Web 2.0 is a term bandied about with a reckless abandon these days. It means a lot of things to a lot of different people. Let me try my hand at explaining.
As near as I can figure, web 2.0 mainly describes the resurgent development of the internet (similar to the tech bubble in the late 90's). This wave is driven primarily by a programming methodology/discipline called AJAX (click here for examples of the how and what of Ajax, or just click on the star rating over in the side bar). This is coupled with a design which tries to harness the incredible value of user interaction, networking, and desire to replace desktop functions with web based ones. Of course there is lots of money for development right now, and that never hurts.
Wikipedia defines Web 2.0 as "a term often applied to a perceived ongoing transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving web applications to end users. Ultimately Web 2.0 services are expected to replace desktop computing applications for many purposes."
The idea is to change the the web from a assortment of static websites (think book pages with music and videos) to services, aggregators (automatic collectors and sorters) and social networks which draw on the unique advantages of placing data/programs in a almost universally accessible platform (the internet). I can't really think of a picture to explain this, things are being done now that can only be done because of the unique properties of the internet.
I will get into some more specifics later (specifically how I use Web 2.0 products) but a few services I can definitely recommend (and use) are del.icio.us, GrandCentral, and Google Reader (I intend for my next post to be about RSS and Feeds, so if you are unfamiliar with these wait till check out Google Reader).
If you want to be overwhelmed, this is a nicely formatted directory of sites claiming the Web 2.0 banner.
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