Rapid growth ahead for Web 2.0

Forrester Research predicts that spending on Web 2.0 will grow rapidly over the next few years as large companies embrace the various technologies.

by Helen Leggatt

Over half (56%) of businesses surveyed for Forrester Research’s “Global Enterprise Web 2.0 Market Forecast: 2007 to 2013” have Web 2.0 “on the agenda” for 2008.

Spending on Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, wikis, mashups, widgets, social networks and RSS will grow rapidly – 43% a year over the next five years according to Forrester’s research.

The report says that companies with 1,000 or more employees will spend around $764 million on Web 2.0 elements this year. By 2013, this figure is predicted to rise to $4.6 billion with social marketing taking the lion’s share at $2 billion, followed by mashups and RSS.

“Social Computing and Web 2.0 marketing are still in their infancy; and in general, the market is still in an experimentation phase,” said Oliver Young, author of the report. “But in the long run, the effect of Web 2.0 will be enormous."

The report adds weight to the frequent assertion that Web 2.0 isn’t just a passing fad and is indeed a long term strategy that marketers need to consider.