WEB 2.0 The Eight Core Patterns

Harnessing Collective Intelligence
Create an architecture of participation that uses network effects and algorithms to
produce software that gets better the more people use it.
Data Is the Next “Intel Inside”
Use unique, hard-to-recreate data sources to become the “Intel Inside” for this era
in which data has become as important as function.
Innovation in Assembly
Build platforms to foster innovation in assembly, where remixing of data and services
creates new opportunities and markets.
Rich User Experiences
Go beyond traditional web-page metaphors to deliver rich user experiences combining
the best of desktop and online software.
Software Above the Level of a Single Device
Create software that spans Internet-connected devices and builds on the growing
pervasiveness of online experience.
Perpetual Beta
Move away from old models of software development and adoption in favor of
online, continuously updated, software as a service (SaaS) models.
The Eight Core
Patterns
11 Web 2.0 Principles and Best Practices
Leveraging the Long Tail
Capture niche markets profitably through the low-cost economics and broad reach
enabled by the Internet.
Lightweight Models and Cost-Effective Scalability
Use lightweight business- and software-development models to build products and
businesses quickly and cost-effectively.
Although each pattern is unique, they are by no means independent. In fact, they are
quite interdependent.
A set of common Web 2.0 attributes supports these patterns:
Massively connected. Network effects move us from the one-to-many
publishing and communication models of the past into a true web of manyto-
many connections. In this era, the edges become as important as the core,
and old modes of communication, publishing, distribution, and aggregation
become disrupted.
Decentralized. Connectedness also disrupts traditional control and power
structures, leading to much greater decentralization. Bottom-up now competes
with top-down in everything from global information flow to marketing
to new product design. Adoption occurs via pull not push. Systems often
grow from the edges in, not from the core out.
User focused. The user is at the center of Web 2.0. Network effects give
users unprecedented power for participation, conversation, collaboration,
and, ultimately, impact. Consumers have become publishers with greater
control, experiences are tailored on the fly for each user, rich interfaces optimize
user interactions, users actively shape product direction, and consumers
reward companies that treat them well with loyalty and valuable word-ofmouth
marketing.
Open. In Web 2.0, openness begins with the foundation of the Internet’s
open technology standards and rapidly grows into an open ecosystem of
loosely coupled applications built on open data, open APIs, and reusable
components. And open means more than technology—it means greater
transparency in corporate communications, shared intellectual property, and
greater visibility into how products are developed.
Lightweight. A “less is more, keep it simple” philosophy permeates Web 2.0:
software is designed and built by small teams using agile methods; technology
solutions build on simple data formats and protocols; software becomes
simple to deploy with light footprint services built on open source software;
business focuses on keeping investment and costs low; and marketing uses
simple consumer-to-consumer viral techniques.
Emergent. Rather than relying on fully predefined application structures,
Web 2.0 structures and behaviors are allowed to emerge over time. A flexible,
adaptive strategy permits appropriate solutions to evolve in response to realworld
usage; success comes from cooperation, not control.