A handful of people have been throwing around the term Web 3.0 for years. Frankly, it seemed like three seconds after Web 2.0 was uttered, people started to guess/define what Web 3.0 might look like. In researching this piece – yep, I actually research – I’ve seen mentions of Web 3.0 as early as 2006.
As we all know, Web 2.0 is so last year, or the year before, even. Web 2.0 is about sharing and connecting.
As if passing a torch, last week Facebook (Web 2.0) was overtaken by StumbleUpon for the top source of social referrals in the US, according to the StatCounter data. It’s a great illustration of how important data is becoming. It’s not that everything from Web 2.0 will be gone. Social is clearly here to stay. The question is: what comes next?
The combination of two things will shape Web 3.0: data and anywhere access. We have been seeing the edge of this, but soon we will see data embraced and leveraged by companies and consumers alike. At the same time, the idea of how we access of it is evolving. Although we can access it now through smartphones and tablets, it is at times slower than traditional internet connections, and content is still sometimes harder to view. This will change.
In the coming months and years, internet access will become seamless from one device to another. As far as true usage via television, the limitations are (1) the remote – which should be solved later this year, (2) the set-top box and (3) possibly bandwidth issues. There could also be a spike in power consumption depending on how this is solved. When it comes to the internet and television, the real question is: will an actual television really matter anymore? Or, is the large television just a monitor that can stream movies (hello Netflix) and on-demand “television” programming?
The one-to-one internet and entertainment experience is coming fast. There are more than a handful of companies that offer targeted advertising, user content and entertainment based on user profiles both tracked, implied and stated. Opt-in as a data standard is growing as well. When advertising matches a consumer’s preference, he/she is more likely to respond. For example, according to a May 2011 BizRate report, response rates for opt-in mobile advertising rates in Asia now top 25%.
The next phase of our development future will be an evolution, not a suddenly totally new concept. Data (content, targeting, and probably so much more), access to that data, and mashups that deliver data in places and ways you would not expect will be the norm. Web 3.0 is coming fast, and I can’t wait.
Fork In The Road 