Last month we learned how to build a community of viewers, reviewed the four legs of a Web site plus shared thoughts on how to deliver the brand, not just data. This month we want to tell the other half of the story: The new model for developing successful Web sites is getting clearer as the years pass. Here are some thoughts to consider:

You Are No Longer In Charge

Users are. Web 1.0 was about servicing the brand (“Hello out there, here we are, we do this, isn’t it great?”) Today, a clean, well-lit place is the price of entry. In the world of Web 2.0, marketers extend the collaborative brand (customer and company). That means you are no longer (and never were) in complete control of the whole brand. You can only deliver perspectives on the brand. Users complete the picture.

Here’s how Razorfish describes the old model: the customer was a tiny moon orbiting the giant brand, a cathedral of graphic standards. Today’s brand is more like a paint blob with users participating as co-painters of the brand. This is a seismic shift in our understanding of “brand.” Now customers and sellers “talk” back and forth about what the brand is and what the brand should be.

I hope you’re reading this carefully. Humor me and go back and read these last paragraphs again.

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