Web 2.0 is a buzzword taken to mean many things, but generally it is about democratising media. It is about user-generated content, but also relying on user input through the 'wisdom of crowds' to rank, tag, sort and organise that content. Some examples:
The world's most-popular search engine is Web 2.0 because it incorporates democratic elements into its search algorithm, treating links to a site as a 'vote' for that the site. This produces highly relevant and accurate search results. To see this democracy at work, Google the word 'failure' and the top result is the biography of US President George W. Bush. The practice, known as Google bombing, occurs because bloggers have used the phrase 'failure' to describe and link to Mr Bush's biography.
YouTube
The popular video-sharing site (and many others, such as Revver, Vimeo, Veoh and Video Egg) offers a platform where users can upload their videos to be seen by others. The very best clips are spread virally via links, blogs or e-mails to friends. Other features such as 'highest ranked', 'most viewed' and 'most commented on' also help separate the wheat from the chaff. The video-sharing sites can trace their lineage to Flickr and other photo sites.
Digg.com
