National Geographical Travel website has an article about web 2.0. I need help understanding what's the big deal here?

They say, "TripAdvisor, one of the first Web 2.0 travel sites..." How is this different from web 1.0 (if there is such a thing)?

Charity

According to Wikipedia
"Web 2.0 is a trend in World Wide Web technology, and web design, a second generation of web-based communities and hosted services such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies, which aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing among users. The term became notable after the first O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004. Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to any technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use webs."

I had to look it up because I had no idea what it meant either!

Bill

I have to admit that I have struggled to fully understand what exactly is Web 2.0 and I have been following it for a while. I feel the most important aspect of Web 2.0 is social networking of a site and the ability to gather together the content from members.

I feel Slow Travel has many of the elements of the Web 2.0. We gather up reviews, notes, and photos from our users. Our main focus is traveling slowly with an emphasis on vacation rental. We encourage our users to post feedback on their experiences via reviews, notes, photos and comments on the forums. We also have blogs were users can become even more personal on their travel plans or everyday activities.

Where Slow Travel breaks down with regards to Web 2.0 is we don't have a program that gathers these different parts together and the ability to personalize it. For example in Trip Advisor, you can logon as a member and I think you can see your reviews, keep notes on your trips, etc. A Web 2.0 site will try to tie all this together along with your personalizations. I also think part of Web 2.0 is the ability personalize the site and store your plans, notes, etc on the web. It would be great if we had one login that allowed you to manage your trip reports, your photos and also log you on the message board. The idea of using the web to share with a community is very Web 2.0.

There are features of the message board that are somewhat Web 2.0, the ability to save off your favorite threads, to have buddies and private message. This is very web 2.0. But since we have different systems for our different parts we are not totally Web 2.0

But our strong community and strong sharing of information makes Slow Travel a Web 2.0 site.

Funny, re Trip Advisor, because I now sense it as less "reliable" than it was before (not that it was ever really reliable). My feeling is "who are these people who are recommending accommodations"? Have they actually stayed there? There is no community of travelers giving input; just scads of anonymous posters.

The site seems to have totally given up on reviews from guidebooks which have at leasts some relation to objectivity.

IMHO, this is ---- like reality TV --- simply a cheaper way of getting "content".

The Wikipedia description is pretty misleading. It is actually quite difficult to define what Web 2.0 is, to be honest. The reason for this is that nobody fully agrees what it is.

In a nutshell, the web has been changing over to a much more integrated place, with RSS feeds, Blogs, Social Networking sites interlinked, etc. It has changed from what was once little more than an online catalog medium, to an actual platform for true interactivity and highly dynamic sites. That change is, in a way, being called 'Web 2.0', but it is really nothing more than a buzzword.

For example, one could argue that the forum I am posting in right now is a Web 2.0 element, but web forums have been around since the mid 90's, so how can that be 2.0? In fact, aside from the forums, Slowtrav is a very flat website.

Other things that contribute to calling a site Web 2.0 are: RSS Feeds, Social Networking, Heavy use of AJAX, etc.

I know this is a vague answer, but like so many things in the e.world, it is very vague as a concept.