The mercurial rise of social networking sites and user-generated content has rekindled users’ interest in accessing Web-based services on the move. That the mobile phone is an inherently personal device which is not only with us most of the time, but also contains a huge amount of personal data (contact lists of names and phone numbers, stored messages and emails etc.) makes it a logical extension for the social network and the host of other collaborative Web 2.0 applications gaining traction.

Perhaps the major factors driving the shift in how the Internet operates – whether fixed or mobile – are those of user interaction and enhancement. The Web is no longer simply an online resource of information to be consulted, searched and acted upon. It has become a network of social communities and information databases that are constantly growing and improving as they continue to harness the collective intelligence of users. It could therefore be argued that whereas Web 1.0 served essentially as a broadcast medium (i.e. of information/knowledge) ‘Web 2.0’ takes the form of a platform whereby the creator of content, has become the focus.

Defining Mobile Web 2.0
Difficulty in establishing a firm and accepted definition, plus the fact that many of Web 2.0’s core concepts cannot be replicated directly within the cellular environment, is paralleled in a similar debate on what exactly denotes Mobile Web 2.0. Whilst it is possible to identify common themes between an Internet- based and mobile Web-based application, the exact features or functionality that makes either a ‘1.0’ or ‘2.0’ application is still largely open to interpretation.

Perhaps the most concise definition can be derived from the work of NESSI (Networked European Software and Services Initiative). This private-public European research program pulls together various bodies and is exploring Web 2.0 technologies because they provide the capability for rapid integration of services (mashups) and, through folksonomies, for the informal description of services (i.e. user-tagged content).

According to NESSI’s Semantic Technologies Working Group: ‘Web 2.0 technologies can potentially deliver advanced sharing and learning functionality based on (European wide) social networks exploiting user-tagged content and overcoming individual and local limitations for knowledge end [sic] experience sharing. Exploiting and modelling of relationships using techniques such as social network analysis enables a new dimension for knowledge sharing and collaboration.’

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