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But there are a majority of users for whom time is of the essence and web is just a tool. They often get ignored in the Web 2.0 rush to make things happen in a mashed-up way. Web designers would have to acknowledge that needs and preference of
a 40-year old are considerably different from a 20-year old user and that web 2.0 start-up, however hot and fashionable it might be, will have to obey by the tenements of basic good web page design and layout. Otherwise, we might be left with an entangled net of glossy web pages that are largely inaccessible and non-friendly.

6. Economics, Anyone?

The entry to barrier in Web 2.0 start-up business are considerably lower, and this results in a large community of developers writing code, putting together a website to a idea and hosting up their web service. The question no one bothers to ask is there a concrete revenue model in place yet? Most of these start-ups are focused on building web traffic, and giving away the service for free in lieu of advertising revenues. The obvious disadvantages of advertising revenues are that they are low-value, unpredictable, volatile and susceptible to frauds. Also, the balance of power stays with the advertisers like Google Adsense or Yahoo. Start-ups do not even know the online identity of their customer, as they have NO customers, just anonymous users who click on that adsense link on the sidebar to help realize the $0.02 for the web service they just used.

Attempts to enforce the subscription model reduces the number of users drastically, as low entry barriers ensure that there are ten other websites offering the same service for free. To add to their woes, many of these mashup-based services borrow content from various sources. Exactly how should the revenue sharing take place among these various participants is a tough cookie to crack? Is the content more valuable than the renderer? Or is it the other way round?

The bottom-line is that a large number of fortune seekers are out there, to quickly build a web 2.0 services, give it away for free, build a large community of users and hope to sell it while the going is still good! Web 2.0 has its share of good and bad features, and every boom and bust makes it a little bit more interesting game to study than ever before!

Concluded.

* Contributed by: -
Narendar Lokwani,
Alumni of IIM Bangalore,
Currently working as Business Development Manager at Aztecsoft, Bangalore.