A new era.

We are on the brink of a technological revolution. This will be no small change. It will change the entire world around us. How we live, work, play, and inform. It is known as the "web 2.0". It is changing our world into one of mass scale collaboration, a world of openness. Companies, large or small, will have to adapt.

In recent years, companies that are defining the "web 2.0", have flourished. Sites like Digg, Myspace, and Facebook, are changing the way we communicate; sites like Wikipedia, changing the way we store and use information.

Myspace and Facebook are changing the way advertisers work. Before, incentives (contests, etc) had to be given to get information from people -- things like age, work, education, hobbies, and interests. Now, people freely give this away, making it public for all to see.

The idea of a wiki; a source of information available for people to use and edit freely; allows for companies to put together a massive collection of information for their employees to make use of. Some companies are even taking mass collaboration to the next level, showing all their companies hidden secrets, and providing an incentive to help collaborate with them. Incentives vary from employment with the company, to cash prizes for the best solutions or ideas.

Some, however, are against this change in the roles of society. There are those that would rather the people of the world stayed out of business. They believe that giving information away only works against them. They say proprietary company holdings are the only way to go, providing hard earned value for work.

No matter who is right, one thing is certain. The ball has been set in motion, and there is no way to stop it. The era of mass collaboration is upon us, where the consumer is almost another subsection of companies, helping to create things ranging from instruction guides, to mods and other add-ons to products.

Welcome to a new era. Welcome to the "Web 2.0".