socialmedian: The questionable value of the real-time web

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The questionable value of the real-time web

Submitted by Mahendra from Google Reader

Nov 03, 2009

Summary

Everyone is talking about the “real-time web”. That’s usually a pretty strong indication of a buzzword that will soon mean very little. Some would argue that it already doesn’t mean much. And yet, as Paul Graham’s web 2.0 article showed, it is possible to extract value even out of apparently meaningless buzzwords.

“Real-time web” can mean any number of things, from “live updates without refreshing the page” to “see text as it’s typed”, but all those are technological rather than conceptual definition. At its core, the concept of “real-time web” must be about the immediacy of information flow. Something happens (whether it’s someone typing a message to you or Michael Jackson dying) and you find out about it immediately (or nearly so).

Of course, with that definition, the real-time web is nothing new—except perhaps for the “web” aspect of things. Email, with a good server (like Exchange or Gmail) and client, has been nearly real-time for quite a while. Instant messaging doesn’t lack immediacy. The main reason this feels new is because real-time updates are popp

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Comments (1)

Toluju,

Nov 03, 2009

Good article on the merits (or lack thereof) of real-time web.