Much has been discussed about the evolution of the internet from a static, distribution medium (read only) to a dynamic, highly interactive media (with the emergence of Web 2.0). Web 2.0 is not much more than a marketing term used to describe some of the newer services that are growing exponentially on the net. Web 2.0 is generally defined (see O’Reilly Media for details) as the use of the web as a platform for computing, collaborative intelligence, software agnostic services, and portability and inter-operability of data. Technologies that are typically associated with Web 2.0 include Blogs, Wikis, Tagging, RSS, Podcasting and so forth - see figure Web 2.0 Map (Markus Angermeier). Some popular services include YouTube, Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, and WorldPress. Although the list is endless, the top ten or so account for almost all activity under the Web 2.0 umbrella. An interesting note from McKinsey & Co regarding ways to make Web 2.0 work points out that the core transformation has been along productivity and time; specifically moving from an automated transaction system (such as ERP and CRM) to an environment of enabled collaboration and participation. Web 2.0 has the potential to create opportunities for ISP’s with growing their services. To do this they need to fully understand the impacts of Web 2.0 and analyze how best to adjust their business models by leveraging the changing dynamics of the net to increase revenues for their products.
Peeling back the jargon and hype behind Web 2.0 (bubble?) reveals what has always been the basic significance of the internet and that is connecting people and allowing them to share. The tools that have emerged over the past 5 years have greatly improved the way people connect, collaborate and communicate - essentially what we did as humans 5,000 years ago, except we have taken almost all aspects of social interaction and digitized them to use the Internet as Social Media. Thus the components of Web 2.0 have enabled user generated content to take center stage, so much so that Time Magazine recognized this trend and crowned “You” as Person of the Year in 2006. If you think more about Web 2.0, essentially we have been able to organize things so that they are more useful; for instance, Facebook allows users to create their own personal profile and share what they want with others (pictures, videos, articles, etc.) and also connect to the people they want - specifically the trend of “friend(ing)”. The sky high valuations of Web 2.0 firms (YouTube was sold to Google for $1.6B and Facebook is estimated to be worth as much as $8 billion) and their challenges monetizing their assets is a different matter. What’s important in this context, regardless of the trendiness of Web 2.0, is that millions of users are actively engaged in some form of interactivity. Thus their importance is undeniable; one only has to look at the rise of Barack Obama, largely in part by effectively using social media to his financial and strategic advantage.
For a provider of Internet access this trend means three things. First, users need to be always on (connectivity), second, intelligence and computing is moving further back into the network (reliability) and third, the appetite for broadband access is growing (scalability). Let’s take a closer look at these:
Connectivity is the basis for the importance of the Internet as media that is appropriate for multi-modal forms of communication, both real time and asynchronous. There is a symbiotic relationship between Web 2.0 and always available web connections; essentially the availability of one enhances the experience of the other. As the Internet takes on the role as a platform for collaborating, it must be both accessible and available, almost ubiquitously. Providers of Internet services need to ensure that access is not only a location based product, but seamless connectivity across different locations and environments (such as DSL/Cable at home, wireless on the road, Wi-Fi enabled hotspots, and Ethernet /WAN solutions in an office complex) is part of their service offering.
Reliability creates value in the nature of applications that are on the net; for instance, e-mail does not require the same level of QoS as does VoIP. Cloud computing is (arguably) one of the components of Web 2.0 that has increased in importance with significant advancement in software virtualization techniques. With cloud computing and other similar techniques, the intelligence in the network has become a vital component of the productivity and collaboration value chain. Incidentally, as opposed to some of the services that fall under the social media category, cloud computing has been adopted (and pushed) by enterprise and business users primarily to reduce costs and centralize resources. Similarly, most of the applications for Web 2.0 are hosted and managed remotely; users interact via a browser or something similar with data residing in the network. Here again reliability becomes an indispensable component. Absent a consistent experience, users will shun the service and seek a competitor (in some cases regardless of price) to ensure they can continue uninterrupted service to use the services that have become an integrated part of their daily lives.
Scalability is the basis for growth in usage and application. Perhaps no other application shows the need for broader broadband connections than streaming media and sites such as YouTube. Video, particularity HD content, is notoriously bandwidth intensive despite compression algorithms. As users generate and consume video online, the need for speed on the net and connections to end users will gain in importance. In addition, although most of today’s Web 2.0 components include sharing video, other developing applications such as interactive gaming will consume even more. Providing faster connections (and correspondingly generating more revenue) will become a competitive advantage in the ISP battle.
Businesses can effectively push Web 2.0 services to grow and generate revenue, but regardless of enterprise adoption of Web 2.0, consumers will continue to use it to constantly connect, communicate, and collaborate. As such, providers of services that enable Web 2.0 transactions will fare well by widely embracing the changing components of the Internet and building products and solutions around how users will best consume their services to meet their Web 2.0 and beyond needs. It is essential that Telco’s and MSO’s realize the value of Web 2.0 as more than just a phase but rather the growing nature of the Internet. Understand Web 2.0 is the first step in creating a strategic product set to meet the needs of their users. Mike Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University makes the case for Web 2.0 as an evolving phenomenon with the Internet (regarding the move from HTML to XML and a separation of form and content). He captures the essence of Web 2.0 “as linking people … people sharing, trading, and collaborating …” His YouTube video (Web 2.0 The machine is us/ing us), with almost 10 million hits, wonderfully captures these concepts.
Posts
