simplicity

October 2nd marks the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the man who taught Ahimsa to the world and relied on non-violence principles; and evnetually brought down the British empire to it’s knees and forced them to quit India.

Many of his ideologies can be applied to web 2.0 world as well. Here is a small attempt :

Simplicity :
‘Simple living high thinking’. Gandhiji always believed in simplicity and that’s what made general public relate to him, believe that he is *one-among-us*. Same is true for any web 2.0 application as well. Look at Google search box. No bells. No whistles. Less confusion. Search simplified.

And that’s what makes it relevant. Ditto with Digg/Flickr as well - simple to use, yet such a powerful impact!

Community/Partnerships (We, the People)
Bring them one. Bring them ALL.
No movement is successful without involving the community. While other revolutionaries had their own agenda (regional/religion etc.), Gandhi was focused on one thing - Ahimsa, i.e. Non Violence. And everybody joined in. Everybody lend their heart and soul to the cause.

And same is true for Web 2.0 applications as well. Web 2.0 is all about community deciding what is good and what is not (Digg). And the application/site is just an enabler. Remember, community will reject any BS (bull s**) without a second thought (the recent Facebook episode just proves it!).
So don’t play with community. Give them the right stuff and you get all the respect.

Ahimsa : i.e. No more zero-sum game.
Its not about I-Win-You-Loose. It’s all about win-win game. Gandhiji never said “Kill them and we get our freedom”. He believed in creating a common mindshare among the general public, and driving them in the right direction.

And the same applies to Web 2.0 as well. You have got to share your application with the world (APIs), and make your application more relevant. One of the best example is Flickr,Goog/YahooMaps/Skype APIs. Look at the wonderful implementation of these APIs. Apart from being a successful company, these web 2.0 firms have built a successful ecosystem as well. And that has really brought upon a revolution.

So no more working in silos. No more ‘ Its me only/Walled Garden’ approach that works. The more you share, cooler you are perceived (Facebook apps are an example)
Bottom of Pyramid :
Gandhiji’s Talisman reads as