Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it. The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning...The adventure of the hero is the adventure of being alive. -- Joseph Campbell


Consider the Joseph Campbell quote above, and consider it in light of the prophecy of web 2.0. When combined, we can say the hero of web 2.0 is the one who uses peer production to reconstruct the edge into a meaningful message. In doing so, the hero will help his/her community maximize the ROI on their attention -- which in turn will help the hero maximize his/her influence and the appeal of his/her community.

Let me make it crystal clear: the hero of web 2.0 is the blogger. Because the blogger is the one who ventures out on to the web, finds what he/she believes is worth giving attention to, and reconstructs what he/she sees to give it meaning and to maximize the return on the attention of the blogger's community.

At least that is what good bloggers do. They fulfill the prophecy.

Surely, those who are determined to doubt the myth will go on doubting the myth. Perhaps you are a "bottom line" type of guy: all this myth and hero stuff may be cute and fun and nice and all, but how does it help you make money online?

Three words: infomediary business model.

The infomediary business model is one in which we use customer information to sell them what they will be most interested in purchasing. Everything on this blog is, in a way, about the infomediary business model, and I'll continue to blog about things I believe are important for entrepreneurs attempting to create infomediary business models. For the ultimate book on this topic, though, look no further than John Hagel's Net Worth (although if you do look further, you might as well check out all of John's stuff.)

In any event, the viability of the infomediary business model is beyond dispute; those who refuse to accept it may wish to look at a little company going by the name Google. It is a textbook infomediary business model; it is the business model of web 2.0.

That leads us to the real problem every web 2.0 hero faces: how does the blogger, the hero of web 2.0, create the infomediary business model? How does the blogger do what Google does? Can David really beat Goliath?

Yes, of course. It has happened before, and it will happen again.

It is inevitable.

To create the infomediary business model, the blogger must simply look to continually fulfill the prophecy. Once the blogger proceeds down this path, though, he/she will quickly find that there are enemies who seek to prevent the prophecy from coming true. In the face of enemies, the blogger is left with no choice but to fight these enemies -- for it is the only way the prophecy can come true. In the next post, we'll explore the great battle in the mythology of web 2.0 -- the battle for the future of the Internet, and what the blogger must do to make the prophecy come true.

In case you're just joining us, this mini-series discusses the mythology of web 2.0. The start page of this mini-series is here.

Articles in This Series

The Prophecy
The Hero.
The Battle.