This is why I have not jumped on the “Web 2.0″ bandwagon, nor is it likely I will: MC Hammer joins panel of Web 2.0 “experts” at TechCrunch20 conference. Putting MC Hammer on a panel alongside folks like Caterina Fake and Rajeev Motwani – two highly knowledgable computer professionals in their own right – to determine which projects should receive VC exposure diminishes the importance of the whole process. I don’t care that he’s a consultant on a stealth web property – does he know the difference between a blog and a wiki? Does he know about community building? Does he even know any HTML?
Web 2.0 is a bit of a joke. It’s a series of extremely loosely connected ideas that really weren’t in search of a unifying name. The sooner we can get past the hype and get on with simply building and supporting extremely useful, highly connected web-based applications – no matter what you want to call them – the better off the entire industry will be. Trying to build every little thing so that it fits into some kind of artificial Web 2.0 mold in order to ride the current wave of hype does far more harm than good. Build a product your customers need and love to use and you’ll win, period.

Yes, I’m cranky. Can you tell?