Social networking, profiles, blogs, interactive virtual realities and mashups affect not only the way that developers and end-users interact, but also the way development is done, according to a newly minted Web 2.0 software study by Joe McKendrick for Evans Data Corp.

While many equate Web 2.0 to funny videos on YouTube, high school students tossing up a MySpace page, or friends and colleagues sharing information on Facebook, there is a lot of strategic business-to-business development going on by software developers. Developers are working on Web 2.0 software for business applications in several areas,. Three stand-outs in the survey are:

Interface design: 40% of interfaces for Web 2.0 applications are “mixed” web-rich clients that include AJAX for fast downloads of pages that include live feeds of data (gadgets) and other dynamic components found in Web 2.0 applications.

Gadgets and widgets (portable web parts): an overwhelming majority of respondents are using gadgets/widgets from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and others to deploy fast, lightweight business applications and services.

Social networking: over half (56%) of the developers in scientific and technical fields see social networking as a communications and collaboration medium, and OEMs and systems integrators see benefits in product delivery. Showing a slower adoption rate, over half of other markets currently have no plans to use social networking at this time.

“Businesses are starting to realize the strengths of Web 2.0 in terms of fast deployment of rich Internet applications, use of open source technologies, as well as some of the communications benefits it can provide to employees and customers,” said John Andrews, president and CEO of Evans Data Corp. “While developers are the ‘early adopters’ of the technology, the demand for Web 2.0 talent is only getting hotter. It’s an indication that the business market will continue to grow quite rapidly.”

About this study

The Evans Data Corp study, "Web 2.0 Development Report, 2008 v.1," explores both the social aspects and the technical requirements for Web 2.0 development that are impacting corporate enterprise development as well as commercial and social Internet development including the use of mashups, rich Internet applications, AJAX, RSS, and much more.

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