Why Web 2.0 ?

I had talked of What is Web 2.0 some days back. Since then, I have been doing lot of reading and had discussions with my colleagues also on the same. Finally, I think I understand the need for Web 2.0 and all the collaboration techniques Web 2.0 brings together.

I believe is the Web 2.0 is nothing but a manifestation of the human behavior. Web 1.0 was more of a one way traffic. The content is published but you have no clue who is reading it and in what way the data is being used. It is like humans watching television, you can see and hear everything but have no means to participate. But we human beings have opinions, likes and dislikes, want to share things with each other, we are interested in knowing what are neighbors are doing, who is going out with whom and so on ??. In the real environment, we have our informal channels, gossip aunties and what not? Remember, lot of people read tabloids to see what celebrities are doing or not doing ?

Now, if we need to create a similar eco-system in the wired world, the Web 2.0 technologies ( Social Networking, Mashups, Folksonomy, Wikis etc) start making sense.

The irony is, Web 2.0 helps in creating the environment, which we are missing by being sitting in front on the computer.