- How is Web 2.0 different from the Web 1.0 dot-com boom and bust?
- How does Google offer "the world's knowledge" to searchers for free and still make more than 10 billion in revenue, grow 68%, and have a stock market valuation of close to $200 billion?
- What could possibly make Flickr--a two-year-old photo-sharing startup--worth $40 million to Yahoo!, a video-sharing YouTube worth $1.6 billion to Google, or a social networking site called Facebook worth the equivalent of $15 billion to Microsoft?
- Is Web 2.0 about corporate blogging, wikis and podcasting, or something else entirely?
Amy Shuen's new book Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide (O'Reilly, US $24.99) answers these questions, and explains what's different about Web 2.0 and how those differences can improve your company's bottom line. Using real-life examples, Shuen demonstrates how various companies, large and small, are creating new opportunities on today's Web and shows how you can apply the same strategies to your own business.
"You're already an integral part of the Web 2.0 business economy," Shuen explains. "Every time you click on Google, Wikipedia, eBay, or Amazon, you are sparking 'network effects.' If you use a Flickr-enabled cell phone or tune in to iTunes podcasts or check Yahoo! Finance for stock quotes, you are creating monetizable value for businesses--even if you don't actually buy anything."
Rather than focus on the technology, the examples in Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide concentrate on its effect. You will learn that creating a Web 2.0 business, or integrating Web 2.0 strategies with your existing business, means creating places online where people like to come together to share what they think, see, and do. When people come together over the Web, the result can be much more than the sum of the parts. The customers themselves help build the site, as old-fashioned "word of mouth" becomes hypergrowth.
"I wrote the book to change the mindset and answer the questions that colleagues, CEOs, MBAs, technical managers, investors, and analysts--informally or in one of my exec ed programs or consulting projects--would ask me about the 'buzz and hype' surrounding Web 2.0 companies and projects," says Shuen, adding that her audience includes any of these people who want to thrive and survive in a hyper-networked Web 2.0 economy.
According to Tim O'Reilly, there is still a lot left to learn about Web 2.0. "The Web 2.0 revolution continues," he says in his foreword to the book, "and every day, entrepreneurs are finding new ways to apply the principles of Web 2.0. I expect more surprises and new success stories. But for now, this book is the best starting point for any company that wants to understand and apply Internet-era business strategy."
For a review copy or more information please email kathrynb@oreilly.com. Please include your delivery address and contact information.
Amy Shuen is an internationally recognized authority on Silicon Valley business models and innovation economics, frequent speaker at industry conferences and venture capital events, and an award-winning strategy researcher.
Additional Resources:
For more information about this book, including table of contents, index, author bios, and cover graphic, see the catalog page for
Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide
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