Why the Trust Factor Will Inhibit Web 2.0

Over on Techmeme today there's two news items that might not seem interconnected, but they are. The first, from Larry Dignan, asks whether we can trust Google with our data. The second talks about a mobile version of Netvibes, which you can dabble with here.

Web 2.0 is a wonderful thing. It's allowing a 1,000 flowers to bloom all on $200 Linux servers. However, consumers are always wary about who to trust. My feeling is that when it comes to critical "high risk" data, they will trust the big players - Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, etc. When it comes to lower risk information, like say an email address, they'll trust a startup. There in lies the rub. Over time as the web gets more sophisticated, this could inhibit the growth of startups that are dealing with critical data.

Now back to Netvibes. I love the site. It's awesome. However, they've had some serious security issues. Also, the company is based in France. I have no idea what the privacy laws are there. For all I know they could be more strict or they could be more loose. So I am certainly willing to trust Netvibes with my feeds. There's little risk there. However, I don't use their Gmail module because, well, that's high risk information I don't want getting into someone else's hands.

There are places, however, that I happily trust with my Gmail login and password. One is the New York Times. Like Netvibes, they also have a Gmail module on the My New York Times web site. They've also been online over 10 years and have a terrific pedigree. So there's no issue with trust here  for many.

So, until Netvibes is acquired by a larger player, they can't earn enough of my trust for me to give them the keys to what's most valuable for me. So, their ultimate utility hits a wall with me and I bet it does for lots of others. That opens the door to be more loyal to other sites, which I certainly am.

Google is hardly exempt either. This morning I went to store some photos on Picassa Web Albums and discovered that the RSS feeds are out in the open even if you create an unlisted album. They're hard to find, but they're out there on the Web. That dinged my trust in them, much as the issues they had with Blogger and RSS feeds when it relaunched. This has since been fixed.

Net, as the value of the data we have rises, so does the level of trust we need to give it to someone to hold. That, over time, will limit startups and it bodes well for the big players who are launching rich Internet applications. That's why social networks, video sharing sites and other communities grow like weeds. There's not a lot to lose and why sites like Box.net and Zoho (both of which I also love and where the risk are greater) will suffer until they align with big players. The trust factor will hold them down.