Social Internet or Web 2.0?

Alex Burmaster, European internet analyst at Nielsen//NetRatings, examines Web 2.0 and its associated buzzwords, and the value of user-generated content in today’s social internet…

In preparing for a recent seminar on Web 2.0 I noticed how interchangeably the phrases “Web 2.0”, “social networking” and “user generated content” were being used by the different participants. They seemed to alternate randomly during both discussions and what appeared in the literature. A concise definition of this phenomenon seemed in order to understand how to tackle the marketplace it was actually referring to.

However, as I sifted through the data, reviewing the endless commentary over the past year, I was struck by how omnipresent it now was. Was it so big as to be pointless in trying to describe – much like the term “the universe”, for example? More people now visit Web 2.0 sites than don’t. The top thirty or so Web 2.0 sites, for example, reach 53% of the UK online population. One in three online adults have actually contributed to this ecosystem – posting opinion pieces online, whether in the form of user reviews, diary commentaries or blogs.

The Web 2.0 zeitgeists – YouTube, Wikipedia and MySpace – each attract around a fifth of Britons online. Their fame transcends the online world. Not really the attributes of a ‘niche’ existence. Even the tenth most popular Web 2.0 brand in the UK, Facebook, has over a million visitors.

So this led me back to the question of why has Web 2.0 exploded onto the scene this way? Two quotes from thousands on the subject answered this well. In Wired Magazine, Chad Hurley, co-founder of YouTube, explained the allure of his creation through “everyone in the back of his mind wants to be a star.” Rishad Tobaccowala, CEO of Denou had an interesting take on Rene Descartes’ existential gem to point out, “I post, therefore, I am.”

Web 2.0’s prominence is attributable to the fact it facilitates the inherent desire within people to tell their own story – to put themselves in front of the world and be somebody. In this way, Web 2.0 is the reality TV of the Internet. After all, aren’t the motivations for posting a video online, creating a MySpace profile or appearing on Big Brother inherently the same (aside from the prize money offered by the latter)?

Brands and advertisers are, of course, trying to turn this phenomenon into something tangible for their own ends. However, can they really debunk the “100 million users can’t be wrong, they can, however, be useless” conundrum? Is it actually possible to make money out of Web 2.0? The respective founders of companies like MySpace, YouTube and Flickr would probably shout ‘yes!’ but what about everyone else? Is it a question of making money out of this “Social Internet” or more a question of harnessing it into an effective method for engaging the consumer?

The former task is certainly trickier. If one of the themes of Web 2.0 is “the user in charge” isn’t it impossible to enter a sector that your potential customers are in charge of and expect to generate revenue without their permission? Although a simplistic way of putting it, this does highlight the tinderbox situation of big business inviting itself to a private party.

Whilst Web 2.0 provides brands a more realistic opportunity in terms of engaging the consumer, this is still an avenue fraught with peril. To understand the delicacies of Web 2.0 and, potentially, how to tackle it simply follow these two steps. 1/ Type “Chevy Tahoe” into the search box on YouTube and watch the videos that come up. 2/ Type “Bazooka Bubblegum” into the search box on YouTube and watch the videos that come up. Both are American brands with strong individual identities yet the way they tackled, or harnessed, user-generated content had wildly contrasting results.

Step 1/ results in a slew of anti-Chevrolet Tahoe ads created from its own microsite that offered users the opportunity to design their own ads for their hugely successful SUV. The offerings that ended up on YouTube associate the brand with everything from global warming, sexual inadequacy to social injustice. In contrast, after following Step 2/, one is greeted with hundreds of amusing home-grown versions of the Bazooka Bubblegum song – brilliantly reinforcing as well as promoting the brand and its association with fun. As this article is all about user-generated content it’s appropriate for me to sign-off by leaving you to answer the final question of ‘which one was most effective’?