Editing Web 2.0 (section)

====Characteristics====
Instead of merely reading a Web 2.0 site, a user is invited to contribute to the site's content by commenting on published articles, or creating a [[user account]] or [[user profile|profile]] on the site, which may enable increased participation. By increasing emphasis on these already-extant capabilities, they encourage users to rely more on their browser for [[user interface]], [[application software]] ("apps") and [[file storage]] facilities. This has been called "network as platform" computing.<ref name="oreilly" /> Major features of Web 2.0 include [[social networking]] websites, self-publishing platforms (e.g., [[WordPress]]' easy-to-use blog and website creation tools), [[Tag (metadata)|"tagging"]] (which enables users to label websites, videos or photos in some fashion), [[Like button|"like" buttons]] (which enable a user to indicate that they are pleased by online content), and [[social bookmarking]].

Users can provide the data and exercise some control over what they share on a Web 2.0 site.<ref name="oreilly" /><ref name="hinchcliffe">{{cite web
|url=http://web2.wsj2.com/the_state_of_web_20.htm
|title=The State of Web 2.0
|publisher=Web Services
|first = Dion | last = Hinchcliffe
|work=Cloudflare
|date=2006-04-02
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070515032339/http://web2.wsj2.com/the_state_of_web_20.htm
|archive-date=2007-05-15
|access-date=2006-08-06
}}</ref> These sites may have an "architecture of participation" that encourages users to add value to the application as they use it.<ref name="graham" /><ref name="oreilly" /> Users can add value in many ways, such as uploading their own content on blogs, consumer-evaluation platforms (e.g. [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]] and [[eBay]]), news websites (e.g. responding in the comment section), social networking services, media-sharing websites (e.g. YouTube and [[Instagram]]) and collaborative-writing projects.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Perry|first1=Ronen|last2=Zarsky|first2=Tal|date=2015-08-01|title=Who Should Be Liable for Online Anonymous Defamation?|url=https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=2671399|language=en|location=Rochester, NY|ssrn=2671399}}</ref> Some scholars argue that [[cloud computing]] is an example of Web 2.0 because it is simply an implication of computing on the Internet.<ref>[SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=732483 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112052626/https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=732483 |date=2022-01-12 }} Wireless Communications and Computing at a Crossroads: New Paradigms and Their Impact on Theories Governing the Public's Right to Spectrum Access], Patrick S. Ryan, Journal on Telecommunications & High Technology Law, Vol. 3, No. 2, p. 239, 2005.</ref> [[File:How to edit a page Edit box.png|thumb|Edit box interface through which anyone could edit a [[Wikipedia]] article]]

Web 2.0 offers almost all users the same freedom to contribute,<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/15831013 |title=Learn More About Web 2.0 |publisher=academia.edu |access-date=2015-10-14 |last1=Pal |first1=Surendra Kumar |archive-date=2021-08-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814192542/https://www.academia.edu/15831013 |url-status=live }}</ref> which can lead to effects that are varyingly perceived as productive by members of a given community or not, which can lead to emotional distress and disagreement. The impossibility of excluding group members who do not contribute to the provision of goods (i.e., to the creation of a user-generated website) from sharing the benefits (of using the website) gives rise to the possibility that serious members will prefer to withhold their contribution of effort and [[Free rider problem|"free ride"]] on the contributions of others.<ref>Gerald Marwell and Ruth E. Ames: "Experiments on the Provision of Public Goods. I. Resources, Interest, Group Size, and the Free-Rider Problem". ''The American Journal of Sociology'', Vol. 84, No. 6 (May, 1979), pp. 1335–1360
</ref> This requires what is sometimes called [[radical trust]] by the management of the Web site.

[[Encyclopædia Britannica|Encyclopaedia Britannica]] calls [[Wikipedia]] "the epitome of the so-called Web 2.0" and describes what many view as the ideal of a Web 2.0 platform as "an egalitarian environment where the web of social software enmeshes users in both their real and virtual-reality workplaces."<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Hosch |first1=William L. |last2=Tikkanen |first2=Amy |last3=Ray |first3=Michael |last4=Cunningham |first4=John M. |author-link4=John M. Cunningham |last5=Dandrea |first5=Carlos |last6=Gregersen |first6=Erik |last7=Lotha |first7=Gloria |date=2023-04-13 |title=Wikipedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Wikipedia |access-date=2023-05-11 |publisher=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |language=en |archive-date=2022-01-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121012545/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Wikipedia |url-status=live }}</ref>
According to Best,<ref>Best, D., 2006. Web 2.0 Next Big Thing or Next Big Internet Bubble? Lecture Web Information Systems. Techni sche Universiteit Eindhoven.</ref> the characteristics of Web 2.0 are rich user experience, user participation, [[dynamic content]], [[metadata]], [[Web standards]], and [[scalability]]. Further characteristics, such as openness, freedom,<ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://www.informationweek.com/news/management/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=EWRPGLVJ53OW2QSNDLPCKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=199702353&_requestid=494050
|title=Amid The Rush To Web 2.0, Some Words Of Warning&nbsp;– Web 2.0&nbsp;– InformationWeek
|publisher=www.informationweek.com
|access-date=2008-04-04
|author1=Greenmeier, Larry
|author2=Gaudin, Sharon
|name-list-style=amp
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080421221546/http://www.informationweek.com/news/management/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=EWRPGLVJ53OW2QSNDLPCKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=199702353&_requestid=494050
|archive-date=2008-04-21
|url-status=live
}}
</ref> and [[collective intelligence]]<ref>O'Reilly, T., 2005. What is Web 2.0. Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software, p. 30</ref> by way of user participation, can also be viewed as essential attributes of Web 2.0. Some websites require users to contribute [[user-generated content]] to have access to the website, to discourage "free riding".[[File:Mass Effect Wiki Collaboration.png|thumb|A list of ways that people can volunteer to improve Mass Effect Wiki on [[Wikia]], an example of content generated by users working collaboratively]]The key features of Web 2.0 include:{{citation needed|date=November 2017}}
# [[Folksonomy]] – free classification of information; allows users to collectively classify and find information (e.g. [[Tag (metadata)|"tagging"]] of websites, images, videos or links)
# Rich [[user experience]] – dynamic content that is responsive to user input (e.g., a user can "click" on an image to enlarge it or find out more information)
# [[Crowdsourcing|User participation]] – information flows two ways between the site owner and site users by means of evaluation, review, and online commenting. Site users also typically create [[user-generated content]] for others to see (e.g., [[Wikipedia]], an online encyclopedia that anyone can write articles for or edit)
# [[Software as a service]] (SaaS) – Web 2.0 sites developed [[API]]s to allow automated usage, such as by a [[Web app|Web "app"]] ([[software application]]) or a [[mashup (web application hybrid)|mashup]]
# [[Eternal September|Mass participation]] – near-universal web access leads to differentiation of concerns, from the traditional Internet user base (who tended to be [[hacker]]s and computer hobbyists) to a wider variety of users, drastically changing the audience of internet users.