The New Web part 1

A little while ago, though it seems like ages now, just after we’ve been hit by the TechCrunch effect I was called on the phone by a reporter from a Dutch E-Commerce magazine. When he asked how I felt about all the hype around Web 2.0 I answered naively; “There is no web 2.0. Sure, because of the social aspects inherent now in the web, like blogging and community sites like MySpace, some web services are able to become a success quickly, even before they show any working software. Still you cannot be all hype and live. In the end, you’ve got to have a great service too. Okay, so now we have a good review by Michael Arrington of TechCrunch. I’ve talked to him. He just really likes our product.”

Now, I’ve had some time for reflection on this issue. I’ve been listening to others, reading blogs, and someone here finally bought a copy of “Getting Real” and printed it up for me. (Okay I’m old-fashioned about my books. Books are paper to me.) Perhaps now it is time for a less brash, more founded opinion.

Don’t forget, the web was only build over the past 15 years or so. It just exploded into existence. The sky was the limit. Its growth was like nothing anyone had ever seen before. The possibilities were endless. And everyone jumped on the band wagon. Because it was new, no-one knew what would work and what wouldn’t. Some things did work, and some things didn’t. Some things worked for a while, and then were replaced by some other things, that were just doing things better or different or at least more successful. Then those things were replaced by other things as well.

If you examine the history of the web, it is an evolutionary growth. The web sprouts a diversity of ideas, websites, concepts, business models, content and communities. The diversity spreads and then the laws of evolution take over. The ones best able to sustain themselves flourish. The ones which are able to adapt flourish too. The rest die out. There is a simple Darwinian process at work.

Some die out because of lack of funds or lack of energy. Others die out because they get bought up, taken over or die in legal disputes. This is just the Mother Nature of today’s Human society. Social and economic forces are at work, and disasters strike, just like meteors.

Brains4All is an adaptive entity too. We started off thinking we would do one on one client work. Now we are transformed to deliver products mainly. We started out thinking we would be a regional shop, providing to businesses close to us and clients that we had known for years. Now we have clients in over 86 countries world wide, and add to that each and every day.

-- continued in The New Web part 2

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