The Internet Movie Database, or IMDb.com is an example of what O’Reilly describes as Web 2.0. As a subsidiary company of the successful and undoubtedly Web 2.0 site Amazon.com, this website follows the same business model, incorporating a service based upon user-added value, database management, and a lightweight business model, and is thereby exemplary of a Web 2.0 site.

To start, IMDb is a service that does not rely on advertising. Knowledge of the site is generated through user to user communication (or viral marketing), which is an identifying factor of a Web 2.0 site. The users are encouraged to vote on each film, and are offered a scale of 1 to 10 to choose as a rating for the film (1 being awful and 10 being excellent). Results are then broken down demographically in order for users to quickly understanding this quantitative data. Users are also encouraged to leave comments, and each addition makes the database richer in information and exclusivity. Thus, users are engaged as co-developers, and the value of the database increases through normal usage. IMDb is successfully harnessing collective intelligence, a concept James Suriowecki calls “the wisdom of crowds”(O’Reilly, p. 11).

Another Web 2.0 identifying factor is database management, in which IMDb is expert. The online database is expansive, including more than 425,000 titles from 1891 to present, and 1.7 million filmographies of cast and crew members. The information presented includes many facets of information about each film, including who was in it, who made it, trivia about it, filming locations, and links to reviews and fan sites on the web (IMDb.com About Us). The value of this information is remarkable, and the site follows suit of many other Web 2.0 sites that design their systems in the “some rights reserved” mindset. Portions of IMDb’s database can be licensed to other users.

Additionally, IMDbs inclusion of such a variety of information fits the profile of the Web 2.0 principle dubbed “innovation in assembly.” Information about movies may be a commodity, but combining all types of information in a format that is easy to access and understand contributes to a lightweight and successful business model.