The ABC of the Z

Welcome to the Z-Axis. The only blog coming to you straight from the third dimension. So, before we begin, please check your coordinate system and strap yourself in as we explore the complexities, ambiguities and insights that are the Z-Axis.

Rhetorical Question #1: Is this deja vu all over again? Wall Street firms are reporting record profits, M&A activity is peaking, media and Web companies are spending mad money on anything that seems new and cool (Flickr, Delicious, MySpace, iVillage, Writely) and Steve Jobs is still getting paid only $1 in salary. Is this Web 2.0 or Web anything goes?

Don't get me wrong. I'm a believer, proponent and practitioner of social networking, rich internet applications and Web services. What I'm questioning is how definitive it all seems to be. If you listen to or read what's coming out from the A-listers (Scoble, Wilson, Searls, Godin) or the e-media (Malik, Pogue, Evans) you would have to believe that it is all pre-destined; that we will all blog, vlog, tag, feed, chat, podcast, Skype, Sling, Tivo, etc. No doubts, no worries.

Well, excuse me for throwing some cold water on this Web 2.0 party, but not only does user behavior take a long time to change (yes, even the iPod) but it keeps on changing. What we tag today we may shmag tomorrow. Hey, I used to work at Forrester Research. Let me clue you in on a dirty little secret: nobody has an inkling of what's going to happen. At one point in the late 90's, Forrester predicted that AOL would rule the Web. Ooops. Goodbye, Steve Case; Hello, Larry and Sergey!

So, let's end this inaugural blog entry by all taking a deep breath, sticking our heads out our office windows (or moving cars) and shouting out loud: "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take any more Web 2.0 cheerleading anymore."

That's it. That's all.