Talking about the Web 2.0 era I find a massive challenge because it's boundless. You could spend days unpacking O’Reilly’s meme maps and digging into what made the survivors of the dotbomb crash the success stories of Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and Google. But a simple way of looking at this is as the tale of two Tims…

When Tim Berners-Lee stumbled into the creation of the web, he was searching for a better way to store, access and manipulate knowledge. From the start the aim was a read-write medium, but in the 90s there was a tangible gap between what the academics saw as the channel’s potential and the toolkits most folks had at their fingertips. Let’s face it Usenet wasn’t for everyone, and transferring files through FTP may have let you ‘write’ web pages, but Blogger only succeeded in letting ‘most’ people write web pages.

Then in 2004 Tim O’Reilly’s debate helped crystallize 30 odd concepts around that theme and led to the coining of the phrase that spread like wildfire through the blogs and wikis ever since. When we talk about the spread of ideas and language, it doesn’t happen much faster than this: just take a look at how Google tracks the growth of the term Web 2.0

Seeing how you apply it is a more challenging task. First up, Tim 2 admits that it’s so all embracing, that it’s more a ‘gravitational core’, than a single idea. So let’s focus on just a couple of those ideas and see what you can do with them:

Starting with some user-generated content
I’ve always despised this term, because apart from the illegal drug industry, I’m hard pressed to find another sector that labels its clients ‘users’, but content, certainly, is being generated. And lots of it. From YouTube to MySpace, self-expression has been unleashed.

The thing is that the content might be created in a very private space to be shared with only an intimate group, in a more public space as a profile or asset, or simply in the form of a conversation that gets tracked and recorded in the chat spaces and forums that have mushroomed. The point is simply that if the community you’re working with are interested in committing time to share their content and conversations with you, then that in itself has intrinsic value. One page view leads to a comment, which leads to a post, which leads to another page view.

Building the mash-ups
Next up, let’s think about the development of content and how it can be boosted by being combined with other types of content. Ten years ago the web was a text medium just getting photos. Content lived inside walled gardens and websites rarely shared much between each other. The explosive growth of mashups may have begun with the likes of GoogleMaps, but that’s just the start. Most companies have some sort of geographic data, and most companies don’t have the copyright to mapping software. Teaming up with someone who has adds value to both firms and to the data, and if your firm hasn’t already tried it, then you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to plug into. This 2+2=5 effect is one of the undiscovered tools for most web publishers.

Taking part in the conversation
A tricky one for many marketers, but the blunt reality is that marketing is moving rapidly away from the interruptive model to grab attention, and into a new era of engagement that solicits attention. It’s a massive cultural change for classically trained marketers, and a humbling experience to shift in your mindset to simply taking part in a brand conversation rather than controlling it. But that’s where marketing is: the world is full of savvy consumers, media literate, sceptical about marketing, and taking back control of their attention. The motto? Cooperate, don’t control.

Leveraging the long tail
Easier to suggest than deliver, the success of some of the giants of the O’Reilly world has been in the model of providing a little service to a large audience. What Blogger did for home pages, Flickr did for photos, YouTube did for video, and in a small way, I tried to do for NBC’s internet businesses. Provide platforms and applications for free, get the product right, and the audience potential is vast.

For media businesses the value is in the traffic alone, but the affiliate networks and Google Adsense have proved that direct commercial models can be unlocked in the long tail as well.

Harnessing collective intelligence: what do you do?
This is the big one and Wikipedia is just the start of proving that the many are smarter than the few. Save for the debate about the tyranny-of-the-majority, I’m a big fan of wikis, smart ways for communities to share and build knowledge. But whenever people come together in your digital spaces, they’re creating data trails and those trails have value that can be unlocked. Whether that’s through simply tagging assets in the web page that are ‘most viewed’, ‘most blogged’ or ‘most recent’, there’s value in watching where people go and in reporting that back to the rest of the market. Amazon just tool it that awesome step further to show how ‘people who liked this, also liked this’, and unlocked one of the most powerful models of collaborative filtering, and one that’s now scheduling the radio streams in Last.FM, Pandora and the photos of Flickr.

Asking the question: what should I do on Second Life?
My take: should you even be there? It’s not that I don’t admire Second Life, but many firms who have not even sorted out their own websites, search or email campaigns get distracted by the latest new digital tools and miss the important stuff.

Last month in a North American airport, a face from Second Life stared out at me at the cover. The Lifers have gone mainstream, but it's still a taxing one for me to endorse with the same passion that I have for Collective Intelligence, or the principle of online social networks.

Will virtual reality be huge? Sure. Will there only be one space? Nope. Will we all be earning Lindon dollars in ten years time - I can't see it. Beneath the hype, Second Life has managed to show that VR is possible on a grand scale, but there's a sense that some of these technologies are looking for a business solution. It's like the 1960s and motor cars in the UK: an era when people like my parents use to 'go for a drive'. You used the technology for its novelty, not for its functionality.

Back in the 80s William Gibson gave us Neuromancer, a cracking sci-fi adventure, set in what he coined as being 'cyberspace'. Now that these environments are going mainstream you can be sure that the first few will hit the headlines, but it will be those with the real social and business benefits that act as the long term winners. I guess this makes me a brand-agnostic in the battle of the virtual realities, but certain that the jury is still out. Gibson never had the same speedy uptake that Second Life did, but just check out the growth of searches since 2004

Getting set for business to business community marketing
It's true, there are loads more sexy examples right now in the consumer marketing space tan in the world of business to business. Maybe it's because more money went in earlier, but just because they don't get the coverage in mainstream media doesn't mean they're not out there. But Gamespot, Nature, Doctors.net are all providing some nice examples of business to business communities, and there's a lot more on the way. If you can't find them (yet) in your sector, then think of it more as an opportunity to leap into ahead of the pack; but do review the consumer examples to see what you could apply in your space.

Thinking about how you staff online communities
It's one of the areas so often overlooked, and often the reason online brands fail. Staffing and resources need major attention from the start. Communities sometimes just ignite themselves, but more often than not they'll need some real hard work from you and your team.

First up: don't fall into the trap of thinking it's about the technology – getting the technology built or buying it in is the simple bit, it's more like the start of a project than the finish. Where the heavy lifting comes is in getting the strategy for an online community right, and then in encouraging involvement, keeping discussions on topic, and dealing with the stuff that goes astray. Never lose sight of the fact social networks are about individual people: unpredictable, creative, messy and fantastic – all rolled into one. They might do what you expect, or they might do something so completely different you don't even have the possibility on your radar.

If that sounds a little intangible, then try thinking of a community a bit like a successful dinner party: people know why they're coming, the host gets the conversation going and then steps back, providing some good food, dealing with any unruly guests and generally making sure that everything goes well. After a few dinner parties with the same people they'll not need much help because a bunch of social conventions will kick in and they'll start to look after themselves much of the time. The challenge for you as the community's architect is to make sure you have the resource you need to do this properly. It's toughest at the start because you really have to work hard to get that momentum; finding the guests for dinner, persuading them you're a great chef, finding times for them to come over… I'm sure you get the idea. While there are a few companies emerging in this space, my hunch is that you'll want to take quite tight managerial control of the first steps your community takes. It's classic product development work and by listening closely to your audience you'll gain some fantastic insights into the business.

Can brands just post and edit in blogs, wikis and online communities just like consumers?
Yes, and no; but tread real carefully. In theory a brand can take part just like an individual. But from an ethical and pragmatic stance, you’ll want to think twice…

The editing structures in online communities vary between communities and over time. Wikis can be edited by anyone their creator allows, and while simple Wikis have little filtering, some will have multiple levels of access for different authors.

Start by looking at the page history to see how edits have worked in the past. Take part in the social space and learn about the culture of the social media space you’re investigating. Look for what sort of editing has been useful and where there has been value created. Most wikis will have some rules, models or suggestions, like those here for Wikipedia.

Editorial or advertising? That’s the big question to ask yourself before diving into a post. Just like taking part in communities or posting on a blog remember a few of our golden rules.

1. Remember this is someone else’s space and you are a visitor; it’s a personal space so treat it with respect
2. If you make comments be courteous and keep on topic
3. When you are writing as a firm, make it clear and be transparent in how you present yourself – there’s a massive debate here about ethics in marketing and although many agencies are establishing themselves as subversive posters, it’s not something we’re going to support
4. Every community and market is different, so walk through the ideas with a few people from different sides of your industry first to sound them out; remember once your material is in the public domain it’s out there – so a gentle dry run is well worth it
5. Check your posts carefully before they go live, in blogs create a voice and personality, in communities have a strategy for why you’re contributing, and in wikis do rigorous fact-checking before anything goes up

As a few heads are normally better than one, try involving a couple of colleagues to act as a sounding board about what is going up and how it’s being presented.

Whatever the plan for Web 2.0 in your firm, these notes are intended to help get the discussion going and introduce a few of the ideas. If you’re a savvy online marketer, then the chances are that they confirm what you know already. If you’re new to the sector, then chances are it might seem a little daunting to tackle in one go. Either way, be sure to experience the tools and the ideas before exploring the strategy for your own firm and encourage your colleagues to join in the discussion: smart thinking up front can have massive benefits further down the track.

…and when you’re up and running, let me know how it goes, here at Danny@DigitalStrategyConsulting.com

The Director’s Dinner: Web 2.0 event was held on 22nd August 2007 and was sponsored by search marketing agency Weboptimiser.