Do you remember the first time you heard “Web 2.0″ and thought to yourself…wait, the internet is going to have a new version? The reality is, well…sorta. The term was coined a decade ago and the web has shifted from static, force-fed websites to vibrant, user-centric communities.

Pre-2000, what did we have? Websites with embarrassing under construction animated gifs, marquee text scrolling across the page, multiple frames, unusable navigation, and eye-straining black backgrounds. Even the most “advanced” sites had overused flash and only had content presented by webmasters. Trust me, I know all too well because I’ve been a website judge the since the turn of the century.

Fast forward to today, we have arrived at Web 2.0. Look at all of the possibilities you have to build your presence, have a voice, and share your thoughts. You can truly be a part of any community and there are even a plethora of ways to build your own communities. Many of the most visited sites are about sharing: Facebook, YouTube, WordPress just to sample a few. Among us are sites that promote social networking, video sharing, blogging, wikis … an information overload for many but perfect for the up-and-coming generation.

So how did we get here? No, there really isn’t one thing that brought us to this point. It’s simply an evolution — IMO, a much welcomed one. Use these tools as much or as little as you desire to catch up with friends, rekindle past relationships, or simply be a voyeur (‘fess up, many of us watch reality shows).

For those of us who have shunned many of these sites at this point, you should at least take a closer look. Entrepreneurs are building better businesses, sales people are building better relationships, parents are more aware, teens are more open. To a degree, none of these are bad. No longer would you have to paste crappy HTML in order to create an unreadable MySpace page; even Web 2.0 has evolved into a better version of itself so that even the most non-tech savvy person can find their way around. If you haven’t hopped on the bandwagon, it’s time to get on. Embrace the present!

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