The econsultant.com Web 2.0 directory referenced 1007 Web 2.0 sites, an impressive figure that keeps growing daily. What’s interesting to note is the category distribution among the services. What’s popular in web 2.0 service makers? Well, most popular sites are about collaboration, bookmarking, blogging and photo sharing. Not a big surprise since the web 2.0 is all about people but there are actually too many of them. I only know about 20 of these services, what about the others?

I have the feeling that the Web 2.0 market is already saturating because of too many similar services, few popular and most people still don’t get it. I wonder how developers think that making another del.icio.us like site can attract people if they don’t provide any value added service?

I guess startup companies are more thinking about the underlying technology than the service itself — and therefore end-users. Most of them just want to go into the Web 2.0 business because it’s the playground of Ruby on Rails, AJAX and put-the-name-of-your-favorite-framework-here. Technology is only there to serve a goal but it’s not the goal itself. Look at Craigslist. There is no “technology buzz” on this site, but it’s terribly useful to people. I read in a blog that “ugliness sells”, I think usefulness sells. If people need it they will use it.

The Web 2.0 is is great opportunity to bring new things for people. There are a lot of topic that deserve to be addressed. Pick one in the list and go to work.