Web 2.0: new opportunities for your business

You have probably heard the term "Web 2.0" from web developers, designers and mass media. It refers to the new methodologies of interaction and creating Web content. Here is a look at the key Web 2.0 tools that can help your business connect with target audience and promote your products and services.

Broadly speaking, the term Web 2.0 means the set of Internet-based tools that enable users to conduct two-way communication. The philosophy focuses on the idea that people should not passively absorb the information available online. On the contrary, they should participate in creating on-demand content. 

The old Web 1.0 was single-sided communication. It primarily allowed people to find information online using searching engines. Only the tech-savvy users could built websites and contribute to the development of the Internet. 

Web 2.0, the next generation of web development and design, focuses on two-way communication. You don’t need to have any special technical skills to connect with other Internet users to share information. 

With Web 2.0, your business can interact with suppliers, customers and others at low or no cost. The key tools include, but are not limited to:

Blogs 
Blogs are online journals created by individuals or companies. You can present your point of view on your areas of expertise, tell about your new products and services, offer discounts, share ideas and encourage inter-blog dialog. Blogs are easy to set up and update. By adding links to your company’s website, you will generate more traffic. 

RSS 
RSS is a lightweight format used to syndicate frequently updated web content such as news headlines and blog entries. In other words, it lets you “subscribe” to your favorite websites and review all updates in one place.

An RSS feed can eliminate the need to send an e-mail or a newsletter to your customers. They can read all news without having to visit your site directly. You can also set up a series of RSS feeds on a particular topic to grab useful content onto your company's website for free.

Tagging and social bookmarking 
Social bookmarking is similar to creating “Favorites” list in your browser. Instead of saving the URL of your favorite website on your computer, just post the link to Digg or del.icio.us. You can tag any information you want, so that you any other Internet users entering some particular keyword could find it again. 

Widgets 
A widget is an element of a user interface that you can easily put on your website or blog for additional functionality. They let customers open up a mini-application or go to another website. A widget can be anything from a weather forecast to a crossword puzzle. A common example of a widget that most of us see every day is Google advertisements.

Wikis 
A wiki is a web page that enables people to read, create, edit, and delete its content. The most well-known example of wiki is Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia edited by volunteers from different countries.

A wiki is an excellent tool to organize events, answer customers’ questions, share some personal knowledge, store all the pertinent information about your products band services, edit and add documents and presentations. 

Social networks 
Social networks such as FaceBook and MySpace let people share their interests online. As a business tool, these websites work similar to traditional “offline” networking. You can interact with other people, share information, get referrals and demonstrate your expertise.

Podcasts and webcasts 
A webcast allows you to show a presentation, such as a PowerPoint slide show, over the Internet using streaming media technology. Podcasts is simply a name for an audio or video file which is available on the Internet through some sort of syndication service. They can be viewed on computers or downloaded to a portable device such as an iPod.