Myths which are believed in tend to become true. -- George Orwell

Most of us doing business online have heard the prophecy of where the Internet is headed. We're familiar with the buzz words: Peer-production. Long tail. RSS. API. Widgets. Attention economy. Mashup. Open source.

The prophecy has been called web 2.0.

But plenty of folks dismiss the web 2.0 hype, saying that that's all it is: hype. And maybe they're right. After all, if the prophecy of web 2.0 is real and true, where are all the successsful web 2.0 business models? The most visible business model seems to be selling ads -- namely, Google AdSense. Some are dubious.

The reason the prophecy has not come true, though, is because we lack the heroes willing to believe in it. We don't have enough individuals willing to unplug themselves from the false security of the web 1.0 world, willing to initiative themselves in a digital battle to make web 2.0 real, so that they can return to their community with knowledge that will help all of mankind experience the web 2.0 revolution.



This mini-series is an attempt to change that.

In this series we'll explore the mythology of web 2.0 -- the story that symbolizes the heroic journey of the web 2.0 entrepreneur. Like any myth, it is a story that never happened but is always happening.

This mini-series will proceed as follows:

The Prophecy. The revolution that the web 2.0 hero aims to bring about has been prophecied for some time. In this post, we'll explore what exactly is the prophecy of web 2.0 is, and who the oracles are that have told us about it. We'll boil the buzzwords down to an action-oriented, no-nonsense sentence.

The Hero. What are the characteristics of the web 2.0 hero? What attributes are critical to his/her success? We'll explore that in this post.

The Battle. Just as everything is defined by its opposite -- good is defined by evil, light is defined by dark, peace is defined by war, and so on -- the hero of web 2.0 is defined by his anti-hero. We'll define the anti-hero of web 2.0, and take a look at how the battle for the future of the web will go down.

Understanding the mythology of web 2.0 will help us understand how the prophecy of web 2.0 will unfold, and what we need to do to capitalize on the opportunity.

Click here to start your journey by learning the prophecy.

Articles in This Series

The Prophecy
The Hero.
The Battle.