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Advertising is Dead – Long Live Advertising
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Advertising is Dead – Long Live Advertising
Brand leadership through social media
Not so long ago, the relationship that brands had with their
customers was a one-way street. The brand was the boss. They
told their customers what to like and how to like it. The only
say the customer had was the decision to buy. This is no longer
the case. Customers are very publicly talking back and it is
making the management teams of some brands very nervous.
Web-based social networking platforms give customers power never
seen before. Now one voice can be heard by thousands of people.
Brands need to learn to deal with this evolution, so here is a
primer.
First, some background on how the internet has altered consumer
behaviour. The internet, and particularly the rise of social
media, has allowed people with similar interests to connect.
This becomes obvious when one trawls through Twitter, where the
common social network model of simply connecting with people you
know tends to give way to people connecting in groups according
to interest. Indeed, people interested in any topic imaginable
from all areas of the world are connecting. It’s like
subject-based forums on steroids. People are forming tribes.
Humans have always formed tribes. Religion, family, sports and
fashion are all examples of tribal behaviour. The difference now
is that any interest group can form a tribe almost instantly.
Social media has allowed any fringe idea to become the basis of
a tribe and a movement. People want desperately to be connected,
but, even more importantly, they want to be led. We are in a
time of massive change, which is driven by everybody’s desire
to do things in a new way and to be heard.
Barack Obama’s recent landslide victory is a good example of
this. He promised change, he communicated differently and led
with integrity. He connected to his audience through social
media. He started a movement, formed a tribe and then he and his
followers charged to victory. What the world discovered is that
you can now make an ad campaign as slick as you want, but if the
product is poor then it simply doesn’t matter.
So “advertising is dead” in the sense the old methods don’t
work the same way they used to. Obama’s opponents didn’t fully
understand the impact that social networking has had on society.
They continued to use the old and trusted methods of marketing.
These apparently transparent methods are diminishing in
influence as social networking begins to infiltrate every media
touch-point. In two recent articles I wrote for Anthill I talked
about how this is already happening to television and how the
newspaper industry needs to change to avoid becoming
irrelevant.
Social media is much more than a passing phase. Human
civilisation is built around social interaction. It’s what the
people want and this new media is only going to get bigger. It
will eventually become part of everything. Individual social
media companies might fade away (MySpace seems to be in that
category) as better designed products come onto the market, but
the world has spoken and it wants to be connected. Brands that
don’t adapt to this reality will be left behind. They will
become the guy at the party that nobody wants to sit next to
because he just keeps talking about himself.
Tribal Behaviour
Blogs have become socially and commercially influential. From
what started out as individuals chatting on about their lives,
blogs have become business tools and money making ventures. They
influence groups, buying patterns and fashion. They are modern
tribal leaders.
Not so long ago commentators speculated that blogging was simply
a passing fad. What these commentators didn’t realise was that
it was yet to achieve maturation and once it had it would signal
big trouble for the large media organisations. Now anyone with a
camera or a desire to write is ‘the press’. This pattern is
being repeated for micro-blogging, a category in which Twitter
is the current market leader. Some commentators question the
relevance of utilising Twitter to listen to people “drone on
about their lives”. But Twitter, and other micro-blogs, are in
the early stages of their development. They too will mature,
most probably much quicker than the original blogs, and enable
much bigger tribes to develop around even more specific subject
matter.
The tribal leaders of these new social media can be reached and
persuaded to support you, no matter what platform they decide to
use. Unlike the old ‘one way’ approach however, they need to
be interacted with on their own terms. Provided they have a
group of true fans, they can influence hundreds of thousands of
people – in a matter of hours. This is what gives them such
power.
And this is what marketers in the current environment have to
understand. The ‘mass-market’ model is on the decline. What is
needed now is a pattern of marketing to the ‘early adopters’ -
the ones at the front of the bell curve who have a true interest
in what you have to offer – and form a base of evangelists that
will market for you. You no longer have to aim to connect with
everyone. This really leaves the field wide open for the smaller
brands to break through – the ones willing to challenge.
The Age of the Challenger
In marketing speak, a ‘challenger brand’ is code for ‘the
small brand’. A challenger brand is one that is meant to be
fast, flexible and innovative in its communications. But in my
view the word ‘challenger’ should instead be short-hand for
‘emerging leader’.
Emerging leaders challenge the status quo, they challenge
themselves and they connect with others who have similar ideas -
those people who need a leader to show what to do and inspire
them. The market leader wants the status quo to remain just
that. They want to speak and be heard in a mass market. No
discussion thanks. The challenger realises that, in order to
create a movement there needs to be systems in place for
everybody in that tribe to be heard, and they commit to leading
that tribe with everything they’ve got.
Traditional advertising is not about interaction with the
individual. It is predominately a one-way conversation to a mass
audience. But nobody likes to be forced into making decisions.
This is why the traditional advertising model is beginning to
fail. It relies on mass media, and this media is itself being
transformed by social networks.
What can Social Networking do for Your Brand?
All of this may sound a bit scary for brand managers. It’s true
that it does take time and effort to build a community. And to
be truly effective, you have to obey some rules. Even so, it is
not a hard thing to do. It takes far more time and resources to
build that fan base with traditional advertising. Be honest, be
helpful and contribute to the community and you’ll get
supporters fast.
Social networking is far more than having a Facebook profile. It
is any platform that gives the end user an ability to
contribute. Many companies have realised that developing an
internal social media platform can aid in communication but have
yet to work out how it can help shape their brand personality.
A good social media strategy accepts that you can’t do
everything at once. A company can employ a social platform to
perform customer service, to connect directly with customers
(thereby humanising the brand), to obtain demographic
information on individuals to improve the effectiveness of
direct marketing or to harness a mass of surplus cognitive
resources to generate new ideas.
You can’t do everything with social media, but as long as you
are focused you will be able to do much more than you may
expect.
Where to Start
In the coming months, many companies will try to market through
social networks and many will fail. There are, of course, ways
of dramatically upping the chances of success, not least of
which is making sure you hire a company that knows the space
well. Making sure you know the fundamentals will help move
things along quickly.
The first thing any company moving into social networking should
decide is the overall goal. Knowing what you want to achieve and
why you are doing it may seem obvious but is something that is
easily overlooked if you rush into a project too quickly.
As with any good marketing activity, you need to know how your
customers think and behave. Unlike traditional advertising,
marketing online is very data-rich. It is possible to know
exactly what your customers are looking at, how long they spend
doing it and who they then talk to about the experience. Make
sure you know as much of this information as is possible before
you develop a strategy any further.
From there, deciding what channels you wish to utilise becomes a
very important choice. You should know where your target market
is by this stage, so deciding if Facebook, Twitter, Bebo or any
other platform is right should be easy. Deciding to create your
own platform is a bigger step but can be very rewarding if it is
done correctly. Again, make sure you are getting good advice and
a solid strategy and don’t just assume that if you make
something it will get used.
Measurement is important in all areas of business and social
networking is no exception. Developing good metric methods
should be an early priority. Remember that it is possible to
measure everything but not all information has value. Knowing
what you are looking at is vital. If you are hiring a marketing
firm to build you a social networking campaign, it makes sense
to have part of the payment tied to the performance of that
campaign. If you are building a network to get staff talking to
each other and your customers, the quality of the content will
go down if you assign KPIs to ‘platforms usage’ only.
Most importantly, make sure everyone involved knows what your
‘voice’ is. It is wise to develop a policy around social
networking usage, but if that policy is too tight you will lose
support. This is about people. Learn that it is OK to give up
control of your marketing message and become part of the
conversation. Be honest, be objective and be involved. And do
not leave your community. You have made a promise to these
people to listen to them. If you stop participating, they will
abandon you in an instant.
Start Lending
There is no better time to start developing social media
strategies. All market segments are spending a lot more time on
social networks (the time spent on Facebook grew by over 500
percent in the year Dec ‘07 to Dec ‘08) and in this time of
economic downturn it may be wise to attract new customers from
further afield. In the not-too-distant future, every company
will have a social networking policy, so getting in early will
give you an edge.
Marketing in social networks is not rocket science. It may
involve technology but, at its core, it is what human
civilisation is built upon. If you can hold a conversation you
can market in social media.
So get good advice and get moving. The world is changing and the
challengers are going to come out on top. They will create
movements and lead tribes. They will interact and not be afraid
of change. They will know how to listen and realise the greatest
power they have is to empower their customers.
If you understand that these networks have all been built
because it’s what your customers want, then the challenger, the
leader, can be you.
Google’s Local Business Center: A Major Update & A New Name – ‘Places’
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 8:00 AM
Friday, August 6, 2010
Google’s Local Business Center: A Major Update & A New Name – ‘Places’
If you have a brick and mortar store, and rely on walk-in
traffic for your survival, you may be wondering
what the Internet can do for your business. Believe
it or not, a lot – and you don’t even need a website.
In the “old days”, the bulk of businesses relied on
the Yellow Pages to get the phone ringing. The majority
of marketing dollars were spent getting listed in this
ten pound paperweight. With the popularity of the Net,
less people let “their fingers do the walking” when they
need something, and more are letting their mouse do
the talking.
Online search has gone mainstream when it comes to
searching for local businesses. Google states that
73% of searches are done for local content. Another
study by BIA/Kelsey and Constat report that 97% of
consumers use online resources when doing research
for products/services in their local area. See
http://www.kelseygroup.com/press/pr100310.asp
Google has always understood the power of local search,
and years ago launched its Local Business Center where
any business can get a listing for free. Recently,
they’ve done a major overhaul and have re-launched with a
new name of “Google Places”, showcasing a host of new features.
http://google.com/places . The name change was done
to tie in with Google’s Place Pages which were launched
over a year ago and include over 50 million places
worldwide. http://tinyurl.com/yc56vx9
If you want customers to be able to find you, and haven’t
listed your offline store here yet, you need to get with
the program. You are missing out on the opportunity to
reach millions of Google users, including Google Map users,
Google’s 800 Voice Directory Search and even Google Earth.
And all of this exposure won’t cost you a dime. It’s totally
free.
Now that I have your attention, let’s go over the steps
for inclusion. As with all things Google, you’ll need
to sign into Google Places with your Google Account.
Up to 100 single locations can be added but, if
you have more than ten to list you’ll need to use
their “Bulk Upload Tool”.
There is a verification process that must be done
to prove you’re the owner of the business being listed.
The choice is yours, it’s by phone or mail. Once
this is done, your listing goes live.
Now in case you’re thinking all that’s included in
a listing is an address and phone number, hold onto
your hat. Here are some of the listing options.
1) Show the geographic area you service.
2) Photos: Upload your own, up to ten images per
listing, in JPG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, BMP. A professional
photo shoot can also be requested for your business.
3) Place Page Posts: You can post real time updates
here, up to 160 characters, announcing special sales,
events, and new products. One post appears at a time.
4) Custom QR Codes: For use with smart phones to
take users to your mobile website.
5) Advertise: They do have a “Tags Program” in
select cities for $25.00 a month where your business
will be highlighted on Google.com and Google Maps.
6) List your operating hours. Biz description
and even reviews.
7) Post Videos: Up to five videos can be posted,
but you’ll need to publish them to YouTube first,
then include the URL’s on your Place Page.
Payment Types Taken
9) Coupons: Create online coupons to give people
incentive to visit your site. There’s a separate
“coupon tab” that appears on your listing page.
10) Privacy: If you work from home and have no
storefront you can choose to make your address
private in your listing.
At this point you should be realizing how important
being listed in Google Places is to your business.
If you’d like to see what your listing looks like
to a searcher, log into Google Places and click on
“see your listing on Google Maps”.
Now remember, search results are based on relevance
and “geographic distance”, so you can’t buy your
way to the top of the list as with pay-per-click
advertising. As previously mentioned, the “tags
program”, if available in your area, can be utilized
for having your business show up highlighted for
$25.00 a month.
If you’re interested in paying for your links to show
up on the Google Maps search results page, if related
to the search terms and location searched, that can
be done using Google’s Adwords program with what’s
called “Local Targeted Ads”. http://google.com/adwords
By the way, Google also includes a “Reporting Dashboard”
that will tell you how people find you, and what keywords
they used to search. It’s powerful stuff that can also
be used in your local search engine optimization work.
Do yourself a favor – if you’re not listed with “Google
Places”, do it today. It’s targeted, free traffic. Now
where else can you say that when it comes to marketing
on the Internet. People are looking for your business
online and with Google Places you can make it easier
for them to find you. Website or not – it simply doesn’t
matter – but getting people in the door does, and Google is
there to help.
Web Marketing Ideas You Can Use
The Web is full of information, articles, videos, white papers,
e-books and all matter of research and information. Some of it
is very, very good, and some of it is misleading and irrelevant.
Somewhere in the middle, falling squarely in the category of
spectacularly mediocre, is the vast majority of the rest of it.
If you’re like me, always trying to improve, learn, and grow
your business, then you’ve probably been frustrated in your
search for truly useful information that you can actually use
to improve your marketing, branding, and sales efforts.
There seems to be a wide choice of articles dedicated to
surefire courses on do-it-yourself marketing that will make
you a Web-Media-Mogul overnight (usually available for a mere
three payments of twenty-nine, ninety-five) and of course,
there’s always lots of stuff on how you just got to get
onboard with the next big social networking fad. Excuse me
while I delete another email about an absolutely fabulous
linking strategy I just can’t live without.
It’s all too familiar and for the most part, a waste of time.
If this nonsense were really the answer to growing your
business, then you’d already be rich, sitting on some
Bora Bora beach sipping pina coladas, and not hunched over
your computer trying to find something useful that will
actually help.
In One Word Or Less
When it comes to marketing, it really doesn’t matter what
venue, method, or media you employ; marketing is simply a
matter of effective ‘communication,’ easy to say, not so
easy to do.
Your ability to communicate is the key to marketing success,
or conversely, your inability to communicate effectively
is what is holding you back. So the time has come to grapple
with the real problem, and that is, how do you communicate
your marketing message in the most effective manner to your
audience; how do you tell your brand story so people pay
attention, and care.
The first thing to understand about marketing communication
is that text messaging, Twitter and all other limited, one
dimensional solutions, stifle the very thing that’s necessary
to implement effective marketing communication: the nuance,
depth of understanding, and emotional value inherent in what
you offer – the very thing your audience needs to know about
what you sell. The key being ‘why they need what you
offer’ not ‘what.’
Communication Is A Complex Process
The second thing to understand about marketing communication
is that it involves five critical elements in order to be
effective: the Message, the Method, the Messenger, the
Audience, and the Venue.
Ask yourself, why are you on the Web at all? If it’s because
everyone else is on the Web, then you’re never going to have
the marketing breakthrough you crave; but if it’s because you
have something to say, a story to tell, a reason for people to
say, “I need some of that!” then it’s time to get serious about
developing the right message, delivered by the right messenger,
sent to the right audience, and employing the Web venue’s best
method of multidimensional communication – Video.
This is nothing new. Web Video is now accepted as the most
effective communication tool available to Web businesses, so
what is the difference between Web Videos that are an utter
waste of time, and worse, counter productive, and Web Videos
that turn companies into marketing phenoms?
Unlike one-dimensional forms of communication, Web Video
delivers your message by accessing multiple senses using visual
and auditory techniques. Just by adding a human being as
presenter goes a long way to making an impact.
Because video communicates by accessing multiple senses on both
a subliminal and direct level, it demands knowledge and
expertise in concept creation, writing, casting, graphic and
motion design, video production and editing, audio, music and
sound design, as well as the ability to get it all to work
together in an effective presentation delivered on time and for
an affordable investment.
But all of this expertise and skill can be wasted if your video
campaign lacks an identifiable emotionally relevant conceptual
design. One of the hardest marketing concepts for bottom-line
oriented business executives to accept is that the value of
their offering is found in the emotional satisfaction their
product or service provides. Telling people what a company
does alone is not marketing, telling them why they need what you
do is. Companies that focus on ‘the what’ turn their products
and services into commodities and products that are
indistinguishable from the competition, but companies that
focus on the emotional value they provide, deliver the answer
to the question, why people buy from one company and
not from another.
Effective Marketing Communication is Concept Based
All good marketing is based on an emotionally based concept.
This is especially true on the Web, where content and attention
span go hand-in-hand. If your Web marketing is not interesting,
informative, and entertaining, it will never be memorable; it
will never have the lasting impact you need to meet your sales
and marketing objectives. Effective marketing communication
starts with an emotionally charged concept, one that can be
spun-out into a long-term presentation strategy, a concept
with legs.
Coming up with an appropriate concept that will work for your
product or service takes a bit of creative thinking, but it
really isn’t as hard as you think. One caveat that often escapes
clients, when they come to us with their ideas is that the
concept must be executable for the available budget. Anybody
can come up with fantastic ideas that are impossible to
implement or cost prohibitive. The trick is to develop a
concept that can be implemented on time and on budget.
Executable Brand Video Campaign Concepts
One method we use to develop affordable brand video campaign
concepts for clients is to combine the emotional value
proposition the client offers with a recognizable presentation
trope.
Tropes are metaphorical expressions, or in this case,
storytelling-scenarios that audiences recognize and accept in
terms of their implied expectations and implications. Used
properly within the context of a Web Video presentation,
tropes can simplify and shorten a complex message, and provide
cover for what would otherwise be a boring, blatant sales pitch,
or desperate plea for business.
Human beings are all programmed for pattern recognition, it is
a basic skill needed for survival, and it’s been hardwired
into our DNA. Our very survival as a species is dependent on
our ability to recognize danger and opportunity. Business and
marketing is no different. And that is what makes communication
tropes effective. This intrinsic aspect of our nature allows
professional video marketing experts to tap into the
motivational triggers that govern our subliminal decision-making
responses, the kind of responses that get people to buy
what you sell.
Web Advertising’s Future Format: Branded Entertainment
posted by Luigi_M_Scollo @ 8:00 AM
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Web Advertising’s Future Format: Branded Entertainment
How do you deliver a marketing message to a Web-audience that
hates advertising? A few years back I proposed a solution based
on short-form television-style programs: the “120 Second
Solution,” two minute brand-story commercials formatted in a
mini three act Web-video presentation. Today this concept is
called Branded Entertainment: a two to seven minute commercial
that combines content, advertising, and entertainment in a brand
story format designed to attract and hold an audience’s
attention while delivering a memorable core marketing message.
The concept has been a hard sell as it flies in the face of a
lot of conventional wisdom about advertising formats, attention
spans, and content credibility. Like most good ideas it seems
that branded entertainment’s time has finally come. Various
marketing blogs are all a twitter about Orbit Gum’s new
campaign called “Dirty Shorts” featuring its first branded
entertainment effort, a 5:17 minute branded video from Jason
Bateman and Will Arnett. It seems these well-known actors have
enough faith in this advertising format that they’ve formed
DumbDumb, a branded video production company. Their first
effort, “The Prom Date,” was viewed 110,000 times in just
three days.
(http://videos.sitepronews.com/video/2278/The-Prom-Date)
Commitment To A Core Message
Of course not everyone has the deep pockets required to hire
Jason Bateman, but with proper planning and implementation a
branded entertainment video campaign is within reach of most
successful small and medium sized companies.
The single biggest obstacle in implementing this kind of
campaign is not the cost, but rather, the commitment to a style
and format most business owners find hard to swallow: the need
to focus on a single core reason why customers should buy your
product or service and to deliver that message in some bold or
offbeat manner.
All too often entrepreneurs think of advertising in conventional
terms like display, banner, and classified (e.g. Adwords). Even
Web video has been pushed, prodded and crammed into pre-roll and
post-roll television style spots. The Web isn’t television; it
requires a whole new way of thinking when it comes to marketing
presentations.
The Web is by nature an unconventional arena that demands bold
content. You can say and do a lot of things on the Web, but the
one thing that won’t be tolerated is boring your audience. Add
to that the fact that we live in a product placement world where
the line between advertising and content has been permanently
erased and you have an advertising environment that demands
something different.
You must stop thinking of your website as a digital brochure and
start thinking of it as a total immersive multimedia advertising
environment that connects to a target audience using standout,
break-through communication techniques. The goal is quality
engagements not shotgun traffic.
The Goal Is Quality Engagement NOT Traffic
For the average Web business it is important to remember that
huge viral numbers don’t come from clever campaigns alone, but
rather, are the result of great campaigns plus advertising
support, extensive PR, and paid-blog placement. That is not to
say that small and medium-sized companies shouldn’t pursue this
approach but rather, the goal of these campaigns should be
quality engagement not quantity traffic – a far more affordable
and productive objective.
How To Deliver Break-Through Advertising
There are various ways to achieve what ad agencies call
break-through advertising, but in every case those methods call
for content that stands out from the crowd, be it humorous,
offbeat, alarming or just plain entertaining, if it doesn’t
standout it won’t make a connection, and your website
presentation will be instantly forgotten.
The best and most complete example of branded entertainment that
I have seen was the brilliant Shredded Wheat “The Palace of
Light” campaign. It was very funny while delivering a powerful
marketing message. Unfortunately the campaign is no longer
running, but if you can find some of the videos on the Web, they
are definitely worth seeing. They are great examples of how to
turn advertising into content, and content into a memorable
experience.
In a speech about break-through advertising, Chuck Porter,
co-founder of Crispin Porter + Bogusky states the average person
sees conservatively 1600 to 3000 marketing messages a day.
That’s a lot of advertising. If your marketing communication
doesn’t standout in some way, you are probably wasting your
advertising budget.
Two Kinds of Advertising
In response to a question asking whether advertising was
technology and data driven, or creatively driven, Porter
explained that there are basically two types of advertising.
The tech-data driven ad is all about finding that person who
needs what you sell at a time when he or she wants to buy it and
then delivering the message to them. This is the reason why so
much of what you see, hear, and read in marketing journals and
blogs is filled with statistics and analysis of who is doing
what and where. All of which is perfectly fine if the only
customer you want is the one that needs what you sell instantly
or who is motivated by impulse.
This kind of advertising is all about immediacy; the customer
needs or impulsively wants what you offer right now. The key is
instant access. If customers don’t have instant access, chances
are the impulse to purchase will fade, or the prospect will find
it more convenient to get the product elsewhere. In this type of
advertising, timing and immediacy is paramount. The downside is
no long-term relationship is established.
Digital products that can be downloaded instantly seem to be
most appropriate for this approach, however that must be
qualified by the level of cost and sophistication associated
with the product or service: the higher the cost and the more
complex or advanced the offering, the less impulsive the
decision, and the more a client must be wooed. Advertising
theory commonly suggests it takes seven engagements in order to
win over a client.
The other kind of advertising is creative-based; it’s
advertising built around brand awareness and identity. This is
the kind of advertising that creates customers, and establishes
long-term loyalty. This is the kind of advertising that can
benefit from implementing a branded entertainment campaign.
Why Branded Entertainment Works
If branded entertainment is done right, it engages an audience,
it informs and enlightens, it entertains and amuses, it’s
meaningful and memorable and potentially viral. Branded
entertainment is more than advertising, it’s marketing, and it
is designed to influence attitudes, change perceptions, and
prompt action.
What to Expect from Web 3.0
Video: Google to provide Fastest Internet in US
The buzz is growing about Web 3.0, but as usual you have to filter out all the hype, self-serving PR, old-fashioned nonsense, newfangled marketing verbiage and other noise. You will then find a few facts that you can grab onto and try to figure out what’s going on. The first thing to remember is that, like “Web 2.0,” the term Web 3.0 is not an official term of any sort, does not represent any particular protocol or standard, belongs to no one – and is used, misused and made nearly meaningless by everybody. It is, quite simply, just an arbitrary “version number” that, at most, describes how the Internet is built and how it delivers services, at least as of the freeze-framed moment in time that represents the end of 2.0 and the start of 3.0.
Sometimes it is called the “semantic Web,” but perhaps the less-used term “everyware” is more descriptive. The new scenario is one of ubiquitous computing, the advent of cloud computing where a “thin client” (no- or low-powered PC, or even just a monitor and mouse) runs cloud-based applications using cloud-based data and services. The Apple iPhone, iPod and iPad are all examples of formerly standalone devices that were integrated into the Web, and connect people in a seamless, real-time and very simple way with – well, with everything, from libraries and department stores to other people, anywhere in the world.
From Read-Only to Interactivity
One of the Web’s true “parents” was Tim Berners-Lee, who had his own notion of how the technology and the Internet developed. The first phase of the Web had read-only capabilities. It was essentially a spectator experience until read-write functionality came along (sure, call it Web 2.0) that included services to enable contribution, collaboration, content creation and interactivity. The next step in Berners-Lee’s version vision, Web 3.0, is heralded as “new territory,” where users can assemble and run their own applications, create all sorts of cooperative and collaborative enterprises, and truly put their ideas in motion rather than simply uploading stuff to this, that or the other site.
People with money invested in other, still-useful devices – phones, PDAs, fax machines, etc. – don’t have to worry about Web 3.0 making them obsolete. In addition to letting users create their own tools, Web 3.0 is another step in the evolution of usage and interaction in which the Internet holds multiple databases and content that will be accessible to many non-browser-based devices and applications. The obvious uses will be video that streams from a PC to a TV, picture frames that receive wireless updates from an online or local photo app, and phones that display items recommended by your trusted sources – friends, review sites, experts – when you’re shopping.
From Data to Knowledge
In addition to the foregoing characteristics, Web 3.0 is also said to encompass other important advances. For one thing, all sorts of inputs are possible, which means all sorts of new combinations become possible. Content can be made even more broadly relevant when it’s related to GPS, so that social networking, for example, can be enhanced by knowing who is where and doing what.
More importantly, you will get more and better control of your data and be able to establish a number of personalization systems to “wrap” your personal information with different levels and types of protection – so that you can share it widely, narrowly or not at all. Over time, the accuracy of recommendations and trustworthiness of ranking systems will help us determine which data sources to take seriously and which to avoid.
From Business Faxes to Online Games
With the rise of “linkable web apps” you will be able to use all of your different desktop, server and mobile devices and applications – telephones, fax machines and online fax services, instant messaging, pagers – and control them from a single browser window on your desktop, smartphone or handheld device. All of it will take place in an always-on, always-everywhere environment, with functionality embedded sometimes in hardware, sometimes in software, sometimes in both – so that when you need to take care of business without downloading the capability, you’ll be able to do so.
Along with more of the visual and voice-based services that are already starting to proliferate, there will be more lifelike avatar interactions in the growing virtual social networking world. This will lead to social shopping trips and virtual reality gaming far beyond anything currently being done.
In mid-2009, the “Wall Street Journal” ran a story on the development of Web 3.0 capabilities and the promise of ever-greater interconnectedness among technologies, products, services and people. The story even gave us a yardstick by which to measure the success of Web 3.0, if in fact it does succeed. If, as the WSJ puts it, “computing could become as integrated and invisible as electricity and just as important” – and we can attribute it to the new and improved Web – we’ll know that the promise has lived up to the hype. Here’s hoping!
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