Thursday, October 4, 2007

Web 2.0 vs Business - where love and hate collide

Although you would think this title is ridiculous, there are many times when I think its absolutely true. Just looking at the interaction between the new media bloggers here on the web compared to the steps being taken by their "traditional business" counterparts... there seems to be an eery gap, and I can't work out whether its widening or shrinking.

Obviously there are many brilliant active social media / new media specialists [and some not-so-specialists] - hence the popularity of tags like "blogging", "facebook", "social" and the rise and change of the bigger media sites [M&G's Thought Leader springs to mind]. I was pleasantly surprised to see my old high school mate, Marc Forrest, making waves down in Durbs [no pun intended] in this sphere.

And then there's traditional business... lagging behind [it seems to me] and not really creating much of a stir [admittedly some are making a go of it, such as Jacaranda FM and Jacobsen Attorneys]

The business of web 2.0 is pushing ahead, as evidenced by all the thrilling activity and the real community that you can see being built! So why can't business push ahead with web 2.0? In that world, I see some of the unbelievable talents present online revolutionising the way traditional business is done.

Guys, you know who you are [some appear here]... the time is coming [SOONER than we think] where the big business opportunities won't be called "internet businesses" or "e-commerce" or "dot com's", and won't be laughed at by anyone who doesn't have 'vc' in their title or job description. Where business models won't be hugely reliant on the infamous "advertising revenue" [case in point from Guy Berger at newmedialab]. Are you ready for it?

Is business ready for it?

He, he, he.

[Just for the record... my skills and training are in business while internet opportunities are part of what I love - yep, I feel rather stranded in the middle of these two gargantuan powers battling it out, hence this post. And for the record, I still see the existing web opportunities as awesome too, and much like "The Colony", I'm looking at how to get involved and best utilise my skills in this environment to add value]

1 comment:

Marc said...

Hey Darren,
Thanks for the comment. Exciting times in SA web in general. Nice to see you around as well :)
Cheers
Marc

P.S. Will do that post bout the blogger wordpress conversion one day *sigh*