A quick comment on web 2.0 and Jacob Nielsen

I read this interview at BBC NEWS last week, and it stuck with me. In it, Jacob Nielsen critisises web firms for forgetting the basics while sucumbing to the hype that is web 2.0.

At first, I chuckled at the article and thought nothing more of it. Then, especially two points just seemed to stand out in a manner that forced me to deal with them:

Firstly it annoyed me to hear Mr. Nielsen dismiss web 2.0 ‘the latest fashion’ – come on, man. it’s a change in paradigmes, and you know it. It’s a massive phenomenon that has changed the way we communicate and even old school web folks began acknowledging that fact ages ago.

The only thing that is likely to fade out, is the fact that we distinguish between the old websites and the new. I agree that the ’2.0′ term is annoying (please pay no attention to my tag line , and it’s a matter of time before we won’t be using it anymore – it’ll be obsolete.

The characteristics of what we call ‘web 2.0′ will be fully integrated in many or most solutions. Thus, differentiating will be unnecessary.

Secondly, mr. Nielsen referred to this old statistic:

Research suggests that users of a site split into three groups. One that regularly contributes (about 1%); a second that occasionally contributes (about 9%); and a majority who almost never contribute (90%).

By definition, said Mr Nielsen, only a small number of users are likely to make significant use of all the tools a site provides.

While this may be true, what isn’t mentioned is the fact that the 1% that contributes regularly and the 9% that contribute occasionally make it worth while for the remaining 90% to visit, and re-visit, a given site. Therefore, I’m inclined to argue that it is exactly these 10% of users that need to be catered to. They provide the reason for the rest of the users to even stop by. They provide the content – content is king, remember?

Why does this article get me all reved up, you may ask. Well, it seems to me that we’re reaching a point where the trend is to bash web 2.0 and dismiss it as hype.

‘Web 2.0 is hype’ seems to be the hype for 2007, and while I encourage a critical approach to things, let’s not get carried away and bash something just because it has become successful. After all – there’s 71 million blogs out there. Some of them have to be good.