WEB INFINITY

I am going to punch the next person who dares to use the term "Web 2.0" in my presence.

This summer I think I've heard that term more times than I can count. And you know what? It didn't mean anything the first time, and every time an editor mentioned it after that the meaning got more and more garbled. Eight weeks of spin about an idea so silly I couldn't believe it got greenlit in the first place. I couldn't discuss it for a long time, and it killed me to have to keep my mouth shut about such a potentially colossal mistake.

Thankfully, the cat is finally out of the goddamn bag.

BusinessWeek has decided to throw its hat into the "Web 2.0" scene. To them, this means creating what basically amounts to an aggregator with a LinkedIn tie-in. They spent millions of dollars on this, dollars that would be so much better spent on expanding their online team and better meshing the print and online divisions. Instead, they're going to have writers, editors, and regular ol' businessmen waste their time coming up with these topics, moderating them, updating them daily.

Why?! Why would anyone want to spend that amount of time doing something when, arguably, they could look over their RSS feed and then go about doing the million other things a CEO does. Who gives a shit what everyone else is reading? If you really care, you can go see the "most read" on the site (except for BW's, because for some reason we make the "Most read" box a fucking Easter egg on a DVD) or go to Digg. (Side note: I have never used Digg. Is it really that useful? Do that many people use it? This is coming from a "young person," mind you.) Why would you want your competitor to know what you're reading? You'll disable that capability, and so will your competitor, so we're back to square one, which is...an RSS feed. With a LinkedIn tie-in.

Guys. This is not "Web 2.0." There is no such thing as "Web 2.0." Technology evolves, and the way people use it also changes. There's no need to make up a pointless word for a process that's been going on since the dawn of fucking time. Facebook and MySpace were lightning in a bottle. You cannot duplicate them. I don't know if they'll ever go away, but whatever this bullshit hybrid thing you're trying to sell is, it's not new.

Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe every goddamn CEO and his mother wants to use this thing, and Terry McGraw will sit in his office on the 49th floor laughing and throwing piles of money in the air because the ad revenue will be coming in by the truckload.

I could also be right, too.