Two blogosphere rivals took the stage Monday morning at the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston and debated the scale of change that Web 2.0 technologies will bring to the business arena.

Will Web 2.0 radically change the way companies communicate with each other and with their own employees? Or are blogging and social networks simply tools for teens, sitting on the margin of business use and gaining more media attention than they deserve?

So began the debate that is normally waged online between Andrew McAfee, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, and Tom Davenport, a professor at Babson College. While McAfee is credited with coining the term Enterprise 2.0, Davenport calls himself a "pragmatic killjoy" who doesn't think Enterprise 2.0 is revolutionary or even worthy of being given a new name.

Ever since the two first aired their views in Optimize magazine last year, their blogs -- as well as people blogging about their blogs -- have heated up a great online debate about the validity of Enterprise 2.0.

With Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, wikis, and social networking sites becoming a phenomenon among teens and younger consumers, some companies are rushing to embrace this trendy new media phenomenon. Web 2.0 largely is about user-generated content. Corporate executives and marketing heads like the idea of having their customers be participants and share information, rather than just getting information off the site. An automobile maker, for instance, might start a social network or blog for customers to write about their experiences with their vehicles or post pictures or videos from their favorite road trips.

Is this going to change the face and the performance of future businesses?

Davenport says it definitely will not.

"Blogs are fun to read and socially interesting and perhaps useful," he said Monday morning. "I have yet to see any major example of how capitalist organizations make more money because of Enterprise 2.0 or any example of corporate culture being transformed by Enterprise 2.0. I have no problems with using Web 2.0 technologies in organizations, but I do have some problem with the idea that it means a radically new version of enterprises." Davenport, however, isn't ready to completely write off Enterprise 2.0. He's the doubting Thomas of the industry, but he was quick to note at the beginning of the debate that nothing is set in stone. "In general, I'm an agnostic about this and not an atheist," he added. "I don't pretend to know for sure."

McAfee, though, said Web 2.0 technologies have the potential to create great change, because they can give voice to employees who may have great ideas but very little corporate voice.

"I'm pretty sure it won't be transformative for a lot of companies, but I do think it has the potential to be transformative," he said. "Anyone has the potential to contribute to it. Those contributions add up over time. They become visible and something we can profit from. My optimism comes from the fact that these new technologies address some deep needs in the organization. They say over and over we don't have good means to let our people collaborate. If someone has done a great project somewhere in the company, how do we know about that?"