Amazon needs a friendly Web 2.0 face

I think we all appreciate that Amazon is a wonderfully fine-tuned "machine", but we also have to recognize that the world is gradually moving away from the brutal efficiency orientation of Web 1.0 to the friendly, smiling-face social computing world of Web 2.0.

Yes, we want Amazon to continue to be hyper-efficient, but as each day goes by, another batch of new Web 2.0 consumers come online and they will be increasingly intolerant of anything that resmbles a faceless automaton.

Memo to Amazon: Blog or perish. And by "blog", I mean naked conversations that leave the consumer feeling that you are sincerely listening, not megaphones aimed at consumers that leave them feeling like force-fed prisoners.

-- Jack Krupansky