I have been asked that question a thousand times. Usually I describe the latest trends towards user generated content, xml mashups, AJAX technology and new design principles. Web 2.0 is not a simple concept, but a combination of several current trends that make up the next generation of web applications.
Sometimes, however, words can’t convey the significance or importance of this change, and its effect on our daily lives. Why are “You” the Time Person of the Year? What does this mean for existing business? Media? Information?
The folks at Digital Ethnography have done a great job of breaking it down into a quick 5 minute video that walks us through it. Enjoy! (Video after the jump)
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This is one of the best ways of explaining the fascinating future we’re creating for ourselves as a people via the Internet. It’s one of the best explanations of what part of Web 2.0 means and how it might impact our lives, our organizations and our businesses. Every day we’re building a vast bank of knowledge and information floating around on millions of connected machines, and we’re working more and more towards ways that let even a kid in a garage with a computer and connection harness this amazing unparalleled resource. The world won’t look anything like it does today in ten or twenty years, if we can just keep this momentum going. We’ll be capable of discovering things we didn’t even know we knew and creating services and tools like none we could ever have imagined just ten years ago.