The Daily Mail defines “Web 2.0″

As I have already mentioned here, I have access to and often read the Daily Mail due to it lying around where I get my coffee.

I have seen many opinionated and badly researched stories over the years and I have become numb to the countless “Video Games Make Our Children Killers” type stories, although today after reading a “Saturday Essay” (yes, I am a day behind) entitled “www.hell-on-earth.com” I felt compelled to share it with the world.

I am not interested in ripping apart the thin arguments presented in the Daily Mail (a future website perhaps?), but rather I found this quite amusing and if you have heard the term Web 2.0 you could probably relate.

My work is the web, yet I couldn’t even define “Web 2.0″. At best I would say it is a buzzword that has a loose meaning of the “next generation” of websites. More use of animation, nice effects and better images due to the advancement of browsers and increase in broadband, but more importantly websites that include collaboration and social-networking (e.g. facebook).

There are also certain types of design that could be classed as “Web 2.0″ - here is a good outline.

So getting to the point, here is A.N. Wilson’s definition of Web 2.0 in the Daily Mail article:

“For those unfamiliar with such terms, Web 2.0 is the name given by the computer industry to the ’second generation’ of the internet that has now been made widely available and affordable by high speed broadband connections.”

“Such is the capability of Web 2.0 that it makes all kinds of information available instantaneously at the click of a mouse, and enables entire books, films and albums to be downloaded to your desktop.”

After getting to the main point of the article (that the internet is destroying the world), Mr Wilson goes on to say:

“Disney’s sales went down by an astounding $1.5 billion to $962 million in two years, 2003 to 2005. The main reason? The evolution of Web 2.0 had destroyed their market by enabling films to be downloaded and shared illegally”

Quite a statement. And more:

“Add to this the dark side of Web 2.0, which has enabled gambling and porn websites to expand exponentially, and you can see that what is taking place is not just regrettable, it is dangerous.”

So Web 2.0 is to blame for piracy, widespread gambling and easily accessible pornography. Newspaper journalism at it’s finest, ladies and gentlemen…

Did I mention the Daily Mails links with Nazism and Fascism?

Ok enough Daily Mail bashing for one day, if you want an objective definition of Web 2.0 check out the Wikipedia page