# What Web 2.0 is and why it matters

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/11/08/what-web-20-and-why-it-matters/
- Published: 2007-11-08T15:11:31+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

As more charities embrace social networks like Facebook, enable their staff to write
blogs, and develop online communities for their supporters, it can be useful to 
remember that lots of people still don’t understand Web 2.0, let alone its significance
to fundraisers.

 

One of the better primers on the subject is a video by Michael Wesch, Assistant 
Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Kansas State University. In four and a half 
minutes he summarises why digital text and the growth of social networking facilities
are such important developments. Even better, he integrates these tools within the
video to demonstrate his arguments. The result is compelling and even inspiring.

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It’s weakness is the speed with which it carries its argument, and the assumption
that the viewer has some understanding already of these tools. There is no mention
of fundraising, but it’s focus on users/individuals, and its closing argument that
these tools mean “we’ll need to rethink….” copyright, authorship, identity, business,
privacy etc shows that these changes are directly relevant to fundraisers who wish
to communicate effectively.

 

Nevertheless, if Web 2.0 is still passing you by as a fundraiser, see if this makes
things clearer.

 

 

 * **[Facebook Pages offers new ways to engage with supporters](https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/11/14/facebook-pages-offers-new-ways-engage-supporters/)**(
   14 November 2007)
 * **[Bully for YouTube](https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/11/15/bully-youtube/)** (
   15 November 2007)
 * **[November online fundraising roundup](https://fundraising.co.uk/2007/11/17/november-online-fundraising-roundup/)**(
   17 November 2007)