As internet usage increases and more web technologies made available for and by individuals and businesses. The internet becomes an important market or tool for marketers and is a critical component of the strategy and infrastructure of every successful organisation today. At its most disruptive, it redefines markets and creates entirely new opportunities. Therefore, modern marketers must better understand and utilise the web and to integrate it with its other marketing activities. To facilitate a quick understanding and overview; Web 2.0 serves as the big picture. For a quick knowledge of Web 2.0, refer to Wikipedia.

The General Principle of Web 2.o and its tangible value:

1. The Long Tail: Small sites make up the bulk of the internet’s content; narrow niches make up the bulk of internet’s the possible applications. Therefore: Leverage customer-self service and algorithmic data management to reach out to the entire web, to the edges and not just the center, to the long tail and not just the head. Amazon and eBay used this idea to build companies worth billions and billions. This is how. Web 2.0 provides both the audience and the services.
2. Data is the Next Intel Inside: Applications are increasingly data-driven. Therefore: For competitive advantage, seek to own a unique, hard-to-recreate source of data.
3. Users Add Value: The key to competitive advantage in internet applications is the extent to which users add their own data to that which you provide. Therefore: Don’t restrict your “architecture of participation” to software development. Involve your users both implicitly and explicitly in adding value to your application.
4. Network Effects by Default: Only a small percentage of users will go to the trouble of adding value to your application. Therefore: Set inclusive defaults for aggregating user data as a side-effect of their use of the application.
5. Some Rights Reserved: Intellectual property protection limits re-use and prevents experimentation. Therefore: When benefits come from collective adoption, not private restriction, make sure that barriers to adoption are low. Follow existing standards, and use licenses with as few restrictions as possible. Design for “hackability” and “remixability.”
6. The Perpetual Beta: When devices and programs are connected to the internet, applications are no longer software artifacts, they are ongoing services. Therefore: Don’t package up new features into monolithic releases, but instead add them on a regular basis as part of the normal user experience. Engage your users as real-time testers, and instrument the service so that you know how people use the new features.
7. Cooperate, Don’t Control: Web 2.0 applications are built of a network of cooperating data services. Therefore: Offer web services interfaces and content syndication, and re-use the data services of others. Support lightweight programming models that allow for loosely-coupled systems.
8. Software Above the Level of a Single Device: The PC is no longer the only access device for internet applications, and applications that are limited to a single device are less valuable than those that are connected. Therefore: Design your application from the get-go to integrate services across handheld devices, PCs, and internet servers.
9. Small Pieces, Loosely Joined: Monolithism is dead, we can’t build big stuff like that any more. It’s not agile nor can what you build be aggregated, deliver sustained value, or even survive for long.
10. Self-Service and Participation: Fostering this lets you capture new value in your Web 2.0 apps 24 hours a day. Examples: Tagging, ranking, trackbacks, reputations.
11. Radical Decentralization: Single sources of function are single sources of failure and are unacceptable now. And they don’t scale to either deliver or capture significant value.
12. Emergent Behavior: Your Web 2.0 functionality can be reused, remixed, aggregated, and syndicated and the resulting value reintegrated back into your application.