There seems to be increasing chat around Ecommerce circles about the potential effect of the newer breed of interactive web-based services that are generically referred to as Web 2.0. These services revolve, in the main, around community, user generated content closely coupled to the core purpose of the website.
Over the past couple of years there has been explosive use of social networking sites, eg Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Digg, Twitter etc. that allow individuals to interact and create affinity clusters. The power of these affinity groups has started to be able to exert lobbying pressure on larger service organisations, even reversing adverse pricing decisions notably HSBC’s climbdown over hiking overdraft interest rates for students last year.
Some financial services providers have started to change their digital marketing strategies, with banner advertising campaigns aimed specifically at the social networking community and the launch of podcasts, blogs and other more user-focussed content.
What we haven’t really seen yet is the emerging Web 2.0 sites that are becoming more popular in the North American market and which, according to some comentators, is some 4 to 5 years ahead of the UK market. The US already is ahead in terms of the aggregator space, with services offered by a number of providers to provide a ‘one-stop shop’ for financial and wealth management, eg Wells Fargo, Yodlee etc.
There have been a number of providers creating community-based financial services provision, including Prosper, Mint and Zecco, to name a few, that have created user communities around a common interest – indeed, Prosper allows lenders to pitch for business at rates suggested by the user and to create virtual consortia to service a particular loan request.
Certainly, Web 2.0 is powerful – with the UK’s slightly slower adoption of Wealth Management and aggregation it’s one to watch – in my house, two out of three teenagers use Web 2.0 services a lot (too much, maybe), but it is clearly influential in their purchase decisions; they would turn to digital media as first choice – this is the generation to whom the more conventional-thinking provider must target.
