Post and video by Miiko Mentz

Today concludes our video coverage of Web 2.0 Expo with a final interview with IBM. Of course IBM is certainly not the first company you think of when you think Web 2.0, but like last year’s Web 2.0 Expo, the show was filled with many startups and sprinkled with a few big players. This year’s big companies were IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce.com and a few others. And much of the buzz was around ‘doing more with less’ through collaboration and cloud computing.

Cloud computing is all the rage these days and IBM is trying to get in on the action. At the end of last month, IBM announced an initiative dubbed “Open Cloud Manifesto” that calls for open standards to promote cloud computing. There’s a host of companies backing the manifesto, but oddly, the pioneers and leaders in cloud computing are absent.

According to Reuters, Amazon is reviewing the plan, Google has decided not to support it and Salesforce.com hasn’t publicly spoken on the matter yet. Also, Microsoft has publicly criticized IBM’s efforts.

On a lighter note, Bubblicious Reporter Jolie O’Dell spoke with Kathy M. Mandelstein, marketing director at IBM Software Group, IBM Rational Software and WW Programs, Events and Web, about cloud computing, LotusLive, and Rational AppScan. IBM’s overall theme at Web 2.0 Expo was “Smart Work” and helping people and businesses to work smarter through collaboration and collective intelligence. Hear what Mandelstein had to say:

In addition to IBM, the Bubblicious team talked with a few other companies offering social computing applications and services. If you missed any of our interviews from earlier this week, check them out: ooVoo, MindTouch, Topix, chi.mp, and our Web 2.0 Expo highlight reel.

Post and video by Miiko Mentz (Special thanks to Jolie O’Dell, Bubblicious on-camera reporter)

Web 2.0 Expo 2009 wrapped on Friday afternoon after delivering four days of presentations and demonstrations mostly focused on being agile in uncertain times. Everyone is feeling the pinch of ‘having to do more with less’ due to declining sales, staff reductions and budget cuts, so this year’s Web 2.0 Expo’s theme of “The Power of Less” fit the climate and mood like a glove.

Even if the economy hadn’t tanked, the Web 2.0 hype was overdue for its own market correction because there was clearly too many startups touting useless apps that only added to the noise and didn’t provide real value. At this year’s Web 2.0 Expo, attendees were focused on the ideas and solutions that will translate into real value and ultimately sales.

As Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft’s business division, explained to attendees in an on-stage interview with Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO of O’Reilly Media, consumer elements of Web 2.0 are being translated and brought into the business setting and are being combined with the data and social graphs that reside within an enterprise to provide real value. He goes on to explain how companies are “translating that value into something customers are willing to pay for.” He’s correct in saying that because at the end of the day that’s exactly what needs to transpire.

Companies need to create products that people want and focus on delivering value that people are willing to pay for. Not an easy feat, but if you can achieve this then you stand a pretty good chance at surviving, if not flourishing, in these uncertain times.

The Bubblicious team decided to talk with a few companies in both the business and consumer space that offer social computing applications and services that deliver efficiency, increased productivity, streamlined workflow that connect people to each other and the information they seek. Watch our highlight reel below and stay tuned all week for the full interviews with each company:

• Monday: ooVoo
• Tuesday: MindTouch
• Wednesday: Topix
• Thursday: chi.mp
• Friday: IBM
  

Disclosure: In addition to being a contributor to Bubblicious, I also work at FutureWorks where one of my clients is MindTouch, which I’ve chosen to include in my Web 2.0 Expo coverage due to them being an exhibitor and fitting the focus of my coverage.