Why are Web 2.0 applications successful?

Rod Boothby has been having some fun this week poking a stick it the IBM Lotus community (here, here).

I’m not going to join that particular fire-storm, instead I am going to use it as a branching point.

Rod seems to assert two things:

• People use Web 2.0 applications because of their nice web interfaces.
• The primary interface that people use is a browser.

If you read through these two posts you will find these statements:

Quoting Charles Robinson:

“Not everyone likes working with applications in a browser. We’ve done extensive usability testing at work, and in nearly every case users prefer the Notes version to web-based implementations. We tried to force a group of users to only use web-based mail and they simply stopped checking it because they hated using a browser. (We tried them on Zimbra, too, and had the same result so it wasn’t just Domino Web Access.)”

Rod’s answer is:

This, to me, is a surprising result.   The examples of Yahoo! Mail, HotMail, Gmail, MySpace, Flickr, YoutTube, FaceBook, Wikipedia and the 50+ Million blogs out there would tend to contradict that user testing.

Is that really how it is for everyone out there? Because it isn’t for me.

I don’t use Web 2.0 applications because of their browser interface I use them for far more basic reasons:

• I use flickr because it is a great way to distribute my photos to my friends.
• When I post an image on flickr I get my ego massaged when people comment – that’s why I post them to groups and the like. I want someone to comment.
• I look on YouTube every now and then because I want to see what’s hot, I don’t want to be left behind. I am one of the huge majority of people who looks, but posts nothing. I’ll do some rating and some commenting, again to massage my ego, to be seen.
• I use Wikipedia as a reference source, but I don’t contribute at all. I don’t really care whether it’s Web 2.0 or not; it’s a reference source.
• If I had something I thought would get noticed on Wikipedia then I’d contribute.
• I don’t use MySpace because none of my friends use it (yet). There’s no-one their to massage my ego.
• And what am I doing right now, I’m expressing myself in order to solicit a response. I want to know that people read my blog otherwise I wouldn’t do it.

In summary: I use these sites because I get something out of it. I’m selfish. I’m not using them because they have a great interface.

When it comes to using these tools through the browser:

• I use a client applications to upload to flickr.
• I use a client RSS reader (FeedDemon, NewsGator).
• I use a client blog writer (Windows Live Writer).
• I used to use Hotmail – but only through an Outlook connector.

I didn’t write all of these tools so I’m assuming that I’m not the only one who would prefer not to use the browser.

Unfortunately I don’t have any statistics for it, but I would guess that I am using my browser less now than I was 18 months ago. The important thing to me is that the data is in the cloud and that I can access it from wherever. Now that most of my data is coming to me via RSS I don’t have to use that slow browser thing.

The need for accessibility means that I want a browser interface, but I’m not going to use it every day just because it’s there. The browser interface is not optimal so I’m better off using the things that is.