Dotcom Boom, Part Deux?

This has been a very good year for the Web. According to the monitoring firm Netcraft, the Web grew more in 2005 (by 17 million sites) that it did in 2000, at the height of the dotcom boom (16 million sites). Additionally, Red Herring reports that angel investors in 2005 backed the highest number of startups since the halcyon days of 2000.

Much of the growth is being attributed to small businesses going online, tools that allow non-technical users to create sites easily, convergence of the Web and mobile devices, new Web technologies such as Ajax, the blogging phenomenon and countries such as China getting in the game. However, some of it is also being driven by spammers and those disingenuously using domain names to manipulate Google searches.

Nonetheless, the buzz from the recently concluded Web 2.0 Conference suggests that a new Web paradigm is emerging. As Nova Spivack, who attended the conference, enthuses:

There are so many new companies, so much VC interest, and it really feels like the Web industry has suddenly woken up from a 10-year slumber. In fact, it feels like 1995 all over again. There's a tangible sense that something Big and New is happening here -- that Web 2.0 is really changing the game -- and gaining momentum. And there are so many new funded startups here. But there is also a tangible difference between the Web business today and the biz in 1995: Today it's much more rational. People have learned from what worked and didn't work in the 90's. The startups are all run by experienced teams, and they've got a clear understanding of what they're doing. There's also a decade of case studies to draw on for how this business really works: the revenue models that actually work and how to implement them, the best-practices for funding, building and executing Web business models, and the relevant metrics for measuring progress and success.

Source: BBC News