Training programs in social computing are less prevalent in the Australian market, leading to fears that the country may be left behind. While current AIIA figures estimate there being less than nine percent of Australian small to medium enterprises that trade on the Internet, Moon estimated this figure to be around the 50 percent mark in more mature markets, such as the U.S.

"We are way behind in being able to trade," she said. "While I think that ICT companies are very good at developing the technology, we're looking at the application of that technology in a totally foreign environment that most ICT companies are still coming to grasps with."

One Australian company that is currently heavily involved in the Web 2.0 space is Hyro, an ASX-listed online services provider with offices in Australia, New Zealand and Thailand.

Recognising the growing relevance of social networking sites and systems in the market, Hyro has expanded its portfolio from developing traditional Web sites, to designing MySpace pages and even building virtual Second Life presences.

"Social networking sites are becoming quite an important channel to market for a range of our customers," said Richard Lord, the company's Chief Operating Officer. "For Hyro, this is translating to a number of clients asking us to include social networking sites as a part of our overall digital services programs for them."

While Lord acknowledged that most businesses still have an incomplete understanding of Web 2.0 services, and that there are currently no "real stand-out training providers" for such technologies, Hyro has set up an internal Web 2.0 network where its staff collaborate on developing their shared understanding of Web 2.0 principles.

"Different specialist teams use tools like mail groups, forums, blogs and wikis to share their knowledge and to promote new innovations they create or discover, with their peers," Lord explained. "With the Hyro team touching 500 people in three countries, there is a lot of knowledge, experience and capability to innovate within the team."

Meanwhile, AIIA's Moon mentioned Web 2.0 and social marketing classes currently being developed by a consortium of Victorian University Libraries. Other organisations, such as education.au, are hosting conferences to discuss Web 2.0 opportunities as well.

"We [AIIA] probably won't push specific courses but we are starting the dialogue," she said. "I've got my own blog, I've got my own MySpace page, I'm up on Wikipedia, we're putting AIIA up on Second Life; we are looking at how we as the association lead our members to think about the opportunities that exist in this brave new world."