What's the Deal with Web 2.0?

I finally located the blog I created during my first attempt at taking MLIS 7505. I wanted to re-post my only post from there because it is still the best description of what I felt then about web 2.0 and to some degree still feel. So here it is from May 16, 2010: Web 2.o seems like an umbrella term used to cover a number of subjects relating to the web. I began learning about it last semester in Information Architecture and became fascinated with the subject. I casually use many of the web applications web 2.0 discusses but did not think of them in the larger context of how and why they are so different now than applications in the early 2000s or even the 1990s and how they have shifted power dynamics on the web. Web 2.0 is a way of explaining the way people are now interacting with each other and content on the web. Ten years ago this interaction would have been browsing content on relatively static pages where the only interaction between the creator and the user might be a feedback form or a contact email address. The flow of information/content was mostly one way. In the past few years interaction has leap beyond that. The users of applications and websites can interact and help shape the content they are seeking. Look at a site like youtube where content is almost entirely supplied by users and includes real time feedback that drives popularity. Sites like Padora, Last.fm, and especially Amazon anticipate the interests of their users in order to provide recommendations. The flow of information and content can now be bi-directional.