Web2.0 and What it Means for Business

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Web 2.0 and what it means for business

Rich MillerResearch ScientistLexisNexis New Technology ResearchRE Web 2.0+ Working Group

September 27, 2007

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Background and Focus Background

Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology (1988) with intention to go into software industry

Human Factors and UI design AT&T Communications (1985-1991) LexisNexis (1991-1999) Structural Dynamics (1999-2000)

Research Scientist LexisNexis (2000-)

Recent Focus User experience, HCI, advanced UIs Web 2.0 and computing trends Visualization Rich Media

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Relative value of dinner vs. talk

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If I give a $4 talk, will you be more satisfied with the Chef’s choice?

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What is web2.0, anyway??

A collection of new technologies and approaches Network as platform Continually-updated software and services

A change in behavior more than technology The “read/write” web The “you” era

The web 2.0 video describes it well Supermarket 2.0 not quite as good

It’s just the web – the newer parts

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The web 2.0 tag cloud

From wikipedia

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Web 2.0 visualized

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Web 2.0 is the web evolved

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Web 2.0 site/application types Knowledge sources – wikipedia, GoogleMaps, del.ico.us, technorati

Tools and Office suites - google, thinkfree, zoho, zimbra, writely Collaboration - socialtext, basecamp, Lotus Connections

Dashboards/homes/portals - netvibes, google, ms live/spaces Places to put your stuff (PKB) – box.net, gmail, basecamp, flickr, S3 Integrators and Organizers – get your stuff together and connect it to

other people’s stuff – del.ico.us, blummy, pocketmod, rememberthemilk, lastfm, lala,

Clubs and networks – myspace, facebook, linkedIn, lastfm Blogs and self-expression platforms - technorati, youtube, jumpcut,

digg, or any site that promises 15 minutes of fame

TV-replacements and other less-useful offerings blogs that interest only the author advertisements disguised as something else anything that my kids are using for superflous communicaton with

their friends – (meebo, myspace, xanga)

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Web 2.0 behaviors

Consume Asking questions Looking it up Monitoring, counting and organizing

Create Expressing oneself - as yourself or your cyberself Creating and remixing Self-improving

Connect Sharing Discussing Pontificating

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The web2.0 triangle

create consume

connect/share

As applications mature, they move toward the middle, e.g. GoogleMaps adding mymaps

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Web Trends 2007

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Who is participating in web 2.0? By now, every user by now has participated in some form

Web 2.0 approaches are permeating the web Huge growth of participatory web sites

668% increase in last 2 years Now account for 12% of the web!

Not just for youngsters Wikipedia:18-34 tend to consume what 35-55+ produce Youtube: 18-24 less likely to upload than are older users

Participation is viral (like viral marketing) Example: RE Revolve blog site

Usage patterns continue to emerge e.g. top 3 Youtube users (source: Hitwise/Claritas)

Young Digerati Money and Brains Bohemian Mix

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How web 2.0 is changing the user experience

Networked applications provide more context and continuity – apps depend on one another

AJAX-enabled interactions Staying in place Preservation of task flow

Rich internet applications (RIAs) are emerging, displacing the page metaphor Powerful, smoother, visually-stable applications Animation provides more engaging experience

Line between desktop and online blurring For the “occasionally connected” Users want more applications online

Metadata-driven navigation Tagging and faceted browse (e.g. TotalSearch)

Applications are now increasingly visual

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Brave New World of online communities

The “participatory web” is now 12% of the web itself

Where’s LinkedIn?

Is there such a thing as “web2.0 participatory hangover?”

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The web 2.0 social conundrum #1

The pressure to make friends My last.fm social network:

Nathan A. W. from Canada

Elin

from Sweden

me

< friends nearestneighbors >

My daughter

buddy from cinci

Dayton campus buddy

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The web 2.0 social conundrum #2 Wondering if they will pay attention and like it Reactions to my youtube video:

friend

stranger

daughter

friend

7 people rated it

3 actually linked to it!

approaching 1000 viewsNow 8 ratings, 1100+ views, 5 links, and 16 favorites

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new sites appear every day, e.g….

Q: What does this have to do with anything?

A: It demonstrates the “lowering barrier of entry”

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The lowering barrier of entry

The barrier of entry for competing on the web is approaching zero

Anyone wanting to start a web-based business can do so with very little startup costs

Hosting services are getting ridiculously cheap and it’s not just space you are getting for your money tons of tools come along with the space

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Now how much would you pay?

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Ridiculously cheap hosting services

It can get as cheap as $4 !

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What does it mean for business? Web 2.0 is raising the bar of user expectations

Users bring life experiences into the workplace Better applications are being created at an

increasingly faster rate To compete, traditional businesses must selectively

embrace the more nimble approaches Prepare to face difficult tradeoffs

Strategy must include… How to leverage the participatory nature of the web

behind the firewall How to leverage the “free web” without

compromising quality, security, and profit making Overall, fostering a web 2.0 mentality

e.g, Can’t beat em, join em

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Using analytics to guide decision-making

Required reading for New Technology Research staff

Formula for success = leverage the web + be more nimble + use analytics-driven decision-making process?

See also: pre-book article

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RE Web 2.0 projects and products

LexisNexis Patents and sentiment analysis applications offering “rich

user interfaces” and charting/visualization Several projects in the works around social computing

Elsevier Engineering Village – for patents researchers Scopus

2collab – beta offering collaboration tools for researcher del.icio.us-like interface includes bookmarks, tags, user-groups,

and comments. Plans for rich internet applications

Reed Business Information Hotfrog – self-publishing business directory

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What does it mean for UX?

The best UIs are coming out of web 2.0 e.g. Google Maps, flickr, del.ico.us, etc.

Designers should live the web2.0 life Go ahead, it’s fun!

The designer’s toolbox is being greatly expanded to include many more options e.g. AJAX enables a whole set of new

interactions Tools are becoming easier to use

Designers can get closer to implementation

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6 themes of designer role change See article: Web 2.0 for Designers

Writing semantic markup transition to XML)

Providing Web services moving away from place)

Remixing content about when and what, not who or why)

Emergent navigation and relevance users are in control)

Adding metadata over time communities building social information)

Shift to programming separation of structure and style)

#7 candidate? – design for placelessness or ubiquitous computing

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Task-oriented UIs (3) The interface

changes slightly to let you focus on likely tasks

From tutorial by trulia

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Task-oriented UIs (4)

The interface guides you along a list of tasks


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Task-focused UI example: lala

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Task-focused UIs at work (4)

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34From tutorial by trulia

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37From tutorial by trulia

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Remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Companies that best satisfy human needs will win but don’t skip the more basic needs – e.g. security

See Rolf Skyberg (ebay) presentation

Blogs, LinkedIn, Youtube

MySpace, wikis

4-hour work week

Privacy, Vidoop

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The 7 original web 2.0 “memes”

Rich User Experiences Harnessing Collective Intelligence The Web as Platform End of the Software Release Cycle Lightweight Software and Business Models Software Above the Level of a Single Device Data as the next “Intel Inside”

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Rich user experiences #1

Definition and importance More engaging, interactive applications through

leveraging improved capabilities of the web A more “desktop-like” experience – drag/drop, highly

interactive, smooth morphing of display Rich components can be embedded in HTML pages

Related concepts, technologies and issues Transcending the page metaphor

Visually disruptive Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) AJAX and eliminating page-refresh delays

Stability of “place” and preservation of “flow” Adobe Flash/Flex/Apollo and MS Silverlight (WPF/E) Widgets and components – widgetbox.com Charting, visualization, and animation

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Examples Google – Gmail/Office, Google Finance EditGrid, Thinkfree, ZOHO, office apps Backbase, Wrike PIMs Sales bubble chart (visual i/o) Flex Store (Adobe) LN TotalPatent Amazon book browser

What it means People like them Broader canvas/toolset for design Break out of page metaphor, but seek optimal

combinations of HTML + RIAs Option for more types of richer interactions Stability of “place” and preservation of “flow” Keep issues in mind:

link structure, usage analytics, lack of GUI standards

Rich user experiences #2

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Rich Internet Applications (2) Apparent performance gains

Smaller chunks of the page load faster than the whole page

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Rich Internet Applications (3)

Instant feedback: minimized reloads

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Harnessing collective intelligence #1 Definition and importance

The most important, defining meme of web 2.0 Empowering user community to contribute its intelligence

…using links, user-provided content, and comments on content

Leads to software that “makes itself smarter the more people use it”

Generating information from “the wisdom of the masses” Majority of people sharing common experience tend to be

better than experts Related concepts, technologies and issues

collaboration user-generated content “network effects” “database of intentions” and “architecture of participation” the long tail blogs and wikis tags and folksonomies

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Examples Wikipedia de.lici.ous and Flickr MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn Amazon tags / Yahoo myweb Elsevier Engineering Village & RBI Hotfrog

What it means Consider how user contributions might enhance new or

existing applications Anticipate a new set of interactions

Tagging, uploading, commenting, navigating via user-generated data

Look for opportunities to Harness intelligence behind the firewall Use “free web” intelligence to enhance “subscription

web” applications

Harnessing collective intelligence #2

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Architecture of Participation

Slide: Dion Hinchcliffe

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Web as platform #1

Definition and importance Building apps on top of web resources The place where our software and data is

moving to Products and services of all types are

increasingly connected to the web Related concepts, technologies, issues

Web services – e.g. amazon S3 Mashups, remixability Open APIs

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Web as platform #2

Examples Yahoo Pipes blog FlashEarth mashup Youtube video embedding Amazon S3

What it means Think bigger New aspect of design is how to leverage and

integrate networked resources How do opportunities change when your product

requires authentication for access? Learn about and play with APIs and web services

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End of the Software Release Cycle #1

Definition and importance A departure from traditional, discrete release cycles

in favor of gradual rollout and improvement of applications

The “perpetual beta” has been enabled by the web and SaaS (software as a service)

Related concepts, technologies, issues Software as a Service Constant, 2-way connection to users Users as co-developers Users willing to accept accompanying imperfections Uptime and scaling very important

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End of the Software Release Cycle #2

Examples Google the master Flickr has new builds every 30 minutes

What it means Less reliance on pre-release usability testing and

more reliance on collecting and analyzing usage analytics

User expectation is one of gradual improvement, not “big bang” releases with list of “what’s new” features

More frequent, intimate interaction with users …likely in cyberspace

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Lightweight Software and Business Models #1

Definition and importance Simplicity and nimbleness over completeness The result of 15 years of web experience Simplicity of technology and standards leads to ease

in understanding and compliance Related concepts, technologies, issues

Arms race – newer companies have advantage with newer tools and standards

10-20X productivity increases achieved Open-platform business models > “self-distributing

ecosystems” + “building on the shoulders of giants” Spreading product beyond the boundaries of its site

Through APIs, widgets, badges, syndication

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Lightweight Software and Business Models #2

Examples RSS PHP and Ruby on Rails Declarative programming

what something is like, rather than how to create it, e.g. HTML, Adobe Flex MXML

Blogs and wikis Microformats

What it means Easier tools means better teamwork between

designers and developers Designers can get more technical

Quicker and more frequent design iteration Trading off feature depth for development speed?

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Software above level of single device #1

Definition and importance Supports ubiquitous computing from anywhere using

any device Related concepts, technologies, issues

Server-side office suites Vertical vs. horizontal models

Vertical – vendor-controlled ecosystem Horizontal – open, cooperating ecosystem

under no central control (e.g. blogosphere) Mobile 2.0

Mobile devices getting smarter and more sophisticated, accounting for more net traffic

New opportunities to serve, attract customers

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Software above level of single device #2

Examples Google office iTunes – not just for the ipod Sony Connect Zune Marketplace Adobe Flash The Blogosphere

What it means Design above a single device Think server-side tools Anticipate various remote usage scenarios Users will increasingly expect device-independent

designs

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Data as the next “intel inside” #1

Definition and importance Information is the core value, more than software

Databases are behind the market-leading products The “race is on” to own major classes of online data

Many classes on data unclaimed – e.g. identity, public calendar events, parental control data, etc.

The best way to establish and maintain control of a hard to recreate set of data is to let users do it.

Related concepts, technologies, issues Data-driven applications User-generated content

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Data as the next “intel inside” #2

Examples Images, charts and graphs Geo maps and overlays – e.g. NAVTEQ People Bookmarks – del.ici.ous Books and merchandise - amazon

What it means Remember that data can be the differentiator Use data to define and enhance the UI

e.g. surface data interesting to individual user rather than display same links everyone gets

e.g. create emergent navigation structures - navigation by tags or other user-generated metadata

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Web 2.0 gravitational effect

Slide: Dion Hinchcliffe

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Common elements of success

Data-driven Decentralized ecosystems Leveraged the user to add value Platforms, not applications Focused on The Long Tail Monetized successfully Motive force: collective intelligence

source: Dion Hinchcliffe

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The long tail

Studying and servicing micromarkets Requires an automated customer self-service


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Essential Web 2.0 Ground Rules Ease of Use is the most important feature of any Web site, Web

application, or program. Open up your content and services as much possible.

There is no future in hoarding information, only facilitating it. Aggressively add feedback loops to everything.

Pull out loops that don’t matter and emphasize ones that do. Continuous release cycles.

The bigger the release, the more unwieldy it becomes. Organic growth is the most powerful, adaptive, and resilient.

Make your users part of your products. They are your most valuable source of content, feedback, and

passion. Understand social architecture and Architectures of Participation. Give up non-essential control, or your users may go elsewhere.

Turning Applications Into Platforms. Original uses of software, services, and content are just the

beginning. Don’t create social communities just to have them. But do empower inspired users to create them.


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Enterprise 2.0 #1

Enterprise adoption of web 2.0 fueled by Seminal 2006 article by Andrew McAfee Web 2.0 tools as solution for collaboration “Emergent, freeform, social applications for

use within the enterprise” 2 main problems w/ channels & platforms:

Many users unhappy with email/IM channels and intranet/portal platform

Current tools not good at capturing knowledge Solution: make the practices and outputs of

knowledge workers visible through the use of blogs, wikis and other tools

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Enterprise 2.0 #2 SLATES

Search Linking

connect information together into a meaningful information ecosystem using the model of the Web

Authorship low-barrier social tools enabling users to easily make content

consumable by others Tagging

allows users to create meaningful, useful, and emergent organizational structures

Extensions spontaneously provide intelligent content suggestions similar to

Amazon's recommendation system Signals

let users know when enterprise information they care about has been published or updated, such as when a corporate RSS feed of interest changes

“…authoring creates content, links and tags knit it together; and search, extensions, tags and signals make emergent patterns in the content visible, and help people stay on top of it all”

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Why is enterprise 2.0 different?

- forces conspire to provide resistance to productivity- tools and process require too much effort

- maturation of techniques that leverage how people work best- realization of the power of emergent solutions over pre-defined solutions- nearly zero-barriers to use

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Enterprise 2.0 Products

Blogging Movable Type

Wiki SocialText, Confluence

RSS Attensa, NewsGator, SimpleFeed

Suites ConnectBeam, Blogtronix, KnowNow Lotus Connections Webex Connect Thinkfree, Zoho, Zimbra

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Connectbeam

Demo video

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Product development 2.0

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What’s next? User expectations will continue to grow Dominant player and “federation of losers” for

each major service Big shakeout of blogging/social sites

Way too many offerings Offline/Online boundary continues to blur RIAs and HTML coexist in various appropriate

combinations Web 2.0 hits the enterprise in a big way Watch out for mobile Virtual worlds continue to emerge

Second Life continues to draw attention from businesses

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Questions?

Web2.0 and What it Means for Business

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