Web 2.0 is well and truly entrenched and talk now centers around the where-to-from-here concepts. Web 3.0 or is it going to be web 2.5 - hang on, I am still trying to get used to web 2.0 and the philosophy that drives it.

Whenever we talk about web 2.0 and the flood of social bookmarking sites, the one theme creeps up every time: provide value to your list of social buddies. This leads me to wonder. What is driving web 2.0? Is it the web site owner who is trying to market themselves, and ultimately their web site and its products, or is the consumer looking for information that will validate any decisions they make.

I know many will argue, and quite rightly too, that web 2.0 is not about the commercial aspect, it is all about the social side of things. Being able to connect with anyone around the world. Share information, photos, videos, music (?) and much more. However, let’s be realistic, commerce has invaded the social landscape and is quickly learning how to manipulate it.

My title asked the question, ‘what’s in it for me’ and it seems that this philosophy drives the commerce side of social bookmarking. Our interaction needs to be on a value adding basis. When you request an individual to add you to their list, the value adding philosophy points to the ‘what’s in it for me’ attitude.

If you want me to add you to my list of buddies: Why? What do you have to offer that the other 20 requests don’t? How much value to me is there in adding you to my buddy list?

These questions are rarely thought through consciously, they are generally automatic thoughts that get answered fairly quickly. We humans, particularly males, tend to make these decisions quickly, often on the spur of the moment. Remember, first impressions really do count.

You maybe wondering what the point of this article is. Very simply, as the web 2.0 social environment becomes more and more crowded, you are going to find more reject slips than acceptances. This is going to be exacerbated by the trend of limiting the number of buddies or contacts you can have in your list.

The only way to avoid this is by demonstrating, in very simple terms, what value there is in adding you to my buddy list. If I see no value, I am going to pass you by. Answer the ‘what’s in it for me’ question and you will make friends. Follow through, and you will stay friends.

So tell me, when it comes to web 2.0 and social networking, ‘what’s in it for me?’

“And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go.” - from the nursery rhyme, “Mary Had a Little Lamb”

If Mary = online technology, then the Lamb = Mashable. If you want to be in on everything in Web 2.0 from the beginning, subscribe to the Mashable feed. You’ll get a bite of information about everything happening in the tech world. You can skim 98% of it quickly, and you can click on a link for the other 2% that really applies to you. Very useful tool.

One feature that you will regularly find some gems in is the Mashable interview. Mark Hopkins goes all over the Web 2.0 landscape to find great, useful information. Some examples of what Mark presented at Mashable in the last week of March:

JamBase: 10 years online, a database of 1 million listings, the original social network for live music lovers & producers. Interviewed the owner of JamBase on how a long-time website adapts to the constantly changing social media.

FriendFeed: Mark talked with FriendFeed founders, Paul Buchheit and Bret Taylor about their new FriendFeed API service.

crowdSPRING: a virtual marketplace to find the creative talent to do any digital job you can think of. Mark interviews Co-founders Ross Kimbarovsky and Mike Sampson to find how they have taken the idea of sites like GetAFreelancer and eLance to a whole new level.

Tremor Media: a video advertising company targeting mid- to large-size publishers. Jason Glickman, Tremor CEO, talks about the challenges of video advertising.

Kidzui: New browser targeted for kids age 6 to 11, Mark interviews AJ, his 6-year-old son, and has him play with the browser for an hour and give his thoughts and experiences.

If you want a wide-view lens capture of Web 2.0, go to Mashable and get their feed. It’s a must.

Web 2.0 and social networking are not advertising. As you’ve probably noticed, real social networkers get very upset when they expect to be networked with and instead, they get advertised to. For a true social networker, it’s like you’re at home at the dinner table with your family, when that BAD, BAD man bursts in, uninvited - he didn’t even knock! - and tries to sell you a used car.

You’d get testy, too. Some even get vindictive and vengeful. And yet, a lot of businesses see the internet, including Web 2.0, strictly as another advertising medium. Better … it’s FREE advertising! Which leads many of them to exuberantly present their products and services to you at your dinner table, as you try to have a conversation with your online “family.” Talk about a bull in a china shop!

The true business value of Web 2.0 and the internet is the opportunity to easily start and to then continue to build relationships with a LOT of people in your target market. When you focus on the numbers … the click-throughs, the inbound links, Google Pagerank, etc. … instead of the relationships, then you are putting the emphasis on the wrong syl-LA-ble.

Can you get customers online? Absolutely. You can get a ton of them.

Can you advertise directly? Not in Web 2.0 you can’t. But you can sure sit down at the dinner table and join in the conversation with a lot of like-minded people. You can build a relationship with those people and then casually let it slip what you do. And since people do business with people they like, you will get business.

But they have to see that you like them first. That is what will get you the business rewards of social networking. Web 2.0 means you must go in with the pure heart of a social networker … or risk getting your heart removed and served to you by the inmates.

The first Open Web Awards hosted by Mashable was a success. The awards night was a bit late since the winners were already announced last December 21, 2007. But still, it was a success and I’m hoping this won’t just be a first.

The conference was held yesterday January 10 at sunny San Francisco, California at the Palace Hotel. The whole Social Media and Web 2.0 community has finally got to recognizing the best of the best. A total of 250,000 votes were cast. Next year, I am certain it’ll be bigger— more nominations, more finalists, and hopefully more sponsors so the prizes will be bigger.

Here are the winners of Mashable’s first ever Open Web Awards.

1. PEOPLE’S CHOICE
Mainstream and Large Social Networks
Netlog

Applications and Widgets
WidgetBucks

Social News and Social Bookmarking
digg

Social Search
facebook

Sports and Fitness
SPORTME

Photo Sharing
VOIS

Video Sharing
Kaltura

Start Pages
iGoogle

Places and Events
myspace.com

Music
PANDORA

Social Shopping
ZliO

Mobile
Google Mobile

Niche and Miscellaneous Social Networks
cafemom

3. JUDGE’S CHOICE
Mainstream and Large Social Networks
facebook

Applications and Widgets
Flock

Social News and Social Bookmarking
digg

Social Search
Mahalo

Sports and Fitness
ESPN

Photo Sharing
flickr

Video Sharing
YouTube

Start Pages
netvibe

Places and Events
Meetup

Music
last.fm

Social Shopping
woot!

Mobile
twitter

Niche and Miscellaneous Social Networks
FilmCrave

Websites like facebook and digg are lucky to have been awarded twice. I agree more with the Judge’s Choice than with the People’s Choice though.

Congratulations to the winners! Here’s to a more successful and social Web 2.0 and Social Media in 2008!

Google and Facebook, together with Plaxo recently announced that they will be joining the DataPortability Workgroup. The announcement was a sigh of relief for those people upset with the recent Facebook brouhaha.

You see, Facebook currently is making a lot of application programmers crazy by not allowing them to import their own data. While I think this can be good for the part of Facebook, it’s doomsday for the programmers. It’s like there’s really no going out.

Facebook has become so popular last year and now it’s turning to a prima donna. But good thing the announcement will somehow bring an end to the controversy. Atleast, excitement is building up.

However, it was a mere announcement. It’s not as if Facebook users and application developers can all out access the data they need right away. Let’s just wait and see.

Definitely a first for the largest search engine in the world, Google and YouTube is teaming up with Japanase electronics company Matsushita,maker of Panasonic, to create flat panel TVs that allow viewing of online videos via YouTube.

I know of using the TV set as the computer monitor to surf the Internet but with this one, Google, YouTube, and Picassa can be easily accessed with just a press of a button.

So there’s the Google Phone and YouTube viewing in iPhones. An internet-enabled TV could be a welcome addition to the pack. I can see social marketing making its way to local TV sets making advertising and marketing have a larger reach.

If built-in Internet TVs catch the attention of the public, then web social marketing has a very bright future. Imagine Web 2.0 experience right in your own living room with just a click of the remote. I bet there will be more and more couch potatoes.

It’s not that the increasing number of social networking sites is bad. In fact, the more the merrier right? But when a startup attempts to topple Google and is promoted with much hype then fails to meet the expectactions, then it can be very disappointing…a waste even.

Such is the case with Wikia Search. Why, even Aaron Wall and Michael Arrington agrees. The not-so-search engine brought about high expectations only to disappoint.

I could go on and on and on but very notable is the poor results. I honestly think that it will take such startups a long way before they reach Google status. Or maybe never.

If users are allowed to add keywords to their profiles, then perhaps any plain Jane can top Paris Hilton and Britney’s search results. I think that’s not good.People need relevant results and until Wikia Search thinks of a better algorithm, I shall still turn to Google for my everyday search engine fix.

So we’re done with the predictions. Looks like social marketing is here to stay. Better yet, is here to lead the way of Internet marketing. The YouTube boom and the sudden popularity of Facebook are just perhaps two of the most memorable successes in 2007. From Web 2.0, we are slowly moving to Web 3.0 and now there are talks about Web 4.0. It can be quite confusing to differentiate, but only one thing is clear : Internet marketing, whether SEO, e-mail marketing, and video marketing, will still be the fastest and most phenomenal means of marketing.

Traditional marketing will still be effective but more people will turn to their Macs and PCs instead of their newspapers and TVs. I agree with Blue Magnet that “social and search marketing is clearly leading the way together with e-mail and mobile marketing.” And I so agree with their Top 10 Internet Marketing Tips :

1. Optimise your website’s content. SEO is still important. If you still haven’t gotten to optimizing your site’s content, start now. Love your audience. Love Google.
2. Create a content development strategy for your website. Nothing’s better than having a good plan. Check if it’s time for you to change niche or directions.
3. Invest in a paid search (pay-per-click) campaign. AdWords or Overture. Choose just one expect more search traffic.
4. Publicize your website through article marketing. Doing PR work is not just for traditional media. Article directories and submissions will be good for your linkbuilding efforts.
5. Develop a social media marketing strategy. Into Facebook? MySpace? There are hundreds of social networks and bookmarks that allow you to share whatever you have.
6. Create a Company Blog. Enough said. Blog will be bigger this year so take time to develop a readable and interesting blog.
7. Experiment with video marketing. You’ll be surprised how videos can help. Why do you think Google bought YouTube in the first place?
8. Engage your audiences with web widget marketing. Widgets are everywhere. Why not join in the bandwagon?
9. Discover the benefits of mobile marketing. Your mobile phone will only get thinner and smarter but it will be one powerful marketing tool. Companies should learn how to do more effective mobile marketing.
10. Create an effective email marketing strategy. E-mails will still be effective this year. Make sure though that you think of different ways on how to catch the attention of your audience. Don’t make them look like they are ready to be sent to the Spam folder.

Honor, prestige, and wealth are the things a bloggie won’t bring you says the 2008 Bloggies website. But I say wrong. A great number of bloggers have been honored and have become rich all because of blogging. And as with my predictions for this year, more and more bloggers will get paid as blogging goes mainstream and even becomes more popular.

It’s a new year and that means another round of the blog awards. The 2008 Weblog Awards is an annual non-profit competition that determines the best of all blogs through nomination around the world.

Nominations are now open for the following categories:
Best Web Application for Weblogs
Best Australian or New Zealand Weblog
Best European Weblog
Best Latin American Weblog
Best Canadian Weblog
Best American Weblog
Best Photography of a Weblog
Best Art or Craft Weblog
Best Food Weblog
Best Fashion Weblog
Best Weblog About Music
Best Gossip Blog
Best Entertainment Weblog
Best Sports Weblog
Best Weblog About Politics
Best Computers or Technology Weblog
Best Topical Weblog
Best GLBT Weblog
Best Teen Weblog
Most Humorous Weblog
Best Writing of a Weblog
Best Group Weblog
Best Community Weblog
Best-Designed Weblog
Best-Kept Secret Weblog
Best New Weblog
Lifetime Achievement
Weblog of the Year

If you’re going to nominate SocialMarketingJournal, do so with the “Best Topical Weblog.” There’s always a first.

Mashable has introduced a new section of its website called Web 2.0 Marketplace.

The Marketplace allows anyone to go online to buy, sell, or trade websites that offer Web 2.0 services or to make deals regarding the services themselves. If you are in the Web 2.0 market - that is, you want to buy a domain name or website in this niche area or you have one to sell, or you provide services regarding Web 2.0 - then you might be interested in connecting with others of like mind.

The Web 2.0 Marketplace offers the following sections for networking:

• Websites for Sale
• Websites Wanted
• Jobs Available
• Jobs Wanted
• Consulting
• Blogger Jobs
• Bloggers for Hire
• Platform/Software Providers
• Facebook Developers
• Events
• Domains for Sale
• Seeking Funding

In addition, Mashable will allow you to request a category not listed. Now the only question is, Can you define Web 2.0?