Joining the Wine2.0 Movement…
I received a big honor today. I’m proud to announce that I’ve been asked to become the Chief Cat Herder (Chairman) of the Wine2.0 group (officially housed 
on Facebook). Here is the description from the group’s page:
Wine 2.0 is a wine industry networking group featuring the newest generation of emerging companies, services and communication tools that are changing the world of wine. Participating players are using technology to change the way wine is made, marketed, communicated about or sold. Wine 2.0’s focus is on better identifying where the opportunities for all players in the space are and providing a forum to communicate the best ideas. From winery direct sales to virtual wineries, Wine 2.0 is blending the line between wine and technology … We also have awesome networking parties.
The group currently stands at around 450 members and pretty much encompasses most of the up and coming companies in this area of technology and wine convergence.
I guess I’ve been part of the Wine2.0 movement since 2004 when I started Vivi’s Wine Journal. That was (and still is - reincarnated) my wine blog. Back then, I wanted to publish ideas and share them with people, investigated several simple publishing systems and learned about Weblogs. I started Vivi’s as a dedication to a beloved Aunt who passed away from complications of he Lupus. From the day I put it up until now its been an interesting ride! Add to that Wine Life Today, my favorite little community Wine News bookmarketing service (no typos there), and all the people, wine makers, technologists, hikers, etc…etc… that I’ve met over the last three years and I guess I’ve been part of this movement without completely understanding a movement was underway!
Now as I contemplate this role, I think that’s mission #1 - getting others to understand that there is a movement underway here. Something is changing, and in a fundamental way. I’ve been in technology for almost 20 years. When you’re a part of the change in an area its sometimes hard to recognize that breeze you feel are the winds of change. The concept of "Wine2.0", the essence of it, is touching all facets of the industry - publishing, shipping, producing, marketing, sales, PR, you name it. I believe the Internet and associated technologies are finally catching up with the wine industry - the "Internet" is becoming a network for interaction and community as opposed to simple communication and commerce.
Interaction and community? Isn’t that what has made wine so popular for centuries? Absolutely. So when that technology collides with an industry steeped in these traditions great things happen and, believe me, the wine industry will never be the same. What you’ll see as "Wine2.0" evolves is the technology of interaction becoming more and more "invisible". In other words, it’ll just be part of what you do with wine.
I’m not sure yet where this will lead or what ultimately the Wine2.0 movement will look like but the past few years have been exciting! I’ll be happy to chronicle the goings-on of Wine2.0 here on WLT Blog…OH, and no, this is not the idea I’ve been hatching…just further evidence that my idea is spot on…
Enjoy the Wine Life!
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Comment by Philip James on 7 February 2008:
Congratulations Joel - looking forward to seeing it develop.
Comment by Matthew Apsokardu on 7 February 2008:
I plan to seek you out on facebook, my good sir.
Hopefully Classic Wines can join in on the party.
Comment by Joel on 7 February 2008:
Thanks guy. Matthew - absolutely, just send me an request and I’m all over it.
This is something that, given no effort whatsoever, has been able to garner 450+ interested parties. Paul at Intertia Bev wanted to keep the momentum going so I am happy to help!
Comment by ryan on 7 February 2008:
Hey i’m on board, all you need to do is get facebook to allow RSS from groups and I’ll participate regularly…otherwise, probably not to much. Sorry to say it’s just not easy to deal with, and is way too closed(not very web2.0 in my opinion).
On the other hand let me know if you want to utilize wineblogger.info in anyway…we could put a ning/forum/otherwise where people could actually participate in an open way….thoughts?
Comment by Joel on 7 February 2008:
That is a definite thought that I’ve been kicking around. Honestly, I’m not enamored with the Wine2.0 name so the question is - can we keep that group of almost 500 people interested and connected if we
1) Move to a different, more useful social network and
2) Change the name to something more appropriate
This is a Consortium of sorts with the purpose of educating and evangelizing to the world of wine how these technologies and companies change things. Wine2.0 violates a marketing principle of dating the subject. “Web 3.0″ has already been coined so in less than 12 months “Wine2.0″ won’t be such an attractive name (its already waning).
Comment by ryan on 7 February 2008:
yeah, dating a name is a problem. Now here’s the question are those 500 people active, or do they even know they are still members of that group. I think if you have a society/social crafted for wine and tell people they will jump on board. Especially if it means moving away from a community without focus…On the other hand a community that is too focused also has a problem…hmmm…hamsters running
Comment by Joel on 7 February 2008:
I don’t have any problem with focusing narrow. We’re talking about all of the wine industry now, not just bloggers. Remember the group is coupled with a conference (Wine2.0 conference produced by Cornelius and crew). So its a leading group. I’m going to do a few things to kick up the activity and we’ll see how many drop off.
Comment by el jefe on 8 February 2008:
I agree that FB is not the best place to carry on - moving to a ning or something like that seems like a better idea. (Also, some of us have found that FB is not a happy place for wine, given their restrictive terms of use….)
As far as a name, how about Wine2.01beta?
Comment by Joel on 8 February 2008:
Well, thats not a unilateral decision but since Jeff chimed in I know that more than just one board member would agree. Its easy enough to setup. I actually have been using KickApps for another project - its more business oriented and less consumer oriented. But I agree, it facilitates more interaction where as FB seems to be very un-Web2.0 when it comes to groups (barely any interaction there). Its barely better than an offline bulletin board.