In the myth of web 2.0, we discussed how the future of the web is in communities. And in our mini-series on the publishing 2.0 revolution, we discussed how decreasing returns on content require changes in how we invest in content; namely we need to use content to allocate attention, and we need to focus on reconstruction of peer-produced (i.e. user-generated) content.

As such, SEO 2.0 will largely be about reconstruction and social engineering.

Reconstruction is what a lot of spammers are currently doing, although most of them are angering copyright holders and not really creating value for users. As the web becomes more conducive to reconstruction -- in other words, as it gets widgetized and RSS-ified -- the opportunity for legitimate media reconstruction will blossom. SEOs will need to rely on this to decrease the cost of content production.

Social engineering is about engaging your users and getting them to contribute to your site. Can you create a social engineering system that will incentivize the production of quality content at a low cost? Being able to answer YES to that question will help you become a winner in SEO 2.0.

Take home point: as media gets socialized, it becomes commoditized; as such, its price should drop as close to zero as possible. As such, SEOs need to invest in technologies and strategies that will help them lower the cost of content production.

In the next post, we'll look at the issue of duplicate content in a syndicated and widgetized web.

Other Posts in This Series

Attention vs. Content: What to Invest in?
SEO 2.0: Community Building
SEO 2.0: Trust & Duplicate Content
Resources for Learning More About SEO