Concept of Web 2.0 for business
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The document discusses the concept and technologies of Web 2.0 and its impact on businesses, emphasizing tools like blogs, wikis, RSS, and social media networks that enhance user interaction and participation. It outlines how these technologies provide opportunities for better marketing, communication, and collaboration within organizations, while also addressing challenges such as data security and the authenticity of user-generated content. Overall, Web 2.0 is portrayed as a transformative force in the business landscape, offering both advantages and potential risks.
Concept of Web 2.0 for business
- 1. Web 2.0 for Business Report Submission PST 32230 Semantic Web Department of Physical Sciences and Technology Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka
- 2. 2 Content 1. Introduction 2. Technologies and tools of web 2.0 in the business environment 2.1 Blogs 2.2 Wikis 2.3 RSS 2.4 Social Media Networks 2.5 Mashups 3. Impact of Web 2.0 for Business - Discussion 4. Conclusion 5. References 6. Group Members
- 3. 3 Web 2.0 for Business 1. Introduction Concept of Web 2.0 can be referred to as a buzz word in the world of computing as it is still hard to find a clear definition for it. When searched for “Web 2.0” in the internet it would return over 70 million hits. But still it is hard to find a well-defined explanation for it. Any way it can be called as the new shift that has occurred with the web technologies incorporated with internet and network communications. Over the past few years Web 2.0 has dominated the discourse surrounding the WWW and networked information environment and applications in the real world. With its promising ability of bringing a more powerful, more interactive and better user experience, web 2.0 seems to have revolutionized the way in which we interact with information resources. In the process, it may even help bring about the long-heralded Semantic Web. But the enthusiasm accompanying Web 2.0 comes at the tail end of a long line of similarly proclaimed watersheds in the development of the web, and information applications that have failed to live up to the hype. Furthermore, the collection of technologies and services bundled together under its heading do not immediately seem to share too much in common. Most of the recent propagation of the term derives from a widely influential article by the information evangelist Tim O’Reilly. In a series of seminars, O’Reilly set out to define Web 2.0, exploring the characteristics of information systems and information services business models that appeared on face value to be changing the way in which users are interacting with information resources. O’Reilly (2005) presented Web 2.0 as a second stage in the development of the web, superseding the predominantly publishing model of many web-based information applications and services. With it, information services are to become more dynamic, and more sensitive to user action. In the first place there are particular kinds of information and communications applications or technologies, such as the wiki, the blog, and RSS, and peer-to-peer networks, mashups etc. These applications generally put more power in the hands of users to select, filter, publish, and edit information and participate in the creation of information resources. They also frequently involve a de contextualization of information that is at least in part antipathetic to the traditional practices of the information publishing industry.
- 4. 4 2. Technologies and tools of web 2.0 in the business environment 2.1 Blogs The blog, or weblog, is perhaps the oldest of these applications. Blogs first appeared in the mid- 1990s as a simplified way of publishing to the web, obviating the need for dedicated web- publishing software, and replacing it with a combination of web-forms for inputting information and templates for displaying it. First used as online diaries, as blogs developed they increasingly became utilized as a more general information tool. Two aspects of the blog are of particular interest. Firstly, the greater ease of web publishing that they have introduced. The blog has been heralded as a fundamentally democratic medium allowing almost everyone with only a little technological savvy to participate in the discursive space of the Internet. The second is the collection of tools that have grown up around the blog to make the blogging process easier. In particular, tools to ‘blog’ web content – incorporate a summary of a particular webpage or article automatically into a blog including a hyperlink back to the point of origin – have been important to the way blogs have developed. This has meant that blogs have become not just a cheap and easy way of publishing to the web; they have also become ways of aggregating web content for particular ends. This aggregation involves the reuse of information, and the stripping out of much of the design and navigation architecture that secures the original context of that information. This is more than just republication; it is also a transformation of the original web publishing model into a more participatory form. 2.2 Wikis This emphasis on participation is even more evident in the wiki. Wikis, like the blog, are a simplified means of publishing to the web that again dispense with the need for dedicated web- publishing software. They rely on server-side processing to convert content into HTML, usually on-the-fly. Unlike the blog, the wiki supports the creation of full-scale websites with its combination of templates, authoring tools and audit trails. They therefore might be seen as an alternative to commercial content-management systems.
- 5. 5 But the wiki is more than just a piece of software to support web development. The wiki takes the ethos of the open-source software movement with its realization of the benefits of collaborative software development, and applies it to information resource management and development. At its heart, the wiki is a tool to enable collaborative authoring. That means that the power to edit and update information is ceded to users. Wikis allow users to edit the pages that they browse. The veracity of the information that results from the mediated collaboration of dozens or hundreds of contributors depends upon the emergence of a degree of consensus through the interactions of users. This might seem like a recipe for disaster; however public wikis such as Wikipedia have demonstrated how this approach to creating and managing information resources can result in credible and stable content. 2.3 RSS Where participation is central to the wiki, de contextualization is central to RSS. RSS is a suite of web-content syndication protocols, the most widespread of which is Really Simple Syndication. RSS is a way of syndicating web content through the use of content feeds, which consist of XML marked-up files. RSS feeds usually combine either the lead paragraph, or a summary of an article published on the web or on a blog, and a hyperlink back to its source. Combined with the RSS reader, or aggregator, RSS provides a means for users to keep track of updates posted across the web. Central to RSS in combination with the RSS feed reader is the possibility of aggregating content from many different websites into a single user-space. The kinds of clues that help us to authenticate information, such as the corporate logos of news providers and information aggregators, are largely stripped from the information as it is presented in the RSS feed reader. News from many different sources is presented side-by-side as broadly equivalent. As a result, more emphasis is placed on the user to evaluate the authority of information. 2.4 Social Media Networks Social media networks are type of web 2.0 technologies which allow users to build personal web spaces which are accessible to other users to share the personal content and communicate with one another. Some of widely known social media networking tools which are prominent in the promotion and development of businesses are Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Whatsapp, Twitter etc. These websites allows user to create and customize their own personal account, users are
- 6. 6 interconnected from all over the world through one network. Users can find other users of similar interest, their collogues, friends etc and add them to their account. Users can prominently create new content on these websites related to their interest and can use them to promote an develop their business work or business profiles. For an example these days, promoting anything can be done easily by creating good content in Youtube.com. Also Facebook and Instagram marketing is also a very much influential strategy for any type of business arena. With this type of a trend going on with social media for the development of businesses still there are some drawbacks which can affect to the effectiveness of businesses. That is with the increasing use of these social media tools, it may cause harm for individuals and organization, these socials networks are used by a different type of users which can result in making them controversial activities like hate campaigns targeting groups ,and exploitation and stalking. In addition to all above there is always a doubt about the true identity of the user. Therefore there is always a big responsibility with each and every individual to use these tools and technologies for the betterment of lives of other people, animals and the betterment of the planet. 2.5 Mashups Mashups are actually hybrid version which is created by merging two or more web 2.0 applications to create a new. It is one of the most potentially viable approaches of web 2.0 technologies. Now days almost everything is being mashed up from blogs to social networking to news feed. Earlier mash up was used by users for personal convenience or interest but now its commercial implications are enormously increased, it gives the business/firm to syndicate their content all over the websites, the integrations of other useful information into their own website is going to be feasible as their content gets more significant.
- 7. 7 3. Impact of Web 2.0 for Business - Discussion Some of the interactive web 2.0 applications such as blogs, wikis and virtual worlds and social media networks have completely changes the way now users gather the information. Now the user wants to contribute and edit the data as well. If we talk about the financial aspect of a business and web 2.0 impacts on it, according to the article by (Heng, Stefan, Meyer, Thomas and Antje, 2007) the financial services providers are realizing that they need to install the web 2.0 applications successfully into their respective firms because eventually these technologies are going to maximize their reach in their external and internal matters. . Some of these organizations have deployed web 2.0 in form of internal wikis, internal blogs. Information feeds RSS etc. The reason why these applications are having impact on financial industries is because web 2.0 applications offers combination of competitive prices and affable community networks which can attracts many consumers. Currently the financial service source is exposed scrutiny over the web which enhances margins, transparency and reputational risks. Web 2.0 technologies like online p2p (person to person) and pay systems inspire the competitive conventional banking. Some of the financial organizations like even banks face new opportunities and threats regularly regarding the competition from rivals or even their internal infrastructure like security and maintaining a relationship with client to name a few. Furthermore research has showed that web 2.0 have faced some obstacles in the financial sector of a business, some of the requirements of the customers and their respective rigid authority do not always agree with the communications customs of the web 2.0. Wikis and blogs offers innovative way of two-way communication between the internal processed of a financial institute, the employees of these financial institutes can easy access the database which will eventually boost the institute’s information flow with interruption delays. When we explore the marketing aspect of a business we can learn how greatly it impacted in this sector of any business. Blogging, Vlogging, Social Media Posting ,Online Communities and wikis are the most common applications of web 2.0 that the companies are using all over the world to maximize their reach to their customers. One of the least utilized application virtual world played huge role in marketing of a business, several companies foresee its advantages and have already got onboard on the virtual online world, where millions of users are able to interact with each other, share ideas, and discuss information. Companies use this virtual online world to sell,
- 8. 8 promote, advertise their products. All the companies are building a strategy using web 2.0 applications to be more competitive and prominent in the corporate world some of them are using instant chats with their website to improve customer service and allow interaction within their customers and expands its reach among them. Blogging has already created impact on consumers. (Parise,Guinan and Weinberg 2011). 4. Conclusion According to the specific research of facts we have discussed here in this report, there is no doubt that Web 2.0 is a highly appreciated area in the modern business world. It was probable that web 2.0 technologies have created much more opportunities for business organizations, now it depends on the organization how they deploy them to utilize it to maximum for their corporation. Since the emergence of web 2.0, we have seen exhilarating technologies on, multimedia platform which invites more creativity and interactivity. These technologies have helped building a better connection and communication between the consumers, organization stock holders etc. With this type of a trend ongoing in the field, still there are some issues we have to think about when discussing about web 2.0 and its impact or business, web 2.0 technologies are now just set of useful applications but actually it’s a powerful medium of internal and external interaction within an corporation. The corporation can now successfully benefit from web 2.0 technologies as their information sharing, problem solving, maintenance, marketing products is made easier and effective. Web 2.0 has provided opportunities as well as challenges for organization. The limitations of web 2.0 like security or corporate data for a business does play a factor, because the corporations are to critical to their data being exposed to authorized access and information breach from within the corporation. There needs to be more awareness of web 2.0 technologies and its implications among the consumers and corporation
- 9. 9 References Andriole, S. J. (2010). Business Impact of Web 2.0 Technologies. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220425294_Business_Impact_of_Web_20_Technolo gies Bruce D.Weinberg, Ekin Pehlivan. (2011). Social Spending: Managing the social media mix (Vol. 54). doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2011.01.008 CSR News. (2008). Retrieved from www.csrwire.com: https://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/14732- Marketwire-2008-Charity-Calendar-Continues-Its-Mission Haya Ajjan, Richard Ha. (2008). Investigating Faculty Decisions to Adopt Web 2.0 Technologies: Theory and empirical tests. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2008.05.002 Maged N Kamel Boulos, Steve Wheeler. (2007). The emerging web 2.0 social software: An enabling suite of sociable technologies in health and health care education. Health Information and Liraries Journal. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6475803_The_emerging_Web_20_social_software_ An_enabling_suite_of_sociable_technologies_in_health_and_health_care_education Tredinnick, L. (2006). Web 2.0 and Business. doi:10.1177/0266382106072239
- 10. 10 Group Members 1. H.M.V.T.W Bandara ---------------- 14/AS/PS/001 2. S.M.P.S Chamara -------------------- 13/AS/091 3. W.G.Y Lakmal ----------------------- 14/AS/PS/013