...something i've noticed recently in tech media is that it's become sexy to predict bubble 2.0
..................
Yes.
But note the difference between storm warnings, then and now. In the past, sober observers said things such as "there's no way Pets.com is worth billions of dollars." Unless you were drunk on bubble 1.0 blue martinis it was easy to understand why this was true.
But many of the so-called 'Web 2.0' darlings - YouTube, Facebook, et. al. - are very popular and range from reasonably to quite profitable. In other words, they're actual services used by millions and not just fancy websites and clever, ironic commercials. Also, brick and mortar businesses have fully realized the use of the web as a sales and marketing platform making it all the more a part of the real, 'old', economy
This real-ness pushes bubble/bust 2.0 predictors to look to the wider world for clues of the 'coming collapse' - housing market woes, vague psychological factors. When they talk about bubble 2.0 they seem to be voicing worries about the US economy in general but expressed in web-centric terms.
.d.