Thinkcorps

I appreciate the furor over Web 2.0, but to me, it’s more of the same. Web 1.0 was started by hackers and geeks and was a bunch of “nobodys” creating cool stuff before the suits moved in and took over. I don’t see anything different happening this time.

As my friend Ted pointed out, greed is difficult to resist.

I think we’re moving into the late phases of Web2.0 already. All I see are companies mimicking moves by other companies, aggregating things together into “portals” or “one-stop-shops”. They can’t help themselves. When you have an audience, you’re first thought is to keep adding new features in the hopes of keeping your readers busy longer.

But we already know the future is niche. The future is small and highly targeted.

What you should do is focus on the three things you do really well, and only add new features as bonuses for your audience. Stay focused and be happy that you have a slice—any slice—of the attention pie.

What I’d really like to see is more cooperation, instead of consolidation. With all this XML-ized content sitting in DBs, it would be nice if there were companies that simply shared with each other. Why do photos when Flickr does it better? Why do maps when Google and Yahoo have the most bitchin’ APIs?

If we’re really into openness, then why not show it?

I do see a lot of people using Google Maps, for example, on their sites, but whenever it comes to something “mission criticial,” everyone builds their own app. And while I agree that it’s cheap and easy to do so these days, I think we’ve reached the point where it’s actually easier and better to use someone else’s “best of breed” app.

Think about sharing. Think about your web site sitting on a single page of code, and calling to 20 third-party best-of-breed web services.

The new app-building service Ning is the perfect example.

What does it mean when you’re business is a bunch of aggregated components? Do you “own” the audience any less? Do you have to fight for their attention more than otherwise? Are they less valuable? Could you potentially be more profitable and more nimble as a business?

I wonder.