What is web 2.0???

Hmmmmm, difficult question to answer. I'm sitting here trying to think of the best way to explain.

Wait! I got it:

Web 2.0 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

...get your reading glasses and utilize this wonderful thing called "Wikipedia"!

The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design,[1] and collaboration on the World Wide Web. A Web 2.0 site allows users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators (prosumers) of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to websites where users (consumers) are limited to the passive viewing of content that was created for them. Examples of Web 2.0 include social networking sites, blogs, wikis, video sharing sites, hosted services, web applications, mashups and folksonomies.

I think the keyword here is "sharing". Web 2.0 are sites were you can share and interact with other people.

Yup, basically they are web technologies which all anyone to contribute and share knowledge. It's all about interaction and community.

Web 2.0 goes way beyond just social media websites and wikipedia. There are hundreds of callaborative sites which are fun to use and have great potential.

A few examples include Dropbox, for shareing files. Particularly useful if there are several contributors to documents or a shared database/spreadsheet. Also means you can get to these files anywhere you have internet access.

EtherPad is technology allowing the simultaneous writing of word documents that all viewers can see as people type. This can be useful for a number of things, maybe during web seminars or conferences for feedback and questions.

Lastly, websites like wallwisher allow multiple of people to add "sticky notes" of information on to the virtual noticeboard. This collaboration could be excellent for a teams research and findings.

There are lots of ways these kinds of software could be used in IM, to stand out from the crowd and bring some user interactivity. A lot of these technologies are fun and easy to use.

I've had to find many of these "new and interesting" websites in the last year as a trainee ICT needing to bring fun topics into the classroom to keep the kids interested!

But Matt, above is correct. It is a term for the generation of internet we are currently in and fast leaving behind. Web 3.0 is upon us. This, some feel, will enable the technology to "learn" all about it's user and start to really personalise everything you do for you.