If you looked at a logo or website recently, you probably noticed: everyone wants it “web 2.0” style. It’s like newest, hottest haircut – everyone has to have it to show off in their circles.

This web 2.0 buzz is sooo annoying… Like everything that humanity did so far is not valid any more, unless it’s “2.0”. It became everything for everybody. Whatever you like, whatever is ‘cool’ is “2.0” now.

Web 2.0 is the new black.

2.0 colors, 2.0 font, 2.0 style – what exactly are we talking here? You may have noticed, that people, without going to the source, are slapping 2.0 label on anything they THINK is hot.

Web 2.0 originated more than 8 years ago, but became a trend just late last year, and ‘a must’ just in the last few months. It sports this ‘clean, simple look with soft, round edges font and bright colors’. It’s really all about putting things on shiny tables and painting them with candy colors and shiny silver. Some of the famous examples are Skype, Technorati, Shoutwire and YouTube.
Green is the unofficial color of web 2.0, but saturated blues, oranges and pinks are also favourites. Bold primary colors suggest a playful, fun attitude and also help to draw attention to important page elements.
Add to it large fonts (50% bigger than the regular size), horizontal menus across the top and lots of white space and you’ve got web 2.0. Looks like most of the blogging sites? Because it binds very well with Wordpress, CMS (Content Management Systems) and like posting services. Large text is easy on the eye, and together with brief copywriting makes information easy to absorb.

Web 2.0 meant interaction – therefore we see flocks of ‘social networking’ sites. You can share publicly everything about your life – pictures, thoughts, music, friends, connections and your whereabouts… These sites are popping like mushrooms and dying like flies – typical lifecycle of a trend. Last year it was Myspace and Digg, today everybody is on Facebook. I can bet that some Facebook killer app is just around the corner.
Oh, and don’t forget about “free”. Web 2.0 sites are bringing visitors to participate in their action by giving away “free” accounts. Most Web 2.0 sites devote prime real estate to the message that they offer a free service.
You won’t find any stock photography of smiling support staff on a Web 2.0 site - that’s a tactic favoured by small companies trying to look like large corporations. Simple icons and screenshots prevail. Some Web 2.0 layouts are so minimal that they edge on boring, but designed well, an uncluttered site can be incredibly sophisticated.

What is Web 2.0?
It is a whole space of behavioural changes from the previous rules of internet: rich user experiences, customer self-service, user as contributor, participation, not publishing, radical decentralization of data and tagging, not taxonomy.

What’s in it for small business owner, a self-employed professional or working-at-home-mom? You can rip many benefits. Despite your size and budget, you can offer customer a Rich experience, convey your message in new, snappy ways, attract customer through blogging. Organize your business much better by using many of the web services offered in Web 2.0.

You need to get started though before Facebook is replaced with VIRB or something even newer – Semantic web…
That’s when your computers would be talking to other data centres, according to your preferences and assumed benefits, directed by artificial intelligence and learning based on patterns of your behaviour. Sounds scary? Maybe it is, but you could be lying on a beach then, instead of managing your clients and orders.

Email me comments at hg@minibizweb.com