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Web 2.0, the buzzword used to describe the second generation of internet use, which is based around content produced by regular people, is not yet the phenomenon it’s cracked up to be, according to a Hitwise study published by Reuters.
Only 0.16 per cent of visitors to YouTube actually upload video, with the figure shooting up to 0.2 per cent for photo web 2.0 site Flickr. The study comes to the not so surprising conclusion that the vast majority of we users surf to be entertained, as opposed to doing the entertaining.
On the plus side, visits to participatory websites is shooting up. Perhaps mindful of the fact that he was delivering this study at the Web 2.0 Expo industry conference, organised by web 2.0 pioneer Tim O’Reilly, Hitwise analyst Bill Tancer pointed out that visits to web 2.0 sites had risen 668 per cent in two years, a rise from two to 12 per cent of total U.S. web activity in that time.
Of course this was from a virtually standing start, but even if the trend continues the question is: If web 2.0 sites are in demand, but hardly any users want to generate content, where is the content going to come from?
