Beaconfire Survey – What was the most influential web 2.0 site of 2007?

Editor’s note: as a new feature, we’re doing a weekly survey of Beaconfire staff to get impressions on a variety of non-profit technology issues. All opinions expressed here are solely those of their authors. This week, we asked what people thought was the most influential web 2.0 site of 2007 – here are their answers:

Michael, Principal Consultant: What Web 2.0 category had 15% of Internet users engaged yesterday? What 2.0 revolutionary medium has Seniors, Boomers, GenX-ers, Millenials, Right Wing, Left Wing, Centrists and outright wackos using it? My vote for 2007 Most Influential Web 2.0 Site goes to YouTube.[...]

Tim, Functional Consultant: Facebook for three reasons: It successfully bridged the gap between the rockers and kiddies on MySpace and the fine upstanding professionals on LinkedIn, they had a huge jump in registered users in the past year…and everybody says so, and that’s a huge part of web 2.0.[...]

Mark, Functional Consultant: Flickr is one of the most useful Web 2.0 sites out there. While YouTube may be its more glamorous headline grabbing cousin, Flickr is more useful to more people as the taking and sharing of digital photos is much more pervasive than video.[...]

Milo, Marketing Consultant: Niche social networks: in a world of media fragmentation and long tails, it only makes sense that impersonal behemoths like MySpace and Facebook will lose ground to a smaller, more intimate and focused online communities — like the soon-to-come Shoe Tube — where users can more easily find others who share their passions.[...]

John Brian, Marketing Consultant: Social news sites, and Digg in particular. As I’ve noted previously, social news sites let you pick your own like-minded editor and are becoming a necessary commodity in a McNews world.

Brad, Client Manager: I’d like to suggest the widest influence wasn’t a particular site, but a type of site: the RSS aggregator, which not only makes user-contributed content much easier to manage and access, it also puts the user in editorial control…The power of 2.0 isn’t simply in content generation, but in content distribution.[...]

Kate, Administrative Assistant: I would suggest Facebook, because it’s very accessible to the masses. Also, there’s very little that will be more tangibly influential to the younger generation than their friends telling them when something’s cool.[...]

Eric, Senior Consultant: Yahoo! Groups. In 2007, listservs reached a big milestone: more than half of all Internet users now subscribe to at least one listserv, up from about one in three in 2001. Not only that, email that goes viral has more real world influence that the hot topic du jour at the web 2.0 hype leader du jour. That’s because older adults are much more likely to actually act on their opinions…and older Internet users disproportionately favor email for staying in touch over newfangled web 2.0 alternatives.[...] [for more, read Eric's report on Listserv use for nonprofits (pdf) -ed]

Amy, Functional Consultant: I’d have to 2^nd Kate’s nomination of Facebook – great minds and all of that. It’s most important to me because it’s helped me re-connect with family and friends who I haven’t seen in 10+ years.

Jennifer, Project Manager: The growing popularity of user reviews and ratings on products and services offers great promise for engaging the lowest common denominator…We believe it more when we hear it from our peers. From Netflix to Angie’s List, this Web 2.0 feature has had increasing influence on the American consumer in 2007, and offers great promise in 2008 for influencing consumers of nonprofit resources, services and ideas.[...]

Erika, Operations Manager: I would vote for Facebook as well… One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most about setting up my own page has been being contacted by people I haven’t heard from in a very long time, simply because they found me on Facebook. [...]

There were also submissions for less-heralded, but also important user-generated content sites like KittenWar and StuffOnMyMutt. Some answers were longer than we had room for – read full responses below the fold. And be sure to stop by next week to find out about the browser preferences of the Beaconfire team.

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Here are the full answers people sent in, in cases where they were truncated above the fold:

Michael: What Web 2.0 category has the following to its credit:

• 48% of Internet users have used it ever
• 15% of Internet users used it yesterday
• Presidential debates integrate it into their formats
• The major networks, cable stations, shows and entertainment conglomerates syndicate through it
• Mobile devices are scrambling to integrate it
• Independent artists across media are directly creating their own followings through it
• Seniors, Boomers, GenX-ers, Millenials, Right Wing, Left Wing, Centrists and outright wackos are using it
• Even I use it, sharing life moments of my family through it, right from my Treo

Did you guess it – social video. My vote for 2007 Most Influential Web 2.0 Site goes to the leader of the pack. YouTube.

Tim: I’d say it has to be Facebook for three reasons:

1. It successfully bridged the gap between the rockers and kiddies on MySpace and the fine upstanding professionals on LinkedIn
2. They had a huge jump in registered users in the past year, and here’s another 2.0 site that shows that while LinkedIn may be adding users at a higher rate over the year, FaceBook has far more users, and while MySpace has more users, FaceBook’s growth far outpaces theirs.
3. Everybody says so, and that’s a huge part of web 2.0

Mark: Don’t know about influential, but I’ll weigh in and say Flickr is one of the most useful Web 2.0 sites out there. While YouTube may be its more glamorous headline grabbing cousin, Flickr is more useful to more people as the taking and sharing of digital photos is much more pervasive than video.

Flickr is the rare social networking site that at its core addresses real needs people have: how to store photos, share them with others simply and easily, and use them in other places. It also seems to be the rare social networking site that has figured out a decent way to make money with their pro accounts. I could go on and on about how cool the features are and how its uses keep expanding for looking at locations, things and events, but you know all this already.

Milo: My shout out would go to niche social networks: in a world of media fragmentation and long tails, it only makes sense that impersonal behemoths like MySpace and Facebook will lose ground to a smaller, more intimate and focused online communities — like the soon-to-come Shoe Tube — where users can more easily find others who share their passions. No single niche SN will take over, they’ll just collectively chip away at the big networks’ share of the pie.

Brad: I’d like to suggest the widest influence wasn’t a particular site, but a type of site: the RSS aggregator, which not only makes user-contributed content much easier to manage and access, it also puts the user in editorial control. The user decides which content is worthy, and which is not, and not just by provider but also by subject. The power of 2.0 isn’t simply in content generation, but in content distribution.

Kate: I would suggest Facebook, because it’s very accessible to the masses. Also, there’s very little that will be more tangibly influential to the younger generation than their friends telling them when something’s cool. Keeping in mind that I’m probably the closest thing Beaconfire has to “The Voice of the Layperson,” I’m sure there’s plenty on the internets that I don’t know about. But Facebook got my husband to play Scrabble with me in real life, and that’s the mark of some serious influence.

I’m not saying that I think it will be the wave of the future, just that it was the wave of 2007. I think Milo’s right, but I think Facebook’s an important building block, and certainly a step up from Myspace.

Eric: No question about it. In terms of real world impact, the most influential user-generated content site of 2007 was Yahoo! Groups.

Yahoo! Is the leading provider of email groups, an online community format that is still growing at a healthy clip. In 2007, listservs reached a big milestone: more than half of all Internet users now subscribe to at least one listserv, up from about one in three in 2001.

Not only that, email that goes viral has more real world influence that the hot topic du jour at the web 2.0 hype leader du jour. That’s because older adults are much more likely to actually act on their opinions by voting, participating in local affairs, and donating to causes than younger adults, and older Internet users disproportionately favor email for staying in touch over newfangled web 2.0 alternatives.

Although twitter, facebook, myspace, and other online communities are drenched in hype (and full of promise and just flat out cool), it will be five-ten years before web 2.0 communities achieve real world political and social influence anywhere comparable to what listservs have today.

Jennifer: Consumerism is ingrained in the American culture and psyche. The growing popularity of user reviews and ratings on products and services offers great promise for engaging the lowest common denominator. I will never forget the time I tried to look up the standard sizes for a shower curtain online and found entry after entry of reviews on Target about shower curtains (priced under $25 I might add) and their relative strengths and weaknesses. This trend mirrors the rise of the common person on talk shows and reality TV. We believe it more when we hear it from our peers. From Netflix to Angie’s List, this Web 2.0 feature has had increasing influence on the American consumer in 2007, and offers great promise in 2008 for influencing consumers of nonprofit resources, services and ideas.

Erika: I would vote for Facebook as well. I don’t know whether it’s the most “influential” user generated content site, but it seems to be the most talked about at the moment. While I don’t use it very often, one of the things I’ve enjoyed the most about setting up my own page has been being contacted by people I haven’t heard from in a very long time, simply because they found me on Facebook. To me, that’s a powerful tool.