Surfers Riding The Wave Of The Web

The Internet has come a long way since its inception. The latest incarnation has seen static text websites overtaken by dynamic multimedia content driven sites as the surfer's favourites. Web 2.0 is more than just a pipe dream, it is here to stay. These trends are not only important to help us understand what web visitors are looking for, they help us build marketing strategies that are effective and appealing to the majority. While varying markets do see different trends, the overall shift in usage is indicative of the way the Internet is moving forward.

What Is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 encompasses a broad range of user driven sites. Social networking, blogs, tagging, bookmarking, and virtual worlds play a major part in this. Second Life is perhaps one of the most surprising virtual worlds to have established itself on the Internet. Real world companies have set up their Second Life business and, in some cases, their online performance has far outstripped their real world performance. While this isn't a viable route for many, it does signify the impact that websites previously considered as games are now having.

User Driven Content Sites

Any user driven site or content can be considered web 2.0. The fact that blogs allow users to comment, vote, and even rate content means that a blog is certainly web 2.0. However, more interactive sites exist. Video and image sharing has been taken to a new level, with YouTube the third most popular site on the Internet according to Alexa. This shows the overall appeal that video, and multimedia content in general, now controls.

Multimedia Viewing Figures

According To Nielsen//NetRatings, online consumption in the UK of music, video, and television has increased by an impressive 91%. This has undoubtedly been spurred by the increase in the related technologies such as a greater broadband Internet connection as well as improved video streaming technology. NetRatings also reports that 63% of Britons that surf the Internet view multimedia content, a growth of 15% from the previous year.

Social Networking Popularity

Social networking sites like MySpace and FaceBook have also enjoyed increased popularity. Member Community websites rank as the second most widely visited sector of website in the UK. In fact, only multi category travel websites rank higher. In the month of July 2007, member community websites received an impressive 40.2 million click throughs. Social media is massive.

Google's Market Share

Also, of note, is the increase in market share that the search behemoth Google has gained. In July 2007 over 80% of all search click throughs came from the Google network. Google has always been the strongest of the search engines demanding the greatest number of users and the greatest number of searches. However, they have never before reached this kind of level. Yahoo ranked 2nd with 7.5%, AOL (powered by Google) third with 5.5%, and MSN fourth with 2.7%.

Summaries

Social networking and multimedia websites are hugely popular and the avid Internet marketer needs to take advantage of these figures. Tagging and bookmarking play a part in this, but creating and submitting video to video sharing websites can also help to drive new traffic to a website.

In terms of search engine optimisation, little has really changed. It has always been the primary objective of an SEO campaign to feature highly on Google rankings, because they have always offered a website the greatest exposure. Google's market share has increased, now gaining four in every five searches conducted in the UK, but SEO strategies do not need to be heavily amended to allow for this change.