guess is that you used it primarily for business functions such as word processing or the creation of spreadsheets. Over time, more software applications were developed; the Internet hit the mainstream; companies adapted their IT infrastructure to support corporate e-mail. Your use of the computer had greatly changed, while the hardware may have remained the same. Think of Web 2.0 as a way to use the same Internet technology in a different and more creative and collaborative way. Instead of just going to the Internet to view sites and find information, you now through Web 2.0 have the ability to contribute content to many sites and to share information. This enables your experience on the Internet

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