Hi, Marshall and Gary here.

If you remotely follow the internet, you will have no doubt seen the term social networking. Quite often it is used in conjunction with Web 2.0.

At Small Business Internet Marketing, we like to try and provide our clients and followers simple descriptions of terms and concepts.

So let’s start first with Web 2.0. The best way we can think to describe this very broad concept is to highlight what Web 1.0 is. Think of the most static, one-dimensional website that you have ever seen that has absolutely no interaction with a visitor to the site – well that is what Web 1.0 is. Classic symptoms are informational only, static, no videos, little change.

Web 2.0 is characterised by online communities where people share opinions and information, lots of videos (did you wonder why Google bought YouTube when they already had a video service anyway) and audio and general interconnectiveness (well there’s a new word for the world). It has grown off the back of broadband rollout that has provided the bandwidth.

A good definition of social networking is “it refers to a broad class of web sites and services that allow you to connect with friends, family, and colleagues online, as well as meet people with similar interests or hobbies Many, such as the popular Facebook and MySpace, let you create a profile where you can post photos, information about yourself like location, hobbies, and relationship status, and send and receive correspondence with online contacts.” – thanks to tucows for this definition.

Between Web 2.0 and social networking, there is a fundamental change in the way people are using the internet. So any internet marketing strategy has to be cognisant of these sweeping changes.

Next post – the true value of keywords.

Your business buddies

Marshall and Gary