Web 2.0: A Beneficial Batch of Collaboration
2/28/2007
by Lori Rose Rupert

Web 2.0, noted as the “People oriented technological movement” combines blogs, wikis, video, podcasts, syndication and social networking to provide better organization and efficiency within the world of your business and its employees. While none of these applications are necessarily new, Web 2.0 has begun to use them in innovative and exciting new ways. Jonathan Robinson, chief operating officer of NetBenefit, describes the program as, “a powerful communication tool that can create an operational environment where stakeholders, staff, suppliers and the public are really made to feel part of what’s going on.”

With Web 2.0, the user is at ease with smaller, sleeker, and faster loading applications, quick development times and real-time updates. Web 2.0 also places emphasis on social features and a built in collaboration feature which will allow your employees to interact and publish, share and download data amongst themselves.

On a grander scale, in the event of interaction with the public and a larger crowd, Web 2.0 is still a trustworthy program. Using your business website, and the social features of Web 2.0, you can begin to develop online communities, in turn broadening your social networking area and gaining free advertisement for your business.

The term for this valuable Web 2.0 tool is: Web Widget. A Web Widget is a small program, such as KickApps, where the public can form their own small, personal space on your business website. With KickApps, once they form this space, they can personalize it with uploaded media of their choice. As the public takes advantage of this offer,  your online community begins to develop and the Widgets can be removed and placed on the personal spaces with a direct link back to your main website.

Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, eagerly grasped the widget concept. Obama plans on launching a social networking feature on his site, describing it as “a tool to organize your friends, neighbors and networks. His members will be able to build their own profiles, form groups, plan events and donate money to his campaign. Obama is using the social feature of Web 2.0 to expand his support base and get to know each supporter on a more personal level.

Along the same lines as Obama, once your social network has expanded, your business can benefit from this tool as well with increased and improved customer communication in reliable feedback, shortened product development time and targeted valuable market resources.

Charles Abrams, a research director at Gartner, predicts that “Web 2.0 communities and technologies…will have a significant impact on a broad range of traditional enterprises. Positive business model change will result in unexpected ways, and enterprises must prepare for this transition.”

Robinson agrees, suggesting that businesses start assessing “how Web 2.0 can add value to their organization and in turn, how best to implement such new technology, or risk being left behind.

Any and all entrepreneurs will benefit from the collaborative tools of Web 2.0. With the ease of its use and the promise of efficiency, no business should go without it.

Sources:
http://www.kickapps.com/learn.php
http://tekrati.com/research/News.asp?id=8281
http://news.com.com/2060-12572_3-0.html
http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=ConWebDoc.8630

Madame C.J. Walker: A Self-Made Success
Sarah Breedlove, later known as Madame C.J. Walker, was often heard saying, “I got my start by giving myself a start.” Walker held steadfast to her words and proved them in a consistent manner throughout the duration of her life. From being an uneducated, eventually orphaned, daughter of former slaves to a revolutionist for African American women, Walker followed the rags to riches path, eventually opening her own school and her own factory.. Later she held one of the first national meetings of businesswomen in the country, The Madame C.J. Walker Hair Culturists Union of America convention.