Web 2.0 Watch

“Let them build, we will win”

At F8 when Facebook announced that it would accept third party applications on its popular social networking site, it joined the growing trend in the Web 2.0 world to follow the paradigm of “let them build, we will win” concept.

What is interesting is the fact that Web 2.0 was always characterized by its collaborative nature, it is only now that larger enterprises are jumping into it. Enterprises like Salesforce, Webex, and VMware have already taken this concept to market. This win-win characteristic of this collaboration where the host fosters innovation of developers and yet gives them the independence of running their show, is sure to find many takers.

So shouldn’t the popular search giant be better off building an ecosystem around it based on collaboration rather than doing it all alone?

Web as your operating system

[Welcoming Rajeev Kutty (our shiny new Product Manager) to the blog this week. His post on WebOSs starts our series in the weeks ahead looking deeper into whether this is just a flash in the pan or a real movement.]

With Web increasingly turning into a collaborative work space and with increasing number of SaaS applications from major players, you wouldn’t be alone in thinking – what would my desktop look like a few years from now?

I got a peek into it when I looked at eyeOS (http://eyeos.org), a web based desktop system a.ka WebOS. So all you need is a standard browser and a net connection to access all your applications. Check http://www.eyeapps.org/ for a detailed list of applications that is currently supported. And Yes, they have your favorite games including the classic Mine & Tetris in the puzzle category.

As and when this picks up, corporations will increasingly serve their customers via Web, it is obvious that the biggest winners will be the companies who focus on increasing the performance of their applications both from the operational (Web infrastructure) and more importantly from the construction of these applications.

Is Expedia the Best Site on the Web?

In case you missed it, Keynote Competitive Research, our industry analyst group, published a user-driven study on travel Web sites this week.  The study examined 25 sites using a panel and our measurement products.  In this advanced Web 2.0 age, the results might surprise you.

In the category for best overall customer satisfaction and experience, Expedia (no new kid on the block) won against all airline, hotel and rental car sites.  That's the triple crown as far as we're concerned.  And this wan't our staff saying so, it was some 2,000 consumers who participated in the study.

What made Expedia so great? 

One of the things that clinched it for them is that they have built a brand that is associated with trust. Trust = conversion.  Consumers return to this theme over and over again.  The study provides a lot of data and actual consumer verbatims about how Expedia has been able to do this. It also provides data for 24 other online companies and what they need to do to compete with Expedia.  And compete they must because if consumers are booking on Expedia instead of Marriott, Hyatt, etc. that's real money being paid to the equivalent of a travel agent - weren't they suppose to be history?

But trust wasn't the only driver; it was just one of 11.  The others include customer support; booking process; price satisfaction; availability of travel choices; and site organization and visual appeal. (To find out which drivers were the most important, fill out this form and someone will contact you.)