Fast Times at Web 2.0 High: is the Internet destined to forever exclude?

[Kristijntje]

Ask a handful of people what the national deficit is, or if they watched the most recent presidential candidate debate, and chances are you'll get a slew of guesses and nos. Ask the same group how many friends they have on Facebook, or if they've seen the Justin Timberlake SNL video on YouTube, and most will probably respond with a confident and enthusiastic "of course!"

Web 2.0 has permeated millions of homes, schools and businesses. Political candidates use blogs and video just as much as The Daily Show to reach younger audiences, while consumers rely on social-networking sites for human interaction and content aggregators for news...

The question is not if Web 2.0 is here to stay, but rather who is actually driving the content. Web 2.0 is all about empowering all people, so the hope would be that these tools are the voice of the people, an accurate reflection of what is popular, or factual. A peek behind the curtain, however, might not reveal what you think; the Wizard of Oz is not the common man. Those currently in control are a very small, and very vocal, subset of the online population...

full article: http://www.news.com/Fast-Times-at-Web-2....g=nefd.top

[Boucher]

empowering all people

Is it the reason why more and more employers are posting help wanted ads only online.

Same reason more and more ads seeking apartment renters are only posted online?

Same reason there are internet only travel deals and sales enticements and contests/give-aways?

who is actually driving the content

Everyone wants to make money from as much of the population as possible but it's hard to deny that a slice of the population out there appreciates the Internet's ability to pre-screen who they wish to deal with simply because of who is able to access it. Never mind how almost anyone on dial-up these days can now be considered a second class citizen with the amount of content heavy sites that encumber browsing or interactive usage.

Then again it could be a matter of the times that it's so much more cost-effective to do one's business online.

[BellisimaJ.]

it's hard to deny that a slice of the population out there appreciates the Internet's ability to pre-screen who they wish to deal with simply because of who is able to access it

Good point, Boucher. Not only are many still on dial-up, there are millions of households who still do not own a computer.