Dan Blank: Publishing, Innovation & the Web

In case anyone missed the past year, the reflections are starting to pour in. Read/Write Web has a great overview on the state of the online world, covering topics such as:

• Social networks
• RSS
• Web 2.0
• Google
• VC money
• Localization
• Widgets
• Online video
• Blogs

…and so much more. I was surprised the word “aggregation” didn’t make the list, or “SEO.”

Perhaps its only in retrospect that we realize how much our world is changing, and how much it is staying the same.

There is phenomenal change going on due to new communication technologies online. However, the more that I chat with people about blogging and creating communities online, the more I find myself discussing that doing so online is no different than doing so in real life.

While there is some know-how for each of these technologies, the basics stay the same. Want to attract viewers to your YouTube videos? Create a network of friends, and above all: make sure the video is relevant and entertaining to your audience.

I hope that 2007 is the year where people stop looking for the silver bullet to get them to the top of Digg, and embrace the inherent value of what they are creating as a reflection of adding something unique to the online conversations, not simply as traffic drivers.