Web 2.0 made easy

Attending seminars and workshops that claim to explain what Web 2.0 is, and why we should care, has become a bit of a game for me. In my experience, one of two things usually happens. Everyone in the room is already steeped in Web 2.0 and is a social media practitioner in some shape or form – so it’s a case of preaching to the converted.

Alternatively it’s what I call the furrowed brow outcome – people leave the event so confused and overwhelmed by what it all means and the only take away is that they need to start a blog, but they are not entirely sure why.

Not so with Jamaaludeen Kahn, owner of Jayz Internet Solutions. I tagged along to his free Web 2.0 seminar at the Bandwidth Barn in Cape Town last week to see him in action, as in my opinion he is one of the few people who can successfully explain Web 2.0 concepts, and how we should be using them.

A natural-born teacher, Jamaal combines some great audio-visual material, personal anecdotes and tips about reference material to check out. All through the seminar his Twitter and Facebook feeds are going ballistic on the side of the screen. Friday’s seminar was the 2 hour speed version of what usually takes a day, but I can see how companies and individuals trying to get their head around Web 2.0 can benefit from the full training.

I particularly like Jamaal’s common sense approach to Web 2.0 and social media. The reality is that Web 2.0 provides “new channels for how humans [already] communicate”. So the bottom line for me is, use what makes sense, phase in new channels of communication, and definitely take an integrated approach to your communications plan.