In case you’re wondering about web 2.0, this is the best definition I’ve seen to date:

“Web 2.0 is all the Web sites out there that get their value from the actions of users.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u3ekzwnYxw

People are saying that ecommerce 2.0 is web 2.0 technologies applied to ecommerce.  I think that totally ignores the driving force behind web 2.0, which is the social contributions behind it.  Youtube is the poster child for web 2.0 (so is myspace but I think its ugly and we wont really address it).  The content is contributed by individual users and individual users determine which videos are popular, based on what’s most viewed (We’re ignoring manipulation for now).

Of course, when you talk about web 2.0, you have to pay homage to flickr, delicious and digg.  Flickr and delicious popularized tagging and digg popularized user submitted content.

Ecommerce 2.0 will not just be ecommerce with flash whiz bang interfaces (ajax).  Also ecommerce 2.0 will go beyond just user’s recommendation on a product, like Amazon reviews.  Ecommerce 2.0 will have customization of products to the users.

One clear example is purchasing clothes.  If I’m buying a new pair of shoes, I shouldn’t have to browse through selections that are not my size.  I don’t care browse through the new Nike Airs if they don’t have them in 12 wide.  An ecommerce 2.0 site should show me what I can wear because that’s what I’m going to buy.  This is idea is just the tip of the iceberg and I think there’s quite the opportunity here.

*edit*  Another good thought:

ckcheng: your shopping analogy should be expanded
ckcheng: to use community usage to offer suggestions
ckcheng: “similar patrons were interested in _____”
ckcheng: then have products that rise and fall in popularity displayed

So I wonder what is it about leading a healthy life that makes it not “addicting”.  This thought comes from reading an article about addiction to World of Warcraft.  Its easy to get addicted to many things in life but for some reason, leading a healthy life is not one of them. 

First, I’d like to split up addiction into two categories.  The first category of addictions are ones that easily hook people with very little effort on the user’s part.  An example of this would be an addiction to caffeine or chocolate.  These items are really easy to obtain and they have highly addictive properties to them.  These kind of addictions are easy to understand.

However, there’s another class of addiction that takes a lot of work.  For instance, running.  Running takes a lot of time and effort.  For those of us who’s tried and failed, we know how much work it is.  I’d like to also comment that running is boring.  I don’t care how much you enjoy it, but it’s not exciting.  I do understand why people are addicted to it but it doesn’t change the fact that it takes a lot of effort.  Another example is work.  For those who are workaholics, no matter how fun work is, work is work.  Work is also hard.  Work is work.  You rarely hear anybody say “Lets take two weeks of vacation to do work.”  Enough said.

I bring this up because World of Warcraft is addictive and its a lot of work.  If you ever ask the typical WoW player what he/she spends most of their time on, its not socializing, its not adventure nor is it anything “fun”.  Most WoW players “grind”, which means they do a repetitive action to get a reward.  Without going into too much detail, playing WoW takes a lot of work.

I wonder why leading a healthy, balanced life isn’t “addicting”.  Yes, it takes a lot of work.  Everyone knows that there are plenty of rewards to be had.  You’ll get more out of life.  You’re happier.  You live longer.  etc.  So what is it about leading a healthy life that it doesn’t have the same addictive properties as these other things?  Any thoughts?