The hallmark of Web 2.0 is its social and collaborative aspect. It brings people together to discuss the topic at hand, and the community drives the conversation.

The important thing to remember is that Web 2.0 is social in nature. While you can use it to promote your business, it’s just as important to add to the conversation. If it appears you’re only there to use the community, you will not get the response you’re hoping for. In fact, moderators may step in to remove you.

With that as a caveat, let’s look at two great Web 2.0 services that can be a big help to your business. If you’re trying to generate traffic to your little corner of the Web, a good way to do this is by joining the conversation about your niche topic. Gather.com is the perfect place to do just that.

You probably know about forums such as discussion forums and Wikis. Well, think of Gather.com as a combination of the two—on steroids. More than likely there will be a group about your niche at Gather.com. If there isn’t, just start one. You can join groups, create groups, post articles, poems, pictures, opinions, etc. The cherry on top is that you can subscribe to any aspect of Gather.com through RSS. Plug your Gather.com feed right into your blog or web page.

I’m sure your mind spinning with possibilities. Off the top of my head I can think of several different ways to put this service to good use. For instance, if you’re an author wanting to promote your book, why not publish the first chapter at Gather.com. Let’s say you’re a photographer wanting to promote your photographs. Why not publish a few pictures for use at Gather.com? Head over to the site and I’m sure you’ll come up with many more ideas when you see how people creatively add to the ‘conversation.’

Another major aspect of Web 2.0 is video. Youtube.com is only about 3 years old at this point, but it has ushered in a revolution in terms of video. While video was used prior to Youtube.com, it was not as easy to do or nearly as popular.

Today it is possible to post your own video even without the use of a camera. With services like OneTrueMedia you don’t even need a camera. The idea behind OneTrueMedia is to allow people do ‘digital scrapbooking’. Families put albums together online and share the pictures with family members anywhere in the world via the Internet.

A digital algorithm gives the impression of a camera panning the still image. So, buy some photographs about your niche, add your choice of music via an mp3 file, and you have an instant ‘movie’ of sorts. The end result is truly impressive. Once your movie is created, you can upload the file to any number of video directories. Get creative and watch your ‘movie’ go viral.