Brad Feld

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Labels That Mean Nothing

Oct 04, 2007
Category Technology

I’m going to pile on to Fred Wilson’s post titled Web 3.0 Nonsense where he suggests that Jason Calacanis’s Web 3.0, the official definition is “nonsensical versioning.”

I’ve never liked the Web 2.0 label.  I don’t like the Enterprise 2.0 label.  I don’t like anything about the 2.0 label.  I can’t even begin to think about wrapping my mind around the 3.0 label.

I was in a meeting with an entrepreneur the other who I like a lot.  He’s got a neat company, is making great progress, has a good understanding of what he is trying to do, and is now out in front of customers with his product.  However, his investor presentation had “2.0” littered through it.  Web 2.0.  Enterprise 2.0.  Community 2.0.  Marketing 2.0.  After the meeting, I gave him a lot of feedback, including my allergic reaction to all things labeled 2.0.

Labels should be evocative.  2.0 might have meant something once – when the energy around the Web began emerging again out of the rubble of the Internet crash of 2001.  But it doesn’t mean anything to me any more.  Be wary of labels that mean nothing.