Hutch Carpenter, VP of Product at Spigit, has a nice post about the “two-year lag” that separates Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 adoption. I like the lineup of technologies in this review — from wikis, to blogs, to microblogs, to location-based mobile apps, etc. But it really gets interesting as Carpenter wraps up, noting that the latest stuff is not just about tools but the rules of social engagement. This has always been the case — and social media tech consultants have lectured on the topic ad naseum — but what’s new today is how game logic is getting woven into the user experience. Notes Carpenter:

Foursquare makes it fun, and for many people, addicting, to check-in. You get points and *bonuses* when you check into the places you go. If you check in to the same place enough times, you get to be mayor of a venue and tweet it about it. You earn badges for accomplishing different things in the Foursquare system.

These features have had the effect of motivating legions of people to participate. It’s fun to see your stats. It’s fun to get a little competitive. It’s great when you get that notification that you’ve earned a new badge.

Sound familiar? Yep — it’s the same kind of incentives that make online social games one of the fastest growing markets today, transforming companies like Zynga (the purveyors of Farmville, YoVille and Mafia Wars) into economic powerhouses. As Carpenter suggests, games are addictive — so addictive, in fact, that the next wave of innovators in Enterprise 2.0 are already thinking of incorporating them into their offerings. Hint of what’s to come? Take a look at Deloitte’s recent article in Business Week, where the authors John Hagel and John Seely Brown examine what businesses can learn from the World of Warcraft. Deloitte is not alone. I think we can safely predict that the lag will be shorter between Foursquare and the “Foursquare for the enterprise.”