Blog News Watch

I’m a total liar. I know I said I was going to dish on this whole Calacanis/”SEO sucks” thing - and I will. But I’ve come across something in the meantime that I think is even timelier and meatier, and a great way to introduce the Friday Talk Back Thread. This is sort of like the weekly open discussion Kamrul had going. Here’s where I pontificate set up in a completely neutral fashion a point of contention about some topic related to blogs, blogging, or the larger Web 2.0 world we find ourselves playing in. Then you get to “Talk Back” in the comments. The winner gets my professional editing services to look at and revise one upcoming blog post, headline and all.

Capisce? Sound like fun? Let’s play!

Today’s topic: Is Web 2.0 Losing Its Innocence?

Google Maps unleashed MyMaps yesterday (announcement here at Mashable). David Galbraith wrote a stinging piece in reply to this release - quotable excerpt follows:

On the same day, Techcrunch review an enterpise mashup service, Rearden Commerce, with $100M of funding. This wouldn’t appear so ironic, (since they currently and sensibly have their feet firmly in the ’stupid money’ enterprise camp), if it weren’t for the fact that they are announcing a move into the consumer space. Talk about a day to pick for that announcement. To add insult to injury, Rearden have an hilariously meaningless ‘long tail’ graph and are apparently going after the services market: “services are roughly 60% of the worldwide economy.” Oh yeah, are Rearden gonna run the Bosnian police force (like Computer Sciences Corporation) and hook up tourists with Bangkok Ladymen?

Om Malik commented on his good friend David G’s piece with a piece of his own:

The Web 2.0 story so far has been about taking APIs, mashups, low cost infrastructure and building applications that are then offered to customers for pretty much free, backed by an ad-supported business model. Think of this as the tie-dyed-free-love hippie phase. The Web 2.0 conference held in San Francisco in Fall 2006 was its Woodstock. A lot of good things happened, innovation blossomed, but now we are entering a more pragmatic phase, where the large players like Google and Amazon who distributed the API elixir are taking control back. Google My Maps is a case in point, where the company is competing with its “users.�? Don’t worry – it won’t be the last time you will see Mountain View adopt tactics that in the past were associated with Microsoft. Keeping that $145 billion market capitalization intact is a bitch!

And Tony Hung commented on Om’s piece here, at Deep Jive Interests, calling Google’s actions Machiavellian.

Ordinarily in Talk Back Friday, here’s where I’d present the other side but … um. I can’t find one on this issue, at least in linkable post form. But see the comments at Om’s post for some really good points:

In my eyes this is (finally) the “reality check�? that “2.0 entrepreneurs�? need to see in order to go back to the drawing rooms and go off to build business that are truly innovative and differentiated. - Jeremy Toeman

…those who insist on attaching their hopes and dreams to the bodies of charging giants’ APIs…may be destined to live the life of a lamprey…able to take in just enough nourishment to keep from starving…unless the giant decides to cut off their food supply entirely… - Steve Morsa

The way I see it is that if your startup is based solely on the basis of a mashup, you should have already figured such a scenario into the equation. There are literally hundreds of startups that are solely based on the MySpace ecosystem. If Myspace pulls the plug, thats it. Party’s over. - Pranav

So, the topic for discussion: Web 2.0 - end of the innocence? Or completely foreseeable next step in the capitalistic evolution of technology?

Rules for the Contest:

1. Comments must be substantive. Something more than “ditto” or “you’re full of it” and something less than a manifesto.
2. You must leave your email address for me to contact you if you win.
3. The winner will be chosen by me, based on content, originality, and style.
4. Winner may then submit to me via email one blog post, written by the winner, for editing and critique. I’ll be nice. Review of content will include grammar, style, headline strength and emotional appeal, and general content and formatting. Winner’s free to accept or reject my opinions as they see fit.
5. There are no restrictions - right now - on how many times you can win. If it turns into a weekly rout, I reserve the right to retire the rout-er for some period of time.

Go to it!