Many of you may, or may not, have heard the term “Web 2.0″ and wondered what it means. To be honest, I don’t think anyone really knows what it means. The term originally comes from a web conference in 2004 given by O’ Reilly Media in which they define it as:
“Web 2.0 is the businessrevolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform”
Some may question that definition, because many of the technologies they are referring to have been around since the beginning of the web. So is it really an upgrade?
I think we could go back and forth all day long on what the actual term means, and if it’s actually a valid claim. I personally use the term on a day-to-day basis, becuase it’s an easy way for me to explain to the customer that change is good. Over the past few years the internet, and it’s technologies, have jumped leaps and bounds, because of emerging web-communities like social networking sites, video sharing sites, blogs and many others. So to say the internet has “upgraded” is probably a fair statement… Just don’t think about it too much.
One specific area where I use the term a lot is design. Web standards, trends and rules have changed over the past few years (for the better) which allow us more creative freedom, new technolodies, friendlier interfaces and finally… Better design.
I found this video a while back, and I think it visually sums up what Web 2.0 is… Or does it?
Over the past couple weeks we have updated a few items around the office that I thought I’d share with you. First of all we finally got our very own conference table and boy is it a beauty. The folks over at Artisan Woodworking took care of us and presented us with a beautiful conference table. Only problem is we’re afraid to put things on top of it now.
Also, we recently came across one of our favorite new products over at www.whatisblik.com. We ordered a few designs and put them up in some of our offices. Although they can be a bit time consuming they are well worth the wait.
A good customer and friend of MayerMedia recently returned home safely from Iraq where he was stationed as a Navy Lieutenant performing intelligence for the Army. Mark was deployed last July but that didn’t stop him from coming up with new ideas thousands of miles away. Almost immediately after Mark was deployed I received an email from him in which he had a new idea for an “online classified list” for soldiers arriving and leaving their station.. A military Craigslist if you will.
It wasn’t easy creating a website with someone so far away and working 14 hour days 7 days a week but we finally got the beta version live. Once Mark gets settled in we’ll go back through the site and make adjustments and get this site going full force. If you get a second head over to www.militarymovedme.com and take a look at the site. If you know anyone in the military be sure to let them know about the site, and what it can do for them.
We are happy to see Mark back in the states and can’t wait to continue working with him in the future.
For more information on his return visit this link.
It’s been awhile since we’ve updated, but we have been busy. The beginning of the year is a very busy time for us, but that’s the way we like it. We have some very exciting projects coming up in the near future and we’ll be sure to update everyone as they move further along or we go live with them. For now I thought I’d take a few pictures of some of the “stuff” around our office.
A few weeks ago we put together a little video for our temp site that gave you a little tour of our offices. It gives you a little insight on how we work/rock around here. I’ve posted the video below for your viewing pleasure if you missed it the first time around.
You might be asking yourself what exactly is this blog going to be about and the truth is I’m not exactly 100% sure yet. I know that I want to talk about exciting and upcoming projects we’re doing as well as showcase new technology. Sometimes I might just post a funny video we made around the office…who knows? I just know I want to reach our customers in a way where it’s not always business and we can have a little fun…but also useful.
With all that being said, what should my 1st blog entry be about? Should it be about how Mel B. was robbed on “Dancing with the Stars” or should it be about how much mashed potatoes I ate last weekend? I mean seriously one person shouldn’t be allowed to eat that much food. Is there such thing as a mashed potato hangover?
Anyway, I think for this entry I’ll give you some excerpts from an online article written by Todd Hoff about Fotolog’s Success. Fotolog is a social blogging site that focuses on photos. They grew from 300 thousand users in 2004 to over 11 million users in 2007. It’s a pretty long read so I’ll just give you some excerpts but if you want to read the whole thing you can find it here. Although Fotolog is an internet monster, a few things mentioned in the article which I have quoted below relate to anyone with a website.
Popularity is driven by a base of active users, not a rich set of cool features.”
“The web is global and its tail is very long. By courting users outside the US with language and culturally specific design you can compete with the big boys. Some the hardest competition for Google, Yahoo, etc comes from local startups with an ear to what the locals want. If you want to get a lot of buzz then do what ever the alpha geeks want you to do. If you want a lot of happy users do what they want you to do.”
“Constraints in web sites can, like in poetry, make something unexpectedly better. The rule that users are only allowed to post one photo per day creates an environment where people comment more on each other’s photos which creates a more engaged community. Who knew? Protect your website with limits. Limit the size of pictures, comments, etc so your resource usage doesn’t grow outrageously.”
“Have a vision. Have a strong sense of what your site is supposed to be and why, then use that vision to decide what you should build and how you should build it. Their vision of social site built around daily photographs led to a very different site than one where your goal is to store all your photos.”
Now obviously these lessons won’t always work for every site but it is still useful information and gives some good advice that I think can be used in almost any sort of website.
