Doc Searls thinks Web2.0 is about morality.
Quoted on Nat Torkington’s site, Doc says:
I think some of what we see in Web 2.0 (a term I’ve never liked, much as I like Tim, who has done the most to promulgate it… I think it’s what we’ll call the current bubble and the next crash) is the morality of generosity. At eTech, I saw a preview of a browser-based Photoshop/Album organizing/print product front-end service. The biggest thing the creator wanted to show was how generous Flickr is. “Watch this,” he said, before using Flickr’s API to suck all 6000+ of my photos from Flickr into his product. All the metadata, all the tags and associations, were intact. His point: Flickr isn’t a silo. Their closed and proprietary stuff doesn’t extend, not is it used, to lock up customer or user data. It’s wide open. Free-range. Most of all, however, it is a “good citizen”. It is generous where it counts. Nurturing. The same was clear in Cal’s tutorial at eTech. People love Flickr because Flickr loves people. The good guys finish first. In this case, anyway.
This is the sharing economy and blogs are a big part of it. Thomas Mahon shares his knowledge and a whole new customer base comes knocking at his door. eSnips is all about encouraging users to share their ideas, interests and passions – and giving them a platform to do so.
These days, the companies that work and play well with others are the ones that are winning.
