Have you updated your buzzwords?

You may think you're appropriately buzzword-compliant, but this is internet time, baby, and last month's 2.0 buzzwords are outdated (but not in that retro-cool way). If you're doing a VC pitch and building to flip, it's crucial that you sound as current as possible. Listen and learn:

Web 2.0

Web 2.01ß

Bonus points: mentioning "yellow fade" and "attenuation" in the same sentence could be worth an extra million. This month, anyway.

Grand prize: just as the hipster PDA made low-tech cool again, feigning ignorance of Web 2.x is the new black.

My take: Some of the coolest people have no frickin' clue what these buzzwords mean, and don't care. They aren't building to flip, they're building to engage and inspire.

That doesn't mean throwing the user-driven baby out with the Web 2.x bathwater--there's some really useful stuff in there (people genuinely LOVE FlickR and del.icio.us, for example). But these Web 2.x buzzwords are more technology and business-model focused than user focused, and that's a recipe for building things that meet the checklist but fail the users.

Where there is passion, there are users kicking ass. If we want to build Web 2.x and beyond, we should be thinking less about how to upgrade our technology, and more about how to help upgrade our users' brains, bodies, and spirits. Yes, I realize that many--even most--of the Web 2.x buzzwords can lead to meaningful (in some cases profound) benefits for the users. But the emphasis still feels technology-driven, not user-kicking-ass- driven.

Why not rewrite these buzzwords in terms of what they mean for users?

For example, we know that "harnessing collective intelligence" is good... but why? I don't necessarily want you "harnessing" my anything, unless... unless it means I benefit from the result. And of course, that's the point-- that end-users can benefit from all that group wisdom, like Amazon reviews or delicious/popular tags, to help reduce the flood of data. So why not say it like that? Instead of calling it "harnessing collective intelligence", why not call it "helping users make smarter choices, more quickly, by accessing the knowledge, experience, and wisdom of a larger group?" If the focus is on the "harnessing" and not on the "so users can access..." the chances of building something that nobody actually wants goes up. (Of course, my variation of the buzzword is awkward, ungainly, and not likely to look good on a slide. But I'm sure other more creative people can make them snappier : )

We know that Ajax is good, but why? If it's about richer user experiences, then say so. And why stop there? What's the benefit to the user of that richer experience? And is that always a benefit?

And what does the cloud do for users? What does attenuation do for me? If it's about helping users reduce stress, or spend more time in flow, or have more fun, etc.... whatever it is, why not say that?

A buzz-phrase should explictly state how it directly benefits the user.

If I were a VC, the "elevator pitch" I'd ask for would be simply: "Tell me how this thing helps the user kick ass?" If you can't answer that, don't bother launching your power point.