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Critical Perspectives on Web 2.0

First Monday just came out with a volume of articles that take a critical perspective on the Web 2.0 phenomenon. For those of you tracking this issue, you will find them interesting even though you may not agree with them. I've been expecting a backlash against Web 2.0 for a while now. While Web 2.0 is a fad in many senses, I do believe that there are durable concepts which will outlive the hype and affect post Web 2.0 systems. This is why I distinguish between "Web 2.0" and "Participatory Network." Participatory networks predate and will post date the Web 2.0 phenomenon. Below is the table of contents.

Todd

Preface: Critical Perspectives on Web 2.0	HTML
Michael Zimmer

Market Ideology and the Myths of Web 2.0	Abstract HTML
Trebor Scholz

Web 2.0: An argument against convergence	Abstract HTML
Matthew Allen

Interactivity is Evil! A critical investigation of Web 2.0	Abstract HTML
Kylie Jarrett

Loser Generated Content: From Participation to Exploitation	Abstract HTML
Søren Mørk Petersen

The Externalities of Search 2.0: The Emerging Privacy Threats when the Drive for the Perfect Search Engine meets Web 2.0	Abstract HTML
Michael Zimmer

Online Social Networking as Participatory Surveillance	Abstract HTML
Anders Albrechtslund

History, Hype, and Hope: An Afterward	HTML
David Silver

Revenge of the Experts

The individual user has been king on the Internet, but the pendulum seems to be swinging back toward edited information vetted by professionals.

By any name, the current incarnation of the Internet is known for giving power to the people. Sites like YouTube and Wikipedia collect the creations of unpaid amateurs while kicking pros to the curb—or at least deflating their stature to that of the ordinary Netizen. But now some of the same entrepreneurs that funded the user-generated revolution are paying professionals to edit and produce online content.

In short, the expert is back. The revival comes amid mounting demand for a more reliable, bankable Web. "People are beginning to recognize that the world is too dangerous a place for faulty information," says Charlotte Beal, a consumer strategist for the Minneapolis-based research firm Iconoculture. Beal adds that choice fatigue and fear of bad advice are creating a "perfect storm of demand for expert information."

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The Social Graph: Issues and Strategies in 2008

Social Graphs - The pattern of social relationships between people

One of the hottest topics in the online world in the last couple of years has been the growth of social networking services such as Facebook and MySpace, as well as the addition of a social element to existing user experiences. Despite riding several waves of hype, it's now clear that the social networking space will only get hotter in 2008 according to most watchers. Social software has come fully into its own as of 2008 -- for all appearances permanently -- and understanding the reasons for this rapid rise as well as figuring out how to leverage it best is the job of everyone who wants to make the most of the Web 2.0 era.

Gaining a deeper insight to the social networking phenomenon, now exhibited by the tens of millions of users employing them globally on a daily basis for both personal and businesses uses, currently means understanding the fundamental unit of the social network, also one of the biggest new buzzphrases of the year: the social graph. Fortunately, that's simple enough despite the term's oblique reference to graph theory, which it is heavily based upon.

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Social Media Will Change Your Business

Look past the yakkers, hobbyists, and political mobs. Your customers and rivals are figuring blogs out. Our advice: Catch up…or catch you later

by Stephen Baker and Heather Green

Editor's note: When we published "Blogs Will Change Your Business" in May, 2005, Twittering was an activity dominated by small birds. Truth is, we didn't see MySpace coming. Facebook was still an Ivy League sensation. Despite the onrush of technology, however, thousands of visitors are still downloading the original cover story.

So we decided to update it. Over the past month, we've been calling many of the original sources and asking the Blogspotting community to help revise the 2005 report. We've placed fixes and updates into more than 20 notes; to view them, click on the blue icons. If you see more details to fix, please leave comments. The role of blogs in business is clearly an ongoing story.

First, the headline. Blogs were the heart of the story in 2005. But they're just one of the tools millions can use today to lift their voices in electronic communities and create their own media. Social networks like Facebook and MySpace, video sites like YouTube, mini blog engines like Twitter—they've all emerged in the last three years, and all are nourished by users. Social Media: It's clunkier language than blogs, but we're not putting it on the cover anyway. We're just fixing it.

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