Web 2.0 Watch

It's Cool, But Is It Useful?

We all have colleagues in our midst that know the latest about the newest site.  Sometimes it feels like you're totally out of the loop.  You look at them like your parents looked at you when you started listening to Black Flag.

That site's cool, but is it useful for anything?

Let's take a look at that most ubiquitous of leisure activities - taking pictures.

You have countless pix hogging up your hard drive, most of which no one's ever seen.  You take them because you want to share them.  And the digital medium makes it so easy to do so.

Check out www.radar.net.

This site allows you to send pix from your mobile phone to a personal account.  What's more, it happens instantaneously - or is suppose to.  So rather than just sending an email, you can tell it in pictures, in real time.

At radar.net, in just a few minutes you'll be up and running; taking and sending pictures.

Then comes the problem - your mobile carrier.  The underlying mobile technology, MMS, is not controlled by radar.net but rather, in my case, Cingular.  Sometimes you'll see your pictures posted instantaneously; other times it will take hours. 

I've even experienced occasions where pix sent never showed up.

That hasn't deterred me from using radar, but I certainly can't rely on it as the single spot to archive my pix.

Keeping Watch

"Web 2.0" may just be the most prevalent phrase since dot-gone.  Is that ominous?

I don't think it is in and of itself.

I view it as a convenient way to signify a change from something to something.  It is a nice handle to use when discussing trends, technology, and even customer experience.

There are of course business implications for what Web 2.0 signals to companies and investors and what behaviors are encouraged by ROI calculations and payback assumptions.   

In this new blog, I will write about what's behind Web 2.0.  Together, we'll look at companies, technology and online behavior. 

I hope you'll join me.