I found this article on CrunchGear interesting. And while I do agree that much of Web 2.0 is digital fad, buzz, and empty hype, and that the popularity of many of these "tools" does seem to wane in time, I'm not so sure we can simply ascribe the reason to human laziness. I suspect that as long as these tools are used merely for the fun of consuming other people's attention (that transient sense of popularity), have a narrow focus and represent little substantive contribution to larger human themes, they probably need to pass into the history of pop culture fads like clackers--yes, mine were spelled with a "c." (Do you remember those? They were the rage when I was in 7th grade. But all they did was bruise our arms and make a lot of noise. Eventually, and rather quickly might I add, they faded from "like, the groovy scene, man.")
... If the defining trait of the first Web cycle was the stupid animated GIF, the current “It” sites all have one thing in common: They are, to varying degrees, reliant on user-generated content. ... And that is why the Web 2.0 era will come to end sooner rather than later. Because if there is one immutable law of humankind, it is that we are really, really lazy. ...
Right now, the bubble that the Web exists in is not so much a financial bubble as it is a time bubble. There is still a novelty for a lot of people associated with finding friends on social networking sites, Digging their favorite stories, updating articles about the history of pinball, and leaving comments on their favorite blogs. But that will wear off. People will revert back to the things they used to do: like Minesweeper and work. And without millions of generous mouse-clickers, most of Web 2.0 is weakened, if not entirely useless.
Source: The Futurist: Will Human Laziness Burst The Web 2.0 Bubble?
No, I don't fault people for enjoying that which is novel. Novelty is indeed, by its very nature, transient. And, quite frankly, I don't fault people for valuing economy of resources expended for value added.
If Web 2.0, or anything for that matter, is going to stand the test of time, it does so because the tools lend themselves to being used to meet real needs of real people in efficient and effective ways. Rather than bemoan laziness, we need to develop and use products and resources in ways that add some substantive value to our life experience.
As a classic example of a "hot" Web 2.0 "tool," I just don't see the twittering and tweeting of others adding a lot of value to the state of my human condition. But not to worry, my crystal ball tells me that in the not too distant future, twitter to go the way of clackers.
