While tech pundits everywhere are looking at Web 2.0 for the latest online application technology and its global impact on the virtual world, another sea change is taking place in the actual world – the real world is making it’s way online, and it’s local. The “offline” world is being mapped, tagged and organized online at an unprecedented pace. We at Praized believe this wave is Local 2.0, where the promise of Web 2.0 technology extends to the area near you. We believe an important catalyst for this accelerated change will be the power of social networks combined with structured data to provide users with relevant, actionable information. Praized blog is dedicated to tracking this phenomenon in all its forms and making sense of it for companies, large and small. We hope Praized blog will be a collaborative effort with you, our readers. We want to know what you think and what you see are the challenges and opportunities for Local 2.0. Comments are welcome and email is too, email us at info (a) praized.com.

The Praized blog team is comprised of industry veterans: Sebastien Provencher, Internet strategy consultant with more than 7 years experience in local search at Yellow Pages Group, Sylvain Carle, blogger and web tech consultant and Harry Wakefield, blogger and former GM of YPG electronic directories.