David's Two Cents

At a recent Web 2.0 conference, a speaker asked the audience how many people checked email as their first activity of the day? About 3/4 of the hands in the audience went up. When asked how many check email as their last activity of the day, even more hands went up. These are the kind of folks who blog their way through their children's birthday parties and family reunions; these are the kind of folks who are emailing via their Blackberries when they are in the bathroom. In short, these are the folks who are ALWAYS on.

So why is it, I wonder, was there so little blogging activity over the Christmas weekend? Most of the blogs around the Web 2.0 space were surprisingly silent over this past weekend. Is it because we were able to truly "step away from the browsers and PDAs and put our hands in the air" for several days. Is it because we were busy enjoying our family and friends, spending time with the kids, or reflecting about the past year and thinking of the year to come? Honestly, I kinda doubt it.

How many of us secretly snuck out of family gatherings to see what was going on online - secretly hoping to see something that we could respond to? How many of us felt guilty posting over the weekend, fearing that it would look like we had nothing better to do? Considering the kind of crackberry users we all know, I tend to think it is the latter. On the other hand, maybe everyone was at a Christmas party on Second Life, and I was just not invited....

After years in the enterprise software space, I am still amazed by the excitement generated around the "possibilities" of new technologies (look at Gartner's ongoing hype cycles), with less initial focus on exactly where can the technology solve a really difficult problem. In regard to Web 2.0/Enterprise 2.0, I am not convinced that for many companies, wikis and blogs will not solve email proliferation, storage, or content management problems. Large companies typically have email 'policies' that are intended to solve this problem (I worked with an email trainer from a large company once and she explained exactly how it is was supposed to work in her company - pretty scary stuff). People largely ignore these and continue to spray emails all over the place.

At some point, most companies will have 'wiki policies' and 'blog policies' and these will likely be ignored as well. The new technology will not change the balance of authority in companies any more than email did (or faxes did before them, or memo before them, etc.). In the same way that email speeded up written communications, wikis and blogs afford the same evolution in speed and reach of communication.

Personally, like many new technologies, I think that in the short-term, there will be misuse and general unfounded over-enthusiasm for these technologies. When folks realize it ain't going to change the balance of power, and 'won't solve every communication problem they have,' they will identify where they can foster productivity and really solve a problem.

I think that it will be fascinating, follow the cultural and commercial interactions that will impact the adoption of E2.0 and see where the sweet spot really is for their use in the corporate world. As 2006 becomes 2007, I think we may be in for a few surprises in the coming year, and that is certainly something to look forward to!

Happy holidays to all.

Writing from the LeWeb3 conference in France, I am amazed by the lack of regard the organizers have for the conference attendees. Having spent thousands of Euros or Dollars or Pounds, the attendees traveled to Paris in the winter to hear about web 2.0 topics. Instead of presenting the advertised fare, the organizers have turned this conference into a parade of politicians that have very little relevance to web 2.0. Shimon Peres spoke this morning about world peace....and the Internet, and now, we are being treated to a parade of French presedential candidates, speaking mainly in French. What about the 400-500 attendees who are not French and who could care less? The organizers seems more interested in the fact that someone is paying attention to the conference than in the conference topic itself.

Ironically, as the presenters debate whether traditional media is irrelevant, the TV trucks roll up outside the convention hall, the TV correspodents replace the bloggers onstage, and "let the show begin."

leweb3