Web 2.0 as an attitude without technology?
Last week, I had a really interesting and enjoyable chat with an ex-colleague of mine about Enterprise 2.0 and one of the comments he made that really struck me was that Web 2.0 is an attitude. Well, we all know that. The changing face of Gen Y and the advent of facebook and youtube has changed it all. However, he went on to give an example of web 2.0 as an attitude.
There are “Pay what you want” restaurants around town and I have personally been to one. The one listed on the link believes that customers are paying 20% above the original price and the one that I have been to in Singapore gives all its proceeds to a Indian dance school just next door and the dance school is HUGE!
So the concept is simple. You and your mates grab lunch/dinner/food at the restaurant and depending on what you feel like, you pay what you want. In Singapore, where food is very cheap and an average decent dinner in a similar type restaurant would set you back approx $15, however, because I did not know how much to give and because its for charity as well, I gave $40. They have clearly made a profit from this and I have helped the kids next door learning how to dance for free.
The owners of the restaurant clearly practices some traits of web 2.0 specifically in the trust area. Its business and you allow people to give what they want. They run a risk of people paying too little. If a family of four paid 10 cents for the dinner, they would have alot of catching up just to break even. This is pure trust that people will pay what they feel.
I totally agree that Web 2.0 is an attitude but it doesn’t mean that we need technology to bring this idea forward. Well, this is alittle ironic coz Web 2.0 is about the new generation of the web and its all about technology but you get what I mean – I do not have a name for this changing attitude. This is a changing attitude in the world and we must understand how this will impact all aspects of life and business.
Mary Adams said,
I couldn’t agree more that Web 2.0 is more than a technology. Technology makes it more efficient but the ultimate driver is the shift to a knowledge-based economy. In a knowledge economy, the people at the bottom know more than the people at the top. So it only makes sense that ideas and decisions should be pushed down to the people who know best. It’s an attitude and should be a management strategy.
Sean Lew said,
Absolutely! And yes absolutely a management strategy. Well said
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