This is the epitome of web 2.0. Make sure you say plenty of redundant things about "new media" that are based simply on unwarranted speculation, then slap your name all over it and make it a blog! - Anthony

@Anthony. It is just my personal view of where the world might be going to. If you don't like it, or have a different view, that's fine with me. The great thing about web 2.0 is that you don't have to read it. No one is forcing you. - Alexander van Elsas

Alexander, don't you mean that's the great thing about the Internet? Or even the great thing about people? What on earth does it have to do with a label like "web 2.0"? Answer: nothing. :-) - Robert Seidman

Robert if you are referring to my comment above here? I was referring to the fact that Anthony had found my post either using RSS, FrIendfeed or Twitter, all web 2.0 inventions. These allow him to unsubscribe or ignore anything he feels is redundant ;-) I would rather have a discussion on the post I wrote actually :-) - Alexander van Elsas

public interaction wasn't any more or less important in this evolution than the last ones, there is just *more* public now! You could automate distribution of "your brand" by e-mail lists for the last 15 years at least. I like RSS better, but I'd note yet again, that in the process or running a blog more targeted at "the mainstream", 60% of the RSS subscribers receive the feed by e-mail... - Robert Seidman

Robert, I'm not saying that public interaciton didn't excist before. There is alwas public interaction in teh physical world. But I do feel that web 2.0 brought us the ability to address anyone on the web using tools like RSS, social networks, Twitter etc. Don't you agree? - Alexander van Elsas

dude this post was great, but could you find something to exemplify, like maybe a possible use case for a possible small community. A tiny scenario maybe ? - Tudor

@Tudor one of the inputs I read a while back was handed to me by Zephoria. She writes an excellent blog and discusses teen behavior often. The report, which looked at on-line behavior of teens tells us that teens are active on-line, produce content, discuss etc, but at the same time a large percentage of them restricts access to that content they produce (in other words only their friends get to see it). http://tinyurl.com/2xua2y - Alexander van Elsas

@Tudor I also have young children myself and am in regular contact with children that are in Highschool and going to college. It seems to me they are showing a different behavior with social media than we have. These sort of observations (no statistical proof here) make me think and write stuff. I can by no means predict any future, but I do try to form opinions and see where it leads us - Alexander van Elsas

@Alexander - I posted on your blog, but I'll say it here as well. Expect the kids of today who aren't into personal branding via social media to change attitudes in 10 or 20 years. It's too early to predict off these youngsters. They focus on their immediate world, albeit with technology, just like we used to do. Wait until they leave their current cocoon, disperse around the globe and have new interests. Then we'll see. - Hutch Carpenter

@Hutch thx. You definitely have a point that the world of a youngster is smaller at first. That might explain why they are less involved in public interactions. But they are showing some interesting behavior where the focus on known friends seems more important. Everyone changes throughout life, so with the expansion of their world, maybe public interaction will become important later on. But we can also observe that the things the generation before us found important is now much less important to us. ;-) - Alexander van Elsas

@Hutch I responded bit lengthier on my blog, no restrictions in size of response there ;-) - Alexander van Elsas