What’s So Mysterious About Web 2.0?

Every time I see an event listed about “Web 2.0,” especially if it’s “Web 2.0 for Non-Profits” I think I should be there. I seem to believe that there is some great and secret knowledge out there about how to use the Web that I’m missing. Granted, I’m not an expert or I’d be giving these presentations, but every time I go to one I mostly discover that there is no magic answer and I already know more than I thought.

Such was the case with yesterday’s “Web 2.0: New online tools that are transforming Nonprofits” presentation at Nonprofit Net. (For those not familiar with Nonprofit Net, it’s a volunteer-run organization in Lexington, MA with a seminar series for small non-profits.) The presenter was clearly knowledgeable, but did not understand his audience. My guess is he’s used to talking to techies. The presentation was fairly academic and philosophical, answering questions like “What about Web 2.0 is evolutionary vs revolutionary?” Audience members who came hoping for concrete suggestions they could take back and implement were largely disappointed.

I did pick up a couple of interesting pointers. For instance, he suggested that parent organizations with regional chapters could use RSS to aggregate news from each of the chapters on their website. That’s clever. He also mentioned an open source CRM system for non-profits called CiviCRM. That could come in handy. Lastly, he mentioned a “Grassroots Use of Technology” conference on June 28, 2008 in Lowell. That may be too techie for me, but I’ll keep an eye on it and I may go.

Just because yesterday’s presentation didn’t have a lot to teach me, doesn’t mean I don’t have a lot to learn. Today’s marketing majors are taking college courses in “Social Media.” I need to keep up. Here is an article I found on del.icio.us about it (Web 2.0 props to me for finding it) and here is an article about Web 2.0 Nonprofit Success Stories. And the journey continues …