Shawn Collins put together a list of the sites he, Scott Jangro, Jim Kukral and I discussed today as a part of eComExpo’s web2.0 and affiliate marketing panel.

http://blog.affiliatetip.com/archives/top-web-20-sites-and-applications/

My favorite question in the live Q&A after the panel presentation went along the lines of:

Isn’t web2.0 just a renaming of things that have existed for a long time?

It’s a question I hear a lot, and it is usually asked by those cautious or skeptical of some of the claims being made about these emerging social platforms on the web.

Of course web2.0 is just the renaming of something that has existed for a long time.

So is the world wide web.

So is the internet.

So is television.

So is radio.

So is telegraph.

So is the printing press.

So is the codex.

So is papyrus.

So is the clay tablet.

So is language.

The thing to understand is that we’re not just constantly re-inventing the wheel… we’re making the wheel work better. This is especially true in the sphere of marketing since marketing is just an attempt to convince another person to use a particular site, service, product, object or platform.

However, in each one of the advancements, we’re not only re-inventing or re-labeling… we’re pushing boundaries and enhancing tools that have existed for ages. The enhancement of these tools will continue to happen as we push into web3.0 or web4.0 and so on.

Instead of acting skeptically, the better tactic might be to get your hands dirty with these enhanced tools instead of dismissing them as the latest fads, trends, buzzwords or flavor of the months.

The presentation is available at eComXpo University and you can listen to the Q&A audio on WebmasterRadio.FM.