Here’s a list of bullet points on which the majority of ‘common users’ go through when they decide to enter into this digital space:

1. I have a need of a ‘website’. Everybody has one so I need one too.
2. My website has to be 2.0. I don’t know what 2.0 means but it will make things go better.
3. I have to contact ‘someone’ who can create this site for me. I don’t know where this 2.0 starts and where it ends. I need help.
4. I found ‘someone’ that can create my ‘website 2.0′. Let’s do it.
5. We created the site. I decided together with ‘somebody’ how to make it.
6. People use these ‘websites’ to release so called ‘posts’. I will update the site every once… in a while…
7. Now that I’m officially ’2.0 certified’ I’ll leave the structure of my website like this for the next 3-4 years.
8. ‘Somebody’ told me that my ‘website’ needs to be upgraded to more recent platforms. But I don’t want to invest in this anymore.
9. My ‘website’ got hacked, I don’t get comments but a lot of spam, I don’t have time to write/post anything on it. Why should I do it anyway.
10. I don’t see results, just more work to do. Web 2.0 and this social media environment suck.

Few thoughts… :

1. You don’t have websites anymore. You have communication channels.
2. 2.0 is just a tag for period and that signed the beginning of a new participation era. This era kept evolving from those early days and today we are living in one of its new and numerous evolution stages.
3. The social media landscape is much more that simple websites.
4. ‘Everybody’ can build up a website for you (in many cases it can also be cheap or even for free) but only few know how to shape it and make it work to better respond to your needs/objectives.
5. Once you have a basic web structure… well you just got your running shoes on, now you need to run.
6. Often people don’t realize the possibilities they have so they don’t embrace them. (Or maybe they do realize it but they don’t invest time/money/human resources in it).
7. A website that is not used to engage a two-way communication with the world is like a picture on the wall, you can just look at it. On the other hand if you use the site actively, that picture on the wall will change into a window that will open up countless opportunities to communicate with any niche/broad audience at global level.
8. Sites are like cars. If you don’t take care of them, stop to work. Maintenance requires investments.
9. Like we said “no maintenance = difficulties”.
10. Entering the social media space doesn’t mean “more work to do”, it means “more possibilities to establish a unique relationship with your audience, relaunch your brand, become part of the conversation, etc. etc. etc.”

This is what comes from my experience but… what’s your take? Join the conversation here on the blog or via Twitter / Jaiku / Friendfeed

Andrea

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