When someone talks about Web 2.0, they are usually referring to the current interactive phase of internet development, defined by blogging, social networking and “wiki” sites built with user-generated content.
But what is the next evolution? What is web 3.0? In an article in the Financial Times Dawn Bebe, managing director of the UK’s first social shopping site for women, Osoyou.com, ventures a guess that “The next evolution for the web is social networks that have a purpose – vertical social networks”
I totally agree with Dawn Bebe in that the future of social networks is in niche smaller sites. While there will be room for general sites like Facebook and MySpace, users will migrate to smaller vertical sites that better match their needs.
The Financial Times article looks at how Web 3.0 might impact something like online shopping. The inability of advertisers to successfully turn social networking traffic into a profitable RO is something that has really thwarted the growth of social retailing. Web 3.0 offers a potential solution to the conversion issue.
Malte Goesche, chief executive and co-founder of iliketotallyloveit.com, a social shopping site based in Germany says:
“We believe that peer-to-peer recommendation is already essential in e-commerce because shopping is a social and emotionally driven experience. Recommendations by friends help you to discover products you weren’t aware of and didn’t know you needed. We are trying to establish iliketotallyloveit.com as a global online forum for fashionistas, gadget lovers and collectors of oddities.”
Study after study has shown that peer-to-peer recommendations carry far more weight than any advertiser or celebrity endorsement. And this phenomena isn’t just restricted to social shopping. Traditionally the best type of lead any business can get is a referral from someone else. All we are doing now is having those recommendations take place online instead of offline.
Gordon Gould, chief executive of California based ThisNext.com, a popular social shopping site goes even further:
“Our view is that social shopping, by tapping into the social web, will become way bigger than advertising online and through search engines. Marketers can’t use Google to sell shoes. Buying is a visual, emotional process.”
This is an interesting quote from Gordon Gould. Shopping is a sensory experience and the e-commerce experience in web 1.0 and 2.0 have not been the most visually stimulating experiences. But with the widespread availability of broadband access and rich media tools like Flash and Video, there is no excuse for a bad online shopping experience. Web 3.0 will bring together the combination of personal recommendation with a visually stimulating experience, and that is a potent combination.
Don’t think that combination is limited to just shopping. Businesses will be able to use the same Flash and Video tools to make “virtual” sales presentations.
Web 3.0 will be all about the growth of smaller vertical social networks. Users will be able to share views on products while advertisers will need personal recommendations in order to get users attention. Once they have got the users attention, advertisers will use tools like video to create a more visually stimulating experience.
Is your business ready for Web 3.0?
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That doesn’t sound like Web 3.0 to me at all…
With regards to sharing views on products and personalized advertising, places like Amazon have been doing that for years. Rich multimedia content? Meh, I’m not sure if there’s a need for it in most online retail outfits.
Vertical social networks already exist and some have been successful. I don’t think we’ll see people signing up for smaller social networks in droves or that it will really have a huge impact.
Web 3.0 is much more likely, in my mind, to encompass the next logical technological leap: mobility. Broadband access everywhere, through the phone. Phones have that capacity now, but imagine being able to take social networks to the real world. Applications still aren’t mature in that area. Here’s an interesting related idea: I recently read about a technology being developed by MIT that allows people to tag buildings with their phones and build communities around them.