Web 2.0 Wiki technology : enabling technologies, community behaviors, and successful business techniques and models

Abstract

Many technologies fall under the umbrella of what is commonly known as "Web 2.0," including the Wiki, a software product which allows multiple users to review and edit documents online. Like all Web 2.0 technologies, Wikis are characterized by collaboration; without an active community, they can rapidly become stale and of little use. Businesses based on collaborative web sites must effectively manage a large circle of what are essentially non-employees with perhaps no or little interest in the company other than the benefit they derive from the information offered through the site. The company must provide this benefit to them and give them a desire to keep the site running in order to do its best to ensure itself with a sustainable revenue model. This thesis seeks to discover how a business can create visibility, maintain an eager-to-contribute user base, and generate revenue from users' effort. It will examine the evolution of technology which has created the collaborative Web 2.0 tools, specifically the Wiki. It will then move into looking at the social networks that must be created to sustain the Wiki. Lastly, it will examine the business models and techniques that can enable a savvy company to earn a profit from the use of these technologies.