Web 2.0 & Social Media

I met Gary Vaynerchuk in January at FOWA 08 in Miami; and blogged about him here.  I’m too busy for a real blog article this week but saw Gary on Conan last night; figured I’d share. If you like wine and web 2.0 you’ll love Gary Vaynerchuk; entrepreneur and host of Wine Library TV. 

WLTV has blossomed into a full-fledged community. The viewers (self-named “Vayniacs”) convene on an extremely active forum, and have organized numerous off-line gatherings. Gary and the viewers have teamed up with Crushpad in the past year to create the first ever community wine, Vayniac Cabernet.

I attended the Future of Web Applications (FOWA 08) conference in Miami and it provide d great insight into Web 2.0 and social media technology than. Most importantly is to see this trend through its leaders - the super stars of Web 2.0 represent a major shift in business values and culture. This list leaves out many more amazing folks than it includes; but it represent a new wave of values. Openness, passion, striving to make other peoples lives better, to add value. Web 2.0 makes that possible on many levels.

• The open source technology frameworks and APIs to build and share services and information.
• Infrastructure, cloud computing, scalability with open source platforms. 
• Market reach through networks of people and influencers nearly free of brand marketing, word of mouth, viral social media.
• The common desire to see each other success and to mutually benefit from each other’s progress.

It comes down to making really great stuff that people can use, making it free, helping each other and if your ‘thing’ is really ‘all that’ you are going to be incredibly valuable. The whole movement seems to put significance behind something we used to reserve just for vacations and occasional weekends: Happiness. 

Continue reading »