web 2.0

Google's £803m acquisition of YouTube, NewsCorp's £310m purchase of MySpace and the recent rumoured interest in student networking site Facebook, valued at more than £500m, suggest the market is taking web 2.0 seriously.But what is web 2.0, what makes it different to websites that have gone before, and why is there so much interest in this sector?The traditional media world is one where power is concentrated in the hands of a few. The capital cost of launching a TV channel, magazine or radio station has ensured that only those with very deep pockets could afford to participate, because building distribution and an audience took a long time.