Trepidation builds around Web 2.0

With the Web 2.0 conference finally at a close, bloggers are sitting down at their keyboards and hashing out all of the goings-on at the conference, which took place last week in San Francisco. From the many exciting new projects shown off there--such as Google RSS feed reader, start-up Brightcove's Web TV platform, Seth Godin's Squidoo--to notable appearances by Sergey Brin, Barry Diller, and Terry Semel, and even the impressive collection of conference schwag, Web 2.0 had the blog world talking.

But it's not all smiles and backslaps. While Web 2.0 the conference may have been a success, Web 2.0 the concept isn't sitting as well with some. Many of the people who have watched the Web develop over the years are vocalizing their concern that some of the idealism surrounding the next generation of the Internet is unrealistic and perhaps even irresponsible. The bottom line is: It's easy for any technophile to get swept up in the rush of new and undeniably cool tools and services that are coming to the Web platform. But nobody wants to see a repeat of the last Internet bubble and to ignore the lessons learned from that time would be doing the industry a disservice.

Blog community response:

"And so all the things that Web 2.0 represents - participation, collectivism, virtual communities, amateurism - become unarguably good things, things to be nurtured and applauded, emblems of progress toward a more enlightened state. But is it really so? Is there a counterargument to be made? Might, on balance, the practical effect of Web 2.0 on society and culture be bad, not good? To see Web 2.0 as a moral force is to turn a deaf ear to such questions."
--Nicholas Carr's Rough Type

"What's going on right now is about open standards, open source, free culture, small pieces loosely joined, innovation on the edges and all of the good things that WE FORGOT when we got greedy during the last bubble. These good Internet principles are easily corrupted when you bring back 'the money.'"
--Joi Ito's Web

"Web 2.0 was a turning point; it was our chance to do it over, to do it right. It wasn't about technology as much as it is about fulfilling the original promise of what the Web should be...But then suddenly we lost our minds. We changed the notion of Web 2.0 to be something that it can't be."
--blowmage