Web 2.0 Seduces the Enterprise
By Jeff Merron
Talk about disruptive technologies. Despite being widely available for only a few years, Web 2.0 tools, such as WYSIWYG blogging platforms, wikis, social networks, RSS and social bookmarking sites have had a tremendous impact on the way millions of people think about and use the Internet. The term "Web 2.0" itself didn't enter the popular lexicon until 2004; two years later, Harvard Business School professor Andrew McAfee coined the term "Enterprise 2.0," introducing the concept in a Spring 2006 MIT Sloan Management Review article entitled "Enterprise 2.0: The Dawn of Emergent Collaboration."
In each case, the terms and their meanings inspired immediate controversy. Web pioneer Tim Berners-Lee has dismissed "Web 2.0" as "a piece of jargon," arguing that the term could just as well describe the original Web functions, which enabled easy connections between people and information. Some argued strongly against an "Enterprise 2.0" entry in Wikipedia, saying that it was too much of a buzzword; the entry survived that debate, but has since been redubbed "Enterprise social software." This entry itself may soon merge with an entry on "social computing."
While these disputes appear, at first glance, to center largely on semantics, they're emblematic of the seismic shift brought about by Web 2.0. Even the most technically disinclined users have to admit that the content creation and sharing tools clustered under the Web 2.0 rubric enhance and facilitate the Internet experience.
Who Wants To Collaborate?
McAfee refers to Web 2.0 applications generally as "emergent social software platforms." This is a crucial, unusual, and perhaps defining phrase," says McAfee, especially in the enterprise context. "I emphasize the word 'emergent' because the new platforms are not trying to dictate to users how (article continues)
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