Web 2.0 Buzz

I’ve heard so many new buzz words this past two days at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco.

“Trends, like horses, are easier to ride in the direction they are going.” – John Naisbitt

So, here’s a recap:

Mobile - The major trend in the consumer market appears to be everything mobile. From location softwares (such as Loopt), to development platforms (Nokia S60)… anything mobile will certainly catch a VC’s attention. Other notables: Tellme, Iphone apps,

Mesh – With access to the content stretching across multi-platforms, multi-devices… there is a great need to connect all these instruments. Microsoft announced their Live Mesh application this week, and gave a short demo at the keynote. Personally, I am suspicious and curious to see how these things will really work together. I totally hate Sync, and I give up trying to connect my phone to my calenders. Maybe I need to try a Blackberry.

Mash – or Mashup, is something that I heard people talk about left and right. There are so many APIs and so many widgets now, that everything Web 2.0 is about combining all these elements together. We see Google Maps mashedup on various sites with variations and new components. That’s probably the prime example. There is just so much to learn in terms of what’s useful and what will improve a site’s “interestingness.”

Social Network – I suppose this is not a new topic. But still, every company is talking about creating new social networks, creating customer facing applications to tie customers-to-customers. Something so interesting can get really dull when you keep hearing it over and over again.

Viral – So, just being social is not enough. Now, everything also needs to be viral. User engagement, user recommendation, and user initiated activities are getting to be a big focus for developers too. How will the next Sheep-throwing app look like? It will be interesting to see what is the next big thing that users will get excited over and spread like wild fire.

Micro-Blog – Twitter, is definitely the star of the 2007/2008 internet scene. Many people are talking about Twitter being the next Google! mm… that’s probably an over-exaggerated evaluation. But, that’s high praises nonetheless. Anyways, I can’t get myself into it. I created a twitter account though, not sure if anybody is interested.

War - So, there seems to be a battle between Facebook and OpenSocial, over developers to create the next killer app for their social networks. Who’ll win? Facebook has the lead, but my bet is on OpenSocial.

So, how do I ride these waves… or horses…

Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0

“Enterprise 2.0 [is about] letting users into your back office and turning your company inside out.” – Tim O’Reilly

Today, I attended the Web 2.0 Conference and Expo in San Francisco. I am really loving everything about Web 2.0: The people, the innovations, the causes, the opportunities…

The People

I took Caltrain/Muni up to Moscone today (Woke up around 6:30, yet took the 8am train). My first stop: I walked by the Web2Open area, and just listened to the organizers talk about the formats of the Open Sessions, and how user participation is essential. Here, I met Rebecca, from Australia via India, who is working on her art-related web startup. We chatted a little, and basically hung out throughout the day. Around noon, we caught up with Nick, Rebecca’s partner, also an Australian working out of India right now. We chatted about our experiences, our ideas, and just lots of Web 2.0 related issues that were really interesting. The more people I met at these events, the more I get the impression that Web-2.0-people are so awesome. These people all share a common vision, a common goal, and a common drive. It’s so refreshing and enjoyable to met these kinds of people.

Later in the day, while taking a break from the afternoon sessions, Rebecca and I met another new friend, Steve Yoo, from Missouri, who has is the founder and master coder of Iintern.net — an internship network.

The Innovations

I spent most of the day crawling through the expo. Basically just checking out all the booths, all the demos, and snatching up on some freebies. Okay: freebies first, I got a cool little mini USB-mouse from Suns; Two T-shirts; and One USB-Hub from Disney. Really cool stuff. Anyways, the important part, I talked to several really interesting companies… Some demoing their software platform, some demoing their cool application, some sharing ideas, or pitching some weird product. I really got a lot to think about, in terms of scoping out the market, and understanding the tools that are available for me to use for development. I’ve never seen most of these cool things. It was certainly an eye opener experience.

Beyond that, Tim O’Reilly, Scott Berkun, and Clay Shirky gave fantastic key note speeches. Scott Berkun talked about Innovation. Nothing very new/insightful here, expect a few points: No need to focus on “the moment.” Rather, the preparation that lead to an “idea” and the actions taken upon the “idea” are more important! Other than that, “find real problems, create real solutions.”

The Causes

O’Reilly gave several important and insightful points regarding his observations about Web 2.0. He talked about Enterprise 2.0 being a unstoppable force — companies need to be a part of it, or they’ll lose to their startup competitors (therein lies the opportunity!). This is perhaps the coolest thing I learned today. More and more, I am reaffirmed of my strong faith in my startup. It is the drive to do good, and to create a better tomorrow embracing the Web 2.0 tidal wave that keeps my motors going.

For an afternoon Web2Open session, I attended the Web2.0 Politics session. The session mainly talked about how the Web 2.0 environment has created new opportunities and new methods for public issues to be presented to voters. Many initiatives are able to come to voters because of the mobilization characterization of the Web 2.0 space. Down with Lobbyist and big money corporations!

The Opportunity

Clay Shirky probably gave the best speech of the afternoon. He hammered across his observation regarding the “cognitive surplus.” Simply put, people are dissipating energy by watching tv, surfing the internet, drinking boos, playing video games, or doing stupid things in general. Now, if we count of all that wasted time… He pointed out: Since the invention of TV (50yrs now) 200-billion hrs/yr in the US have been wasted by the human race! Now, what about the collective amount of time that users have spent on writing/editing/maintaining wikipedia? 100-million hours, a far cry from the TV time, eh? Well, it’s so interesting to think of things this way. It is obvious that there is a huge opportunity there.

Note to self:

Buy and read Clay Shirky’s book: “Here Comes Everybody”

Signup for Microsoft Live Mesh

Look into OpenSocial

Research more into Mobile applications, issues and opportunities

Caution: IP issue will require professional help.