Friday, October 10, 2008

THE END OF WEB 2.0 -- JUST ANOTHER PART OF THE ROLLER COASTER RIDE

So by now the news of Sequoia Capital ringing the alarm bell about the severity of market conditions and what that means for start-ups has spread like wildfire around the blogosphereand the follow-up commentary from both bloggers and readers is coming on fast and furious -- can't you just hear the keystrokes?!

As someone who was fortunate (or unfortunate!) enough to be part of the roller coaster ride that was the original Internet bubble, I can tell you that this definitely feels like deja vu all over again -- except that now there seems to be even more fear and loathing of what's to come, if for no other reason than because of the proliferation of blogs, forums and other digital media that helps spread the doomsday message. We're living in an age of the virtual water cooler except unlike the first go-around, where most of the chatter was happening between and among people that actually knew each other -- whether by email or at the fabled Internet World conference (remember those good 'ol days?!). Nowadays, our one-to-many missives are going global, with comments coming in from as far away as Israel and Russia.

We truly are a global village - so let's all try to act like it and agree to work together to ride out this economic maelstrom by practicing sound business principles, being smart with our money and building the next generation (dare we say Web 3.0?!) of killer digital products and services.

The good news is that for every dip in the roller coaster ride, there's always an end which has a few people feeling sick to their stomach but most begging to go around again. I know I'm on board -- are you?!