Mark and I had a cool discussion the other night (in the span of about 5 minutes.) I, being a caveman, asked him what Twitter was. He explained that it is “a web 2.0…”
This is where I had to stop him. Because I didn’t know that the internet had been upgraded.
So Mark began to explain to me that this idea of Web 2.0 was all about. I was stuck thinking that it was a technological advancement or invention. But really, it is a sweeping and subtle cultural re-invention.
Remember the internet 10 years ago? Heck, how about 5?
Shopping. News. Searches for shopping and news. Downloads. Demos. Screenshots.
It was the internet presenting itself to us, its consumers.
Then MySpace happened. And Wikis. And Facebook. And Twitter. THE BLOG!
The web has lost its omnipotence, it’s benevolence. Now we are kings instead of consumers. We make the internet what it is, and it gets more personal and better every day.
Isn’t that flipping cool? Now instead of the internet being one more device meant to pander and cater to our whims (greed,) we are taking ownership. It is more about what we can contribute to the WWW than what we can get from it.
What if we took this concept of Web 2.0 – the idea that the internet is only as good as I pitch in and make it with my own individuality, personality, creativity and perspective – and gave our whole life the upgrade?
Wouldn’t jobs 2.0 kick butt? Wouldn’t your company get way, way better every day?
How ’bout Church 2.0. Now that would be something, right? Instead of us coming every week demanding and expecting entertainment and spoon-feeding and pandering, we could have ownership, contribution, progress and reformation all at once! Church could finally be about advancing the Kingdom instead of catering to the peasants (no offense to any of us.)
