Let's Kill Web 2.0 -- Now!

If you're not yet convinced that the term "Web 2.0" has reached into the stratosphere of mega-hype, consider this: It just made the cover of Newsweek. So it's time to finally ban the term, because it's become the favorite of hypsters, pseudo techno-hipsters, and scamsters. When tech publisher Tim O'Reilly first coined the phrase in 2003, it actually had meaning. (Full disclosure: I'm an author of a number of books put out by O'Reilly Publishing.)

The idea behind Web 2.0 is that the Web is becoming a platform of connected sites and services which allow for complex collaboration and sharing, not just one-way consumption. Sites like Flickr and Wikipedia epitomize this kind of collaboration. So do "mash-ups" that allow people -- even non-programmers -- to combine and recombine services offered by Web sites, for example by overlaying live traffic on top of Google maps.

Ultimately, this kind of collaboration will be brought inside the corporate firewall as well, and not just exist out on the Web.

So what's wrong with Web 2.0?

It's been hijacked. PR people slap it onto anything Web-related, to give it the coolness factor. So does anyone who wants to sound like they know more than you do about the Next Big Thing. And so do startups looking to make a quick buck."Hey, I have an idea! Let's sell dog food over the Internet! We'll get a sock puppet to be our mascot -- and we'll say it's a Web 2.0 site!"

So it's time to kill Web 2.0, even before it's really begun. The ideas will still thrive, but if we can kill the term itself, maybe we'll be able to separate the truth from the hype.