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Thanks for the thoughtful issues so far. Our time's running out... Any more questions or comments?
how do i get exposure for my site? my idea is a platform and depends on many developers building applications for it...what should i do to reach those developers (besides emailing hundreds of blogs and mailing lists with my URL + pitch)?
It's always hard to pitch a platform without showing uptake by developers. Get some big name guys behind it and you might be able to get it in front of the right people. Here's one new initiative that got some press: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-9998776-2.html
Launching a platform is a big social, financial, and marketing challenge. Good luck.
where do you social networking in 5 or 10 years?
Part of the fabric of the culture. Like phones.
Isn't it funny how nearly all the science fiction of the 20th century totally missed the Internet, social networking, etc?
Do you think Picasa will become more like Flickr and place more emphasis on public galleries?
The main page of Flickr is all about seeing public photos, while its hard to even find the public galleries on Picasa.
It's a great local app for picture management but Google has not leveraged the community on the Web side of it. Big opportunity there, especially now that Yahoo is under siege and the Flickr founders are leaving.
from all the web 2 apps you see, what in your mind sets apart the winners from the losers?
I see a lot of interesting ideas, but very few interesting businesses. Also, idea isn't enough. You need to deliver on it. The app needs to be easy to use. It has to scale. It has to have a business model. It has to be useful and not just cool.
A lot of weird ideas, though, get traction. So there's a lottery element as well. For example: Zombies.
why do you think that gmail is still in beta? when will it become a non beta webapp?
Thanks to Google and other companies, the word "beta" doesn't mean jack anymore. And then there's Cuil, which launch without beta, but clearly is.
but the flexibility of native apps are so much more rich, you can include features like shortcuts and quick response of the app that you can implement in the cloud. do you think flash will rule all?
and the "its hard to stand out in an orgy comment" the bol crew had fun with it today
You're right, but the gap is narrowing. Ultimately there will be many apps for which the user doesn't know if it's local or online. And, no, Flash isn't the ultimate. But what you have an app for which access is rented, which installs itself when needed, updates itself, and stores its data in the cloud, who really cares about the distinction?
Hi,
What do you think the chances of us all be held to cyber-ransom by a big name 2.0 app?
I have so much committed in drop.io/ dropbox/ humyo etc.
Do you think one day we will get the "please subscribe with 20days to continue to use the service?"
Thanks,
SmthExCo
Companies go out of business, get acquired, etc. It pays to manage your online data, and store it in duplicate locations, especially if you favor the startup services.
And more stuff... we're working on a story.
Hi Rafe,
In what types of (enterprise) industries are you seeing the most adoption of W2 technologies?
Sales and marketing getting a huge boost from Web 2.0: online CRM, social networking, etc.
Retail can take advantage of Web 2.0 if the business is ready to deal with mass customization and closer ties to customers.
Transportation, energy, manufacturing: maybe less so. But networked logistics do improve efficiencies.
At first glance I can't tell if Ning has file sharing capability. I see there are photo and video sharing, but I don't notice a file sharing area. Everything else (except the ads) looks good.
BTW, I use Groups for kids sports teams and classrooms.
Do you know any good ad generating service that I could put on my website. And, do you know any other ways to generate money from a website besides selling merchandise?
...for creating online ad campaigns.
As to your other question: The Web is a platform for commerce. What business are you in? CAn it be done more efficiently online?
do you think that web apps, although not as diverse as native apps when in html, will take over all apps and we will just have a terminal computer that has online storage and what not? oh and i wont forget your comment in BOL yesterday.
I think it's a continuum. Some apps belong online, some really need a local component (like Google Earth, for example). But you can do more every day with cloud-based apps (see Microsoft Maps!).
You COULD set up an entire workgroup on nothing but Web terminals today. It'd be cheaper and probably more reliable. But you'd give up some features, and if/when you had a failure, probably the whole office would go offline.
What comment?
Hi Rafe,
In light of Apple dropping the Groups features in the MobileMe transition, what are the best of the competing Groups online services? I've tried Google Groups and it's OK, but really bland in that Google sort of way. Yahoo looks the same. Any idea who else is offering this type of thing on Apple's level?
Thanks!
Chris
What is Web 3.0? What is Web 2.0? It's all an evolution. Here are some evolutions underway now.
* Mobile Internet is rolling out.
* The people of the world are taking control of information (wresting it from big media and corporations)
* Personal interactions are getting more interesting due to social networks
* Web sites and services are getting interlinked through standards like OpenID and microformats.
Dear Rafe,
I work for Grameen Bank, the world's largest micro-credit organization that lends money for the poor. Unfortunately, not many people know about micro-credit, and action and activism towards the issues at the bottom-of-the-pyramid is poor due to a lack of information and interaction for the average person.
I want to build an integrated, holistic Web 2.0 platform that would enable such information to be available, enable community interaction and online social activism, user-generated content from the poorest communities around the world, online microlending platform for organizations like Grameen or Kiva, a "social" stock market, etc.
How do I start? What are the "best practices" of Web 2.0 development?
Can you help out? 
Thank you!
~Shadab.
I think your biggest challenge is educating people (lenders) about this new type of financial instrument. Marketing loan products is way out of my expertise area! Might I suggest buddying up to some political powerhouses in the regions you're serving?
Rafe, as someone who doesn't live in the tech zone of California, it seems to many outside of the Web 2.0 space that I talk to (and I am a marketer) that Web 2.0 and social media is an echo chamber to the average person - lots of ideas, little substance or understanding what people actually need and would be useful.
How much is echo chamber - and how much and what might be the technologies/companies that break into the mainstream?
A lot of Web 2.0 commentary is only read by other Web 2.0 commentators. But there will always be breakouts -- Facebook, Scrabulous, My Yahoo, etc. They all start small.
I have seen alot of adoption from white collar with paper 2.0 invoicing, freshbooks, blinksale,etc. Could you see the same migration by blue collar workers, landscapers, electricians, plumbers.
Especially for journeyman contractors, cloud-based invoicing and scheduling can save businesses time and money. But they're not going to go there until their customers are there as well.
Rafe,
What's your advice on how to get our startup web 2.0 company, http://www.hotelmapsearch.com covered in the technology press? We've had some coverage on the consumer side of things (Clark Howard) but nothing yet from technology writers.
Do most of your articles come out of a personal meeting or connection? We're cash flow positive, but is it better to seek funding just to create an industry buzz? How do you normally come up with ideas for your articles?
Thanks for the insight!
Lynwood Bishop
HotelMapSearch offers a nice twist on seeing hotels a map, but the online travel space is super-crowded. You don't have enough to stand out from the competition.
Your challenge isn't just features, its marketing. How are you going to get users? You can't rely on press coverage.
Rafe: Below is a link to a PC Mag article about how many college & universities are opting to use Google Apps for Educators over other email servers like Exchange. Is hosting ALL of a school's email in "the cloud" a good idea? Thanks, Jason
Like to article:
http://tinyurl.com/5azdnl
I don't see why any business should sink scarce resources into commodity services like email when they can be had cheaply (or free) from elsewhere.
How much more popular can social networks become?
I mean, they're everywhere! What can we expect from social networks in the future? Will they become more complex and eventually integrate with each other or will they continue to stay independent?
Social networking will be part of the fabric of the Web. Facebook Connect and MySpace Open Access will help these networks infiltrate other sites. OpenID as a unifying login will help as well.
Rafe - it seems that we are seeing another "dot com" boom similar to the late 90's, with the difference being that actual monetization is occurring and viable business are being produced.
What advice would you have for the average shmoe that has an good idea, is not connected in the VC world, but wants to get into the Web 2.0 world?
I see too many startups that are really resumes for the founders. They're not business and they're barely products. Advice is simple: Find a market that is underserved and that is *hard* to address. If it was easy to launch your business and get a few customers, then you don't have enough barrier to entry and maintaining margins and growth will be murder.
Hello. I'd like to know what will be the hot web2.0 app/Service in the near future?
What should be the hot things? Social Media? Video? What people are looking this days?
Anything can be made "hot" if it gets enough users. That said, I am highly skeptical when I see a new social network -- we have enough of them.
One thing I find very interesting right now is real-time social and media products. Things like Qik and UStream, combined with mobile apps that know your location. That's pretty cool.
We've been using ZCS, a great Web 2.0 Exchange alternative, for about a year. Management is a bit concerned about the recent Yahoo! MS situation, and I'm wondering what your thoughts are on how MS would deal with Zimbra if they acquired Yahoo!?
I believe that Zimbra is a secret weapon for Yahoo: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-9893658-2.html. Microsoft could sure use their technology, and I would hope -- but not expect -- that Microsoft + Zimbra would be a very good thing for enterprises.
I'm a HUGE mobile user, how many new apps will have not just a web presence but be fully mobile friendly (Google has several apps that they offer downloadable "widgets" for my phone (Blackberry)
But developing for mobile is difficult, since few mobile platforms are open, and there are a lot of platforms. There are some good apps for iPhone, Blackberry, JAva (some phones), Windows, etc. Android is yet another platform.
What we need is really good browser support on phones. Safari is ok on iPhone but doesnt support Flash. If you can get Opera on your phone, that's a good thing.
I'm a member of Grand Central, and back in April they posted on the blog that new features are in the works. Heard anything about what they are and when they might come out?
Grand Central was acquired by Google. When Google buys a company new features generally dry up for a while until they figure out how to integrate it and what they want to do. I think GCentral is still in that digestion phase.
Rafe Needleman here, I'm ready to take on all Web 2.0 topics!
