Adoption of Web 2.0 Technologies in the Developing Countries on the Balkans

With the advances in information and communication technologies over the past few years eGovernment was put in the centre of the attention. Under the influence of WWW innovations and Web 2.0 technologies eGovernment shifted to a new model known as eGovernment 2.0. This paper examines the influence of Web 2.0 technologies on the new government model and provides insight in how strategic goals of eGovernment 2.0 can be achieved in the Web 2.0 era. Moreover, it presents assessment results on the usage and adoption of Web 2.0 applications in eGovernment context for the developing countries of the Balkan region. For assessment purposes, 164 websites of public authorities in eleven Balkan countries were analysed. Research results have shown that Balkan countries are slower in adoption of Web 2.0 technologies and that they have a delay in achieving open, participatory and transparent relations with users.