New Waves of Productive Technology

Most baby boomers should have at least one email account and using office software effectively. For the past decade, these tools are sufficient to improve their productivity. However, they might miss the next wave of productive technologies: Web 2.0 and social networks. The tools for online communication are different from 10 years ago. These web platforms have reformed from static website to a higher degree participation website.

This new business models need the user to participate in the website and help to create the web experience. Take Amazon as example, most boomers enjoy reading the online book reviews created by others. All these readers just put their review for reference and with this information, Amazon have an advantage against other booksellers.

This is called "crowd-sourcing". The website is very popular because it is getting information through customer input. This is something like giving a testimonial about a product. However, this is also a type of win-win situation as the users also benefiting from the availability of comprehensive information. You should consider Web 2.0 as your business model when your users are the experts, let the users provide the necessary information among them.

Social networks that are red hot right now are Facebook and MySpace. The average users are aged below 35. A lot of socializing is exchanged through these networks of friends. There is also huge opportunity to easily access groups of like minded-people.

Advertising in Facebook is a rising trend that more and more business owner started to advertise through Facebook.

They were able to target communications to college freshmen through Facebook with information about items to help set-up a dorm room. Of course all these items were readily available at their store or website. These cutting edge technologies have business applications that can help you grow your business. These new web based platforms are much more then places to socialize.