Web 2.0 Application Genres

Many people think that, it’s only the technology that helps in building Web 2.0 application. But it isn’t true. There are several Web-based services that play an important role in laying the foundations of Web 2.0 architecture (Paul Anderson, 2007, p.7). But, what is a web service? What is their role in building the Web 2.0 architecture? Let us know about it first.
W3C defines a web service as “a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network. It has an interface described in a machine process able format (specifically WSDL). Other systems interact with the Web service in a manner prescribed by its description using SOAP messages, typically conveyed using HTTP with an XML serialization in conjunction with other Web-related standards” (World Wide Web Consortium[W3C],2003). The Web 2.0 concept is implemented using these Web services. Paul Anderson (2007) identified these Web services and enlisted them as follows:

1. Blogs : A Blog is an alias for a web-log. It is a service provided by a website which allows you to create your own web pages. The user can post his opinions on any issue on a blog. The blogs created also depend on kinds of opinion they want to write about. It allows a user to add videos, pictures, or links to other blogs. These posts are arranged in a chronological order. Thus, helping in the letting people all over the world know about your opinions. Posting blogs over the Internet is also called as blogging (no author, Wikipedia ,Blog, Retrieved November 3, 2006).
Each user gets a unique link generated by the blogging website called a Permalink. The blogging website also provides a service, so that the user can customize the web page according to his taste. User can post tags related to a particular posting of a blog. These tags help in searching for a particular blog. Blog also allows other users to add comment on a post ( Paul Anderson,2007,p.7).

Blogging has become a way of communication between most of the Internet users. Many people became famous just for posting their blogs. This blogging culture is followed by common Internet users to politicians, celebrities, Company CEOs. For Instance, if a Company CEO wants to arrange a meeting. Instead of sending an e-mail to each and every employee in the company, he just posts it in his blog. Everyone receives the notification of the blog through RSS feeds.
Some of the famous blogging websites are http://wordpress.org/, http://www.sixapart.com/typepad/ , http://www.blogger.com/ , http://www.wetpaint.com, http://radio.userland.com/ , http://www.bblog.com, (Paul Anderson,2007,p.7).

2. Wikis : A Wiki is a software when used in a web application allows its users to create, edit and manage the webpage. These Wiki websites are generally designed to collect data by collaborating with its users. These websites generally have a common goal to fulfill. Wikipedia, an online Encyclopedia is so far the best Wiki site ever. Its success can be determined by the list of topics it has. This number is 12 times greater than general encyclopedias. A simple example for a Wiki webpage is: if your professor wants to list down the projects in a class. He can just give the link of the webpage to the students and tell all of them to update the list on the Webpage.
Some of the popular Wiki-sites are http://www.twiki.org/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page, http://www.wikihow.com . (Paul Anderson,2007,p.8).

3. Multimedia sharing: The Web 2.0 Websites which offer sharing of the multimedia like pictures (Flickr), videos (YouTube) and podcasts ( Odeo) are becoming intensely popular. Youtube always stands in the top 10 of the most visited Websites list. One thing to notice is that all the content in these Websites is user generated following the Web 2.0 principle. Some of the famous multimedia sharing websites is http://www.audblog.com/ , http://odeo.com/ , http://www.youtube.com , http://www.flickr.com . (Paul Anderson, 2007, p.12).


4. Social networking: Social networking websites are Web 2.0 applications which are built on Web 2.0 Design Pattern, “The Architecture of Participation” (O’Reilly, 2005). These Websites can be for professional as well as personal uses. There is a report that users spend hours on these Websites everyday. The common goal behind these websites is making friendships, joining communities and find people who have the same interests as yours. Some of the famous Social networking Websites are www.myspace.com , www.facebook.com , http://www.zoominfo.com/ , http://www.bebo.com/ , http://www.orkut.com . (Paul Anderson,2007,p.12).



5. Data 'mash-ups': These Applications provide a better user experience by integrating services of other Web 2.0 websites. The content is these Websites is mostly third party which can be done by using Open APIs (as explained earlier) by other websites. RSS feeds and Screen scraping are some of the other techniques to mash up data. This can be told as a standard example for “Data is the Next Intel Inside” ( O’Reilly, 2005). http://technorati.com/ , http://www.digg.com/ , http://www.blogpulse.com etc. are good Websites that suit for this genre.

6. Tracking and filtering content: These Web 2.0 applications are very unique in the way they work. The services of this genre keep track of blogs, multimedia of other websites and they filter the content; bring all important data to a single webpage. The User can also search for various content through these Websites. Some of the common applications in use are http://technorati.com/about/ , http://www.digg.com/ , http://www.blogpulse.com . (Paul Anderson, 2007, p.15).

7. Replicate office-style software in the browser: This kind of Web 2.0 applications are getting popular these days. Now users can create documents online not only by themselves but also collaborating with other users. Each document has its unique link. We can use services like creating as well as managing word processor, presentation, spreadsheet, Web conferencing and many more. They are generally RIAs using Web 2.0 technology. They provide great experience to its users. http://www.zoho.com, http://www.stikkit.com/ http:/docs.google.com/ etc. (Paul Anderson, 2007, p.15).



8. Outsource work directly to the Internet crowd: The whole idea behind these kind of applications is “using the wisdom of the crowd” (O’Reilly, 2005, p. 3). Users target other users of the Web to out source their work or find a solution to their problem. In this way they can find a better solution and also in an easy way. http://www.rentacoder.com , http://www.innocentive.com . are the Web 2.0 applications that are in major use of this genre. (Paul Anderson, 2007, p.15).
Therefore, all of the above are the major genres that I observed where most of the Web 2.0 applications fall in.