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You might think that the internet trend for buzzwords would have slowed down by now. Think again - and welcome to.. "Web 2.0"

Believe it or not, it basically refers to the 'second generation of the Web'. Many people didn't even realise we just left the first generation!

But, what is it really?

Websites that incorporate the 2.0 idea are sites that are trendily called "social networking websites" like the massively popular video sharing website Youtube.com, the online bookmarking website digg.com, eBay or online photo journals such as Flickr.com. The thing that these websites share in common is social, online collaboration (or sharing, as we used to call it!)

The key characteristics of such sites is that they have elements whereby the users of these sites can communicate with each other. Seller ratings are crucial to eBay's success, and Flickr makes it easy for people to share their photographs with family and friends. With easy-to-use content systems letting users talk to each other, this also generates enormous amounts of content for these websites and builds strong customer loyalty.

These Web 2.0 applications achieve their power from the idea that websites can shift from the static and boring pages that they are now, to a rich, interactive and user friendly tool for people to connect and network with.

What can I gain from it?

Many people don't believe they can gain anything from this shift, which simply isn't the case.

9xb already offer the technology behind these web applications, and many of our clients actively run and maintain content driven websites. This offers them a leverage over their competition, moving away from isolated and static websites, and turning them into a functional platform for end users.

How about this idea; you run a website with a news facility that you update regularly, and you want to get this out to people quickly. You rely on users to visit your website and find the news page and start reading. Why not feed the news directly to their computer using an RSS feed? Millions of Internet users use some form of RSS reader as a way of keeping up to date with world news, website updates and blogs. Why not take advantage of it?

Or how about this: instead of having a news page, why not run a blog designed specifically for you? People love reading blogs, whether they like to admit it or not. Blogs are like online diaries for people to write down their thoughts, achievements, or just to get something off your chest. An active blog can attract lots of traffic to your website on a regular basis (providing you keep up with it!). Just search the Internet for blogs, you'll see how incredibly popular they are!

You can offer facilities for customers to share their experience of your products through uploading pictures... answer their questions online, and release new information through interesting news articles.All of this activity can bring people back to your site again and again, and increase the likelihood of them using you in the future.

9xb can offer all this technology and more - so drop us a line and ask how it can work for you!