Product Description

Web 2.0 may be an elusive concept, but one thing is certain: using the Web as merely a means of retrieving and displaying information is history. Today’s Web is immediate, interactive, innovative. It is user–controlled and community–driven. Organizations, marketers, application developers, and communicators must be ready to respond and to innovate or be left behind, and the experts featured on these pages are leading the charge. Their ideas are fresh, sometimes experimental, necessarily flexible, and always on the leading edge to prepare you for a Web where users rule.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #209558 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 273 pages

From the Inside Flap

Is it technology? Is it philosophy? Or is it simply marketing hype? Web 2.0 is a concept so fluid that even the experts in this book don′t agree on what it means. Some feel that no definition is even necessary. But most agree on one thing: Web 2.0 is a sweeping tide that′s changing the face of the Internet.

Web 2.0 is not about mass marketing. It′s about actually understanding the masses. And it′s not about controlling the message. It′s about engaging the audience and actually hearing what they have to say. It′s about enabling creativity, realizing a culture of contribution, and putting the user in control.

Here is a rich smorgasbord of unique viewpoints — from bloggers, social networking developers, corporate communicators, online strategists, distinguished engineers, and others. These are the people who are shaping today′s Web. What they have to say can help you shape your organization′s future.

The Impact Makers

• Max Mancini eBay

• Alan Meckler Internet.com

• Eric Engleman Bloglines

• Gina Bianchini Ning

• Dorion Carroll Technorati

• Raju Vegesna Zoho

• Richard MacManus Read/Write Web & Web 2.0 WorkGroup

• TJ Kang ThinkFree

• Patrick Crane LinkedIn

• Shaun Walker DotNetNuke

• Biz Stone Twitter

• Seth Steinberg Meebo

• Joshua Schachter Del.icio.us

• Ranjith Kumaran YouSendIt

• Garrett Camp StumbleUpon

• Rodrigo Madanes Skype

• Rod Smith IBM Corporation

• Tim Harris Microsoft Corporation

• Bob Brewin & Tim Bray Sun Microsystems

• Michele Turner Adobe Corporation

From the Back Cover
"Web 2.0 is a course correction for the Internet that is weaving the social fabric back together again ? It′s not just your own perceptions and observations anymore; it′s back to the old way."
— Patrick Crane, LinkedIn

"Web 2.0 is about giving a lot of control back to the user."
— Michele Turner, Adobe

"Anyone with reasonable smarts can have a good idea for a Web property on Monday and have something on the air two weeks from Thursday."
— Tim Bray, Sun Microsystems

"If you don′t do it [Web 2.0],then you′ll lose market share and you′ll wish you had."
— Seth Sternberg, Meebo

the one–way Web is dead
Web 2.0 is an elusive concept, but one thing is certain — the Web as merely a means of retrieving and displaying information is history. Today′s Web is immediate, interactive, innovative. It is user–controlled and community–driven. Organizations, marketers, application developers, and communicators must be ready to respond and to innovate — or be left behind.

These experts are leading the charge. Their ideas are fresh, sometimes experimental, necessarily flexible, and always on the leading edge. They′ll prepare you for a Web where users rule.

About the Author
Bradley L. Jones manages various high–profile sites for Jupitermedia (internet.com) that focus on making technical information easy to understand and easy to learn. He oversees a dozen sites including Developer.com, DevX, Gamelan.com, VBForums, jGuru, and Java Boutique. In addition, he writes a weekly e–newsletter and numerous articles devoted to helping readers understand complex topics. He is an internationally bestselling author with a number of books to his credit, and has been recognized as an influencer in the technical community.

Customer Reviews

Interesting but poorly written
From the perspective of someone who knows little of the jargon used by web developers, this was an interesting read, if a little frustrating. Whilst many of the interviewees seemed to contribute little of real worth, the book did draw my attention to a whole range of concepts and approaches that I was previously unaware of (wikipedia filled in the gaps!). I do think that Jones could have put a little more effort in. It's basically just a series of interview scripts, some pretty sketchy summaries and a surprising number of misprints and grammatical errors.

A good book for interview perspectives.
The inside jacket of the book states:

"Web 2.0 is not about mass marketing. It's about actually understanding the masses. And it's not about controlling the message. It's about engaging the audience and actually hearing what they have to say. It's about enabling creativity, realizing a culture of contribution, and putting the user in control".

Web 2.0 Heroes by Bradley Jones presents a series of edited interviews from a number of leading figures from within the Web 2.0 sphere (See below). In most cases the interviewee is a person closely related to the company's web strategy. The book builds on the Web 2.0 theme and asks. "What's is coming next?". A few of the interviewees discuss their thoughts on the Semantic Web and reflect on developing areas such as Software plus Services (S+S).

Overall, the book presents a good perspective and is just over 250 pages. I did enjoy the large number of quotes which are highlighted throughout the book. However, I would have liked to have seen some insights from the author, adding to the commentary of the interviewees. Bradley's voice is somewhat missing! Nevertheless, an interesting read for anyone with an interest in the Web 2.0 sphere.

The Web 2.0 heroes include:

· Max Mancini - eBay
· Alan Meckler - Internet.com
· Eric Engleman - Bloglines
· Gina Bianchini - Ning
· Dorion Carroll - Technorati
· Raju Vegesna - Zoho
· Richard MacManus - Read/Write Web & Web 2.0 WorkGroup
· TJ Kang - ThinkFree
· Patrick Crane - LinkedIn
· Shaun Walker - DotNetNuke
· Biz Stone - Twitter
· Seth Steinberg - Meebo
· Joshua Schachter - Del.icio.us
· Ranjith Kumaran - YouSendIt
· Garrett Camp - StumbleUpon
· Rodrigo Madanes - Skype
· Rod Smith - IBM Corporation
· Tim Harris - Microsoft Corporation
· Bob Brewin & Tim Bray - Sun Microsystems
· Michele Turner - Adobe Corporation