How businesses are using Web 2.0: A McKinsey Global Survey

McKinsey may charge clients an arm and a leg for services, but many articles in The McKinsey Quarterly are free.

The rising popularity of user-driven online services, including MySpace, Wikipedia, and YouTube, has drawn attention to a group of technological developments known as Web 2.0. These technologies, which rely on user collaboration, include Web services, peer-to-peer networking, blogs, podcasts, and online social networks.

Respondents to a recent McKinsey survey show widespread but careful interest in this trend. (McKinsey conducted the survey in January 2007 and received responses from 2,847 executives worldwide, 44 percent of whom hold C-level positions.) Expressing satisfaction with their Internet investments so far, they say that Web 2.0 technologies are strategic and that they plan to increase these investments. But companies aren’t necessarily relying on the best-known Web 2.0 trends, such as blogs; instead, they place the greatest importance on technologies that enable automation and networking.