Web 2.0 Hype Busted by Jakob Nielsen

Through the haze of excitement about Web 2.0 Jakob Nielsen has articulated what serious web marketing people have been saying for a long time.

Get Web 1.0 right before thinking about Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 is a popular term that refers to things that encourage sharing and community between users. Think Youtube, FaceBook, MySpace, Linked In et al. Think user ratings, reviews, blogs, polls and opinions.

The hype of it all can be overwhelming, and there are some awesome things about the whole Web 2.0 thing… but… if you think you need Web 2.0 features for your site, ask yourself first:

Will Web 2.0 bring me a return on your investment?

In reference to this question, Jakob says, ”If you’re a mainstream business site (including government and non-profit sites), your user experience needs are very different than those of the few hot sites that attract all the attention.”

The hot sites that attract attention are of course Facebook, MySpace, Amazon, etc. Unless that’s your business and you’re well down the path of raising $60 million in capital, your website is not like any of those.

What should you do instead? Jakob continues, “Instead of adding Facebook-like features that let users “bite” other users and turn them into zombies, the B2B site would get more sales by offering clear prices, good product photos, detailed specs, convincing whitepapers, an easily navigable information architecture, and an email newsletter.”

All of these things fall under the banner of good content, aka. Useful Information. Sustainable web marketing is about delivering useful information to the customer. That’s the first place to start improving your website’s return on investment.

You can read the full Alert Box article here: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/web-2.html

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