“Web 2.0” vs. “Social Media”

Are the definitions interchangeable?  Sequential?  Relational?

Web 2.0. Lots of us did not like the term to begin with, but it was needed to show the move from static sites into a new conversational web. Most of the world’s leading software developers have shifted their focus in this direction. We have entered a period where mobile apps are the focal point of innovation. It is no longer Web 2. It is just the web.

Social Media. It was back in 2005, or perhaps 2004, when Chris Shipley walked onto the dais of a DEMOConference and introduced the term “social media” in her keynote address. She defined the term, “as spaces on the internet where people came to exchange content.”

This term social media trends is thrown around a lot in blogs and conferences. Yet every company that talks of it, sites social media and Web 2.0 as a vital component to their new companies. Some uses were unique and unprecedented. But social media has evolved as an obvious part of any app, certainly any mobile app.