Web 2.0 Expo 2007

The day started early at 8:30am with the Keynote. Jeff Weiner from Yahoo was first up with John Battelle to talk about the future direction of Yahoo. Not much there we don’t already know, except that Yahoo’s 1Q profit was not as spectacular as the Wall St guys would hope. Weiner justified it by saying that better quarters are yet to come. Maybe it was too early for John, or maybe he partied late last night, his performance yesterday with Eric was better.

The other parts of the keynote was so-so. I think there wasn’t really much to the discussion on Web 2.0 for the Enterprise, at least nothing new there for me. The panelists exhorted the fact the Web 2.0 apps do not need to be installed when new versions come out. To corporations, this is really not the big issue. More critical are really cost, features, support and security. If the Web Apps are backed by the industry gorillas like IBM or Microsoft, perhaps corporations will bite.

The ignite speakers were alright – I particularly like the last one, I think the company’s name is Potenta, which invented a human-powered device for third-world countries. Happiness talk’s point was moot, and Open Source Hardware was too kiddish, plus it’s subject matter on weapons was off in view of VTech incident on Monday, but the presenter did a good job clarifying before she started. Oh yes, the forgettable talk on 4-day-work-week didn’t do much for me – sounded like some kind of self-help inspiration guru half-baked.

Of all, Joost P2P TV demo was pretty cool – I think it could be a hit when it is launched.

I choose the following sessions today:

• From Desktop to Device: Designing the Ubiquitous Mobile Experience. Sling Media did a demo (nothing new) showing streaming video on Palm, rerouted from the home STB. Zenzui showed of their cross-arrow slick sliding interface for the mobile phone – it’s cool in the beginning, but — Does it work on all devices? Is it a one-trick pony?
• Web 2.0++: Why We Got Here and What’s Next. Rolf Skyberg from eBay presented in Black and White Lawrence Lessig-style in 495 slides! His key point was that Web 2.0 has now become an ‘approachable investment’ – cheap enough for anyone to put up information and make it a rich information resource for all. I guess the question that begs is whether such approachable investment would have returns or not? I suppose small risk, small reward? I look forward to download his slides when it is ready.
• Immersive Experience Lessons from Game Designers. Raph Koster had some wild ideas — and I like them. One point he had — “Older men act like women” — I laughed. I suppose that’s true when it comes to gaming, in real life too? Maybe some men. Koster gave about 35 disconnected tips from game designers that ‘may or may not’ apply to interactive interfaces – he dished out the ‘law of 150′ and other goodies, said that we should consider human behavior / sociology when designing interactive content, and declared that avatars are really masks / alternate personality of the gamer, etc. Good stuff.
• Reality Bites: The Future of Gaming + Virtual Worlds 2.0. This was a panel session, which also included Koster. I thought Koster trying to make his point to the host about the fact that everything, gaming or not, could be addictive, was funny. Poor host, I could almost see her tearing. Come now, Koster, it’s not really serious was it? It was a good session with the panelists showing WOW, Club Penguin and Gaia Online, and predicting the rise of virtual gaming. There will be a lot of VC buzz in this one I bet. Lot of people went up to chat with them after the session ended.
• Embracing the Swirl: eCommerce in the 2.0 Era. Kip Voytek from R/GA spoke at length about how the traditional marketing mantra of AIDA (Aware, Inform/Influence, Decide/Desire, Action) flow of selling may need some ‘hacking’ when Web 2.0 is concerned. The Is and Ds are now much larger in scope, and are fragmented into a swirling pattern as buyers goes offline and online, swinging between the I and the D in unpredictable ways. Cool thoughts.

This ends the write-up to Web 2.0 Expo 2007. I haven’t got the chance to talk about the Exhibits, but the show floor was always busy, buzzing with activity.

Thanks to the organizers, all in all, a very rewarding time and a great expo. I learned a lot – there is a lot more to Web 2.0 as it evolves. I really hope to come again next year – I think the platform will be a lot more mature as time rolls on.