Renowned internet fanatic Robert Scoble is on a mission to explore the essence of the 2010 Web.
Well, this post is meant to be my two cents.
The idea for this post came to me while watching Scoble’s recent interview with Marcus Nelson, CEO of UserVoice — and then watching the the Iranian reformers’ use of Twitter and FriendFeed as vital communications tools.
And so came to me my idea of the essence of the 2010 Web:
It allows coders to be coders and content producers to be content producers.
What the heck does that mean?
Simple: it means that the 2010 Web empowers anybody — even those with little or no technical skills — to take advantage of its constantly-evolving tools.
For example, UserVoice (mentioned above) allows organizations, governmental bodies and companies to implement an easy-to-use feedback tool into their Web sites with the few clicks of a button.
The 2010 Web allows students in Iran to communicate with the rest of the world easily — all they need is an phone or an Internet connection. No coding necessary.
The 2010 Web allows a 52-year old county commissioner in Cook County (who has no tech skills at all) to provide transparent government by live tweeting county board meetings.
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See where I’m going with this?
The techies build the tools. The rest of us are free to produce the content — and use the tools to connect, project and deliver our content.
Pre-designed widgets, apps, buttons and social media sites allow non-techies to plug in and start typing.
User-friendly. Easy to use. Simple to connect.
In many cases (Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed) it’s even free.
That’s the essence of the 2010 Web.
I’m sure there will be plenty of folks who are going to disagree with me. Let the critical comments and disagreements will flow.
Because that’s another great thing about the 2010 Web: it means different things to each of us.
So, Robert, that’s what the 2010 Web means to me.