« Democracy vs. Consensus |
Main
| Intel WiMax Strategy Fizzling »
November 09, 2005
The Achilles Heel of Web 2.0
Posted by Dana Blankenhorn
The hidden flaw, or Achilles Heel, of scaled technology systems like Amazon, eBay and Google is that the technology replaces human action.
Techdirt's recent story of the angriest eBay seller is just one example. The folks at eBay have always been lax in putting human resources against their computerized auction house, and frankly I won't do business with it as a result. A seller who threatens buyers physically should not be on the system, period.
It's an open secret that eBay is beset by fraud, on both sides of transactions, that Google results can be clickfrauded, that Amazon is robbed by identity thieves. These companies regularly calculate the cost of real police against the perceived benefits from better policing and keep the wallets in the pocket. We all suffer from that.
The danger is that every Web 2.0 start-up I've seen or heard of goes the same route. Computer interactions are replacing human interaction, cutting the costs of transactions. Perhaps we're cutting too deeply.
The problem, technocrats insist, is that people "don't scale." I can only do a certain amount of work each day. Same with you. When it comes to computer work, just put in another server, another T-3 line, and the same software's impact is multiplied.
At some point, however, the benefits of computer reliance are overrun by the nastiness of individuals. At some point you run risks that should be actionable, risks that should threaten everything you've built.
Have we reached that point yet? When might we? And can we build applications that use human work, and that reward the work of human beings, rather than just replacing them?
Just asking here.
Comments (2)
+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Business Models | Business Strategy | Consulting | Economics | Futurism | Internet | e-commerce
POST A COMMENT
- RELATED ENTRIES
- › The Legend of Dennis Hayes
- › Evolution Changes Its Mind (Again)
- › Welcome to 1966
- › What Must Craigslist Do?
- › No Such Thing as Free WiFi
- › The Internet As A Political Issue
- › Google Images Ruled Illegal
- › Fall of Radio Shack
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for over 25 years and has covered the online world professionally since 1985. He founded the "Interactive Age Daily" for CMP Media, and has written for the Chicago Tribune, Advertising Age, and dozens of other publications over the years.
1. Robert Young on November 9, 2005 06:13 PM writes...
Perhaps you will be proven right when we get closer to the ultimate visions of Ray Kurzweil and Bill Joy. For now though, I actually think the automation of Web 2.0 is a significant benefit (and not an Achilles Heel). Put another way, the core of Web 2.0, IMHO, is the full transition from HTML (people2machine) to XML (machine2machine). As such, XML is automating a lot of mundane, repetitive tasks... and that's a good thing. It's leaves the challenge of true creativity for people.
Permalink to Comment2. William M. Rawls on November 10, 2005 10:03 AM writes...
Perhaps the answer that web 2.0 provides is more about how to increase the efficientcy of the human to net to human reaction allowing the 'human scaling' factor to be replaced by allowing more poeple to scale up on a process. In other words, leveraging the user base to fill the gap between what a small business can afford to do with a limited number of employees and what their user base can collectively achieve to accomplish what an even larger user base needs.
Permalink to Comment