in Internet Services

useless “Web 2.0” tools

It’s pretty clear from my journal entries that I’m not a big fan of all these so-called "Web 2.0" websites (and I really have to use the air quotes every time I say that, because I can’t say it with a straight face). Part of that stems from me being a system administrator who really doesn’t care that much about what people put on their website, as long as it’s not total crap, but part of it is also that I despise marketing-and-sales-style buzzwords. I cringe with the same ferocity when I hear "Web 2.0" as I would if someone said "leverage the value proposition to create a win-win synergy" to me.

My biggest complaint about so-called "Web 2.0" tools is that many of them are solutions looking for problems. I used to work with a developer like this; we’d call his overcomplicated 60-table database schemas "enterprise solutions to non-problems". My most recent pet peeve is Twitter. I guess it isn’t bad enough for people to pollute their LiveJournals with inane banter about what kind of socks they are washing tonight; they also need to do it by "phone, IM, or right here on the web!" (to quote their boundless enthusiasm directly) Does the world really need this?

Actually, wait, I take it back! For all its inanity, Twitter isn’t even sufficiently Web 2.0. The website isn’t http://tw.itt.er/, nor is it labelled twittr (beta!) nor does it have a tag cloud on the front page. I guess all we’re left with after Twitter’s failure to leverage the value proposition to create a win-win synergy is just… crap.

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