Is ‘Web 2.0′ Another Bubble? – WSJ.com
Is ‘Web 2.0′ Another Bubble? – WSJ.com: why is this always a binary argument? Of course it is a bubble, and that is not necessarily a bad thing. The net effect of the Collaborative/Social/Whatever web that emerged after the first collapse of one-to-many consumerism driven Internet sites has been to show what people like Howard Rheingold, Sherry Turkle, et al knew all along: its the people! People power the best and worst movements historically. The Internet democratizes the representation of people so that avatars of “people” can exist in the same ontological space as data, media, objects, commerce and community. This is amazing. This is awesome. Does it necessarily make a sound business? Not at first. But it can if the metrics are tapped into at just the right place (see Google for this).