Are Websites headed for extinction?

[Pat Coyle]

We've spent the last 15 or so years learning to think about the Internet through Website-centric lense. We've been trying to teach our our companies the importance of adding content to our Websites. Then Web 2.0 came along and suddenly our customers can add their own content. Yikes. Now, thanks to widget, everything is losing its center and content is moving where people want it to go.

How do we design for this? Will marketers be able to keep pace? Please share your thoughts here.

[Erik Deckers]

Maybe, but not for a loooooong time. We've spent the last 15 years trying to get people to understand what dot-com means, and now that we're finally getting the Amish and Luddites to understand it, it has become so firmly entrenched, we won't shake it off anytime soon.

Also, there are just some things that you can't do in a blog or podcast. Maybe websites as we understand them today will change (i.e. the brochure-ware will be replaced), but the informational part of a company's site will still be there. It just may be relegated to a back corner or something.

[Nicki Laycoax]

I doubt that websites will become extinct. I think that websites will have to adapt to the Web 2.0 advancements. With blogs, Twitter, RSS, Widgets, etc... There has to be a reference point for individuals to go to after reading what they like on a Web 2.0 venue. Typically in Web 2.0 venues, you don't see a company's history, services offered, prices, or contact/location information. Not to mention, the websites that my company, Squish Designs, offers incorporates several Web 2.0 components, thus offering all that businesses are seeking in the Web 2.0 world; blogs, social networking, RSS, etc...

[Troy Julian]

No ! Websites will be around but the social media sites have to be incorporated into the mix along with blogging and such .The one thing that remains constant is that the dot com site will be what is searched for first - not twitter not blogger not smaller indiana ........for now

[Stephanie Shields]

I agree that Web sites will stick around. Sometimes there is credibility in getting information from the primary source. On Web 2.0 venues, you may question who is providing the information and its accuracy.

[Greg Cross]

Extinct? Nope.Will they evolve and continue to evolve? Yup. It's a semantical argument, but a Web 2.0 environment is a website (technically). We don't say to our friends and business connections "Hey, check out the Smaller Indiana Web 2.0 or Social Media site." We say or ask, "Have you checked out the website Smaller Indiana?" The whole Web 2.0 would not have emerged without the "invention" and evolution of the website. I can think of plenty of organizational environments where a social media focus would not be best suited for the the overall needs of that organization. However, a "website" is a non-negotiable for organizational survival.

I would lean toward Nicki's thinking in that most business websites will and probably should have some Web 2.0 elements to it's overall web-strategy.

I also agree with Stephanie's idea that control and accuracy is sometimes compromised in a Web 2.0 platform. So, that should give any organization good reason to substantiate their reasons for going down a Web 2.0 platform path, and not just do it because everyone's doing it. Choose your online strategy wisely!.

[Lalita Amos]

I wonder. Looking at the social media world (which, by the by, includes traditional websites as a high tech, low touch S/N option), I notice that for most people their Twitter pages point to something other than a traditional website--points to FB, MySpace, LinkedIN, etc. sending them to richer and richer sources for social networking interaction.

I wonder...*

[Matt Zentz]

People still want a central gathering place - or a source. Web 2.0 technologies are like your home away from home. You get out, spread your message, generate some hype, and then fly home to sow your roots.

The interesting thing is I know a lot of people on SI who have websites I have never visited. Maybe our "home" is where we first establish a connection with someone. But maybe this goes for individuals and not for organizations who need to maintain some central presence.

[Michael Reynolds]

I agree that websites are not and will not be extinct for the foreseeable future. As Matt mentioned, your business still needs a center of influence that other components can feed into. Your web site is a visual anchor for your brand and should be unique to your organization. I think many organizations just need to understand how to create a modern, transaction-ready web site.

[Thomas Ho]

Web sites may not be headed for extinction, BUT DATA STREAMS are where the action is! In Web 2.0, "streams" are everywhere, e.g. lifestreams and tweetstreams. We'll see "data" be the focal point in Web 3.0.

I've been struck by the ease of leveraging user-generated content in my experiments in teaching & learning and in "branding" Indianapolis as a social media hub which harness Web 2.0 services and technologies in ways that folks just don't "get" YET! Virtually NONE of the "corporate suits" and FEW of the users understand YET so I'm just trying to do MY part to help!