Web 2.0 and the Cloud
For years, when companies wanted to place content on the web, they hired web developers, who created the underlying HTML documents. Through this process, the number of documents on the web exploded to billions worldwide. Web 2.0 is a term used to describe the set of tools and websites that allow users to publish content to the web without the direct use of HTML. Behind the scenes, the tools and sites build the HTML documents for the user and then upload the documents to a web server. TABLE 1-1 describes the common Web 2.0 applications.
TABLE 1-1 Common Web 2.0 sites and applications.
| Application/Site | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Blog | A web log that users can write and use to publish content directly to the web |
| Wiki | A software program that allows users to collaborate on shared web-based documents |
| A microblogging service that allows users to send messages of up to 255 characters to those who follow the users’ tweets | |
| Facebook/Instagram | A social networking site to which users can post text, photos, and video-based content |
| YouTube | A site to which users can upload video content for sharing with others |
As shown in FIGURE 1-3, with Web 2.0 tools and sites, users essentially publish content directly to the cloud for access by other users.
FIGURE 1-3 Web 2.0 tools make it easy for users who do not possess web development skills to easily publish content on the web.