A lot of bubbles cooking along nicely in the web 2.0 kitchen at the moment. I read in the technology pages of an Irish business newspaper that Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is set to be big this year. Tim O Reilly contrasted SEO with domain name speculation as an example of a web 2.0 paradigm shift three years ago in his article What is Web 2.0.

The other trend that those zany futurologists at the Sunday Business Post are predicting is business’s harnassing something called social networks which come with crazy names like Bebo, Facebook and MySpace. You heard it here first folks.

It’s like when the shoe-shine boy starts giving you stock tips. It’s time to start shorting Facebook and SEO.

This year I’ve been hearing a lot about on an online service that actually looks at lot like a social network (a la MyFace et at) but not as flashy. Hundreds of thousands of adult and teen users log in every week, often from their phones. They form groups, compete against each other and exchange messages (after a fashion) in forums. It is geared around social objects that exist in an online world. Users create their own objects and then continually update them to compete against their friends in a game that is actaully affected by real world events. Unlike Facebook, Bebo and MySpace users of this network never get bored. They keep coming back every week evermore addicted. Its called Fantasy Premier League.

Its not trendy. Girls won’t like it. Neither will techies. You can’t upload your photos or videos. You won’t hear about it at conferences. You won’t hear about its implications for education. But here’s the rub if you use it with friends or even talk to people who use it you’ll soo see that is an awesomely compelling online community. Its users are addicted and they log in all the time to tinker with their team and taunt their peers about their performance in discussion forums. They don’t get burned out the way Facebook users do and lose interest after the initial thrill. There is actually something intrinsically interesting and sustainable on offer.

Basically you create a fantasy team by selecting players from all the teams in the English Football Premier League. Each Uo have a budget, each player has a price and you can trade your players before each week’s fixtures. When your individual players do well you win points. Its a simple concept that’s been around for years but its online application has never been fully realised until recently.

Dream Team Fantasy football

Its free to register and play but people I know who play contribute money to a winner takes all pot amongst themselves. In effect they use the online leaderboard to create their own game.

(I used the word addicted here but gambling is just one application of fantasy premier league and its not a gambling site. However the rise of gambling particularly amongst men is a worrying trend.)