Well, web 2.0 has been around long enough that I’ve begun to notice some patterns. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve developed a list of little rules that I notice the modern Internet just tends to follow.
The Law of Reincarnated Content There are certain stories that, when you see the headline pop up in the RSS feed from site A, you know it will soon hop over to the RSS feeds for sites B, C, D, and then it will lie low for a month and then pop up again. TYou’ll know if you’ve ever found yourself saying “I’ve seen that headline on Digg and Reddit, but if it gets to Slashdot, then I’ll know it’s important enough to check out.”
The Law of Career Trolls There are some trolls so dedicated, they join groups and watch the feed just so they can pounce on every story and heckle the commenters. You’ve seen this on Digg a million times: there’s about six career trolls that tackle every thread about Apple stories, for instance.
The Law of Homogenized Logos Every logo now has to be at least one of: (a) mirrored top-to-bottom (b) have the word “beta” in it, (c) be in soft candy colors, (d) rendered with glassy high-lights, (e) Make “1337Sp34k” usage of clever misspellings and numbers. Eventually, they’ll all merge into one big glob.
The Law of Expanding Features Every web site now tries to be it’s own portal. Hey, don’t leave! Here’s a calandar, here’s a bookmark list, here’s a calculator, here’s a forum, and you have search boxes right here!
The Law of Multiple Implementations No matter how arcane your idea is, there are six other sites that do the exact same thing.
The Law of Page Bloat Have you noticed that since all three major platforms of Mac, Linux, and Windows has supported tabbed browsing, the load times for page have gotten to where you almost have to load each link in a new tab while you read the old tab for fifteen minutes longer? Especially with AJAX. A Digg story takes like ten minutes sometimes on broadband, and it’s nothing but text!
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