Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is a concept that appeared in October 2004. One of the key enablers for Web 2.0 is the emergence of a new generation of technologies and standards. This has been underpinned by the idea of the “Web as a platform”, where umbrella software services run in a browser, communicating with the network and other remote servers. According to O’Reilly, Web 2.0 is much more than changing user’s interface of old applications and introducing a new one. On the contrary, it is a totally new way of thinking, with a number of basic effects that help us in better defining its concept and determining its main characteristics. These effects are [1]:

• Databases grow up, as more people interact with them.
• Applications become smarter, as more people use them.
• Marketing is based on users’ experiences.
• Applications interact with each other, creating a computing platform.

• Web application

• [1] T. O'Reilly, “Web 2.0 Compact Definition: Trying Again”, 12-10-2006, Available online at: http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/12/web_20_compact.html

• Alert mechanisms – email alerts and RSS Feeds
• Wikis
• Blogs