Mbites

Web 2.0 just seems to be a fancy name for a virtual world shaped by architecture rather than the elements.

In the beginning there was online and some people realised that it was good. On the second day there was search engines and people realised they needed traffic to make their business work. On the third day there was communities and business realised that people mainly bought on basis of referrals. On the fourth day there was RSS/AJAX/ATOMZ and people realised that shopping was an experience they had preferences about.

my reply which couldn;t get thru to mbites server:
For all the talk of self policing, self-organising web 2.0 enlightened community experience and this 'new world' that we're all destined for.. I can't help feeling it's going to induce a herd mentality that is no more or less free than the 'world' we currently live in - and one that PR and marketing have been able to tap for aeons. The only difference being that this time in our 'new' world we will derive our sense of freedom from being able to do everything remotely without ever having to leave our house or the people we're closest to (whether they be on or offline). At the end of the day marketing works most effectively on the oxy moron taht "you're /such/ an individual, so clearly conscious of your individuality, and your self defining nature" that you can buy this iPod "for yourself" despite the fact that everyone else has a near-identical version (at some other undefined point of obsolescence).

The rabidness for web 2.0 and the promise of every person being an island unto themselves (yet deeply connected at the same time) seems just to reinforce the fact that all our needs are really quite similar, and if that is the case, then marketing and PR are hardly running out of raw material(ism).