Web 2.0, one of the most overused terms in the internet community. For the sake of it, here are 5 rules people should obey:
1] Well, being different is the most important. You don’t need money, staff, or advanced technology to be original
2] Ads. If you want to make money, you have ads. This doesn’t mean you don’t charge for your services. If people are paying, do they really deserve their page being filled with ads? Didn’t think so.
3] Get as many users as you possibly can. Pretty much obvious, but users are always attracted to the sites with the best services aren’t they? It would seem that this isn’t always true. All it takes is a look at MySpace and you soon see neither looks or features seem to encourage that proverbial flock of users.
Aswell as getting loads of users, treasure the ones you have got. They should be your most honoured customers.
4] Don’t entirely depend upon user contributions from the start. Believe it or not, less than 2% or Wikipedia’s users have contributed to over 72% of its articles. Make sure you are prepared to contribute articles or any other content to your own site if you want it to succeed. Don’t forget, though, if you really must call it a “web 2.0” site, then you must depend on user contribution.
5] Get a lovely shiny, reflected, and altogether “web 2.0ish” logo. Actually, don’t. They look good, but the style is rapidly becoming overused. Use your gloss and shadow subtly.
Oh, and another little snippet: Don’t use the term web 2.0! Really, not everyone likes it.
