by Branavan Ganesan

Created on: April 12, 2008   Last Updated: April 09, 2011

The most important way that social networking has changed the way we browse is that it has made it a defacto expectation that users are able to interact with and respond to content and other people, rather than merely consume material. It has hyper-accelerated the ability to communicate and has drastically reduced the barrier of entry for on-line self expression.

In the fourth quarter of 2005, visionary Tim O'Reilly and members of O'Reilly and Associates published a paper on future trends in Internet behavior. They coined the term web 2.0, to explain the shift between the 'old' way in which we browsed the web as well as what we expected from it, to the new trends.

Out of this definition and identification came a set of characteristics and utilities that form the core of what we now call social networking systems on the Internet.

The following principles were identified as characterizing web 2.0 (my commentary in brackets:)

• Using the web as a (product) platform (rather than as an on-line catalog)
• Harnessing collective intelligence (or using the wisdom of crowds)
• Data is the next critical asset (making use of the data you have and being transparent)
• No more software release cycles (agile programming and being responsive to the audience)
• Rich user experiences (allow users to interact with the site and with themselves)

This in a nutshell captures the key elements that facilitated social networking sites. The main idea behind social networking sites was the people wanted to use the web to talk about what they felt was important, and to find others that had similar interests. The facilitation of self publishing through technology like blogs and wikis led to the advent of social networking sites that allowed people to have a virtual persona and use the web as a medium to network and interact in the same way that they might at a work social or at Friday nights at the local bar.

The crux of the question then is how this has changed the Internet. Here are some anecdotal observations on how social networking has changed the Internet.

There was a time as early as five years ago when an article on the web was to be read. Now, most places give you the ability to comment on most anything, including articles, blogs, and product items at retail stores.

There was a time when you bought paper copies of consumer reports before you made your vacuum cleaner purchase. Now, every major retailer has reviews on each product, and sites like epinions.com

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