23 August 2006
Widgets
Now, the problem with this setup is simple. “Widget” is about as Valley a word as you can get. It cuts to the big problem at the heart of 2.0: a handful of old geeks and beancounters trying (and largely failing) to invest in cool services consumers luv; a bunch of hipsters trying (and failing) to revolutionize mass markets with radical management innovation.
“Widget”, let’s recall, is a term to reflect the banality of business: the generic, homogeneous, standardized, meaningless “product” churned out by industrial era business.
Calling the microchunked components of a new breed of radically innovative services, then, which connect consumers socially and culturally “widgets” is just setting the stage for (yet another) round of 2.0 funding gone awry.

Edward Vielmetti said,
Oct 17 #
Hello, my viral fun-packs!