Web 3.0 – A Matter of Semantics

I was just getting up to speed with Web 2.0 and patting myself on the back for grasping its meaning.  That is, if we can even all agree on a meaning for Web 2.0.  Now, I learn that the conversation about Web 3.0 has been underway for at least two years already.  Gracious!  How am I ever going to keep up with all this new information?

Jonathan Strickland has a good explanation that helps me comprehend the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0:

Think of Web 1.0 as a library. You can use it as a source of information, but you can’t contribute to or change the information in any way. Web 2.0 is more like a big group of friends and acquaintances. You can still use it to receive information, but you also contribute to the conversation and make it a richer experience.

Web 2.0 is about customizing content and sharing information through social networking, blogging, YouTube and other sites that allow users to exchange information.  Customer reviews like the ones mentioned in yesterday’s blog are a perfect example.

Web 3.0 is the next conceivable evolutionary stage of the Web although it is highly speculative.  Wikipedia points out that it “refers to aspects of the Internet which, though potentially possible, are not technically or practically feasible at this time.”  One way Web 3.0 has been described is as aggregating silos of information from the Internet and, for practical purposes, creating a seamless interface in retrieving that information from various locations.  Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, calls it the “semantic” Web.  Right now search engines can scan for keywords, but they are unable to actually understand a Web page in the context of its meaning.  That’s why Google doesn’t have the technical capability of understanding that some of its paid advertisers are scammers.  Here’s a video that explains the semantic Web:

Web 3.0 will change this.  For the everyday user, Web 3.0 will have the ability to answer multi-part questions, putting pertinent information together in a logical way.  An example given Strickland in How Stuff Works is getting help finding a good Mexican restaurant for dinner and with a funny movie playing close by.  Web 3.0 becomes a personal assistant as your browser learns your likes and dislikes from your repeated searches.  In an ideal world, it will bring you the information that is most likely to be of interest to you.  Everything will be able to be mashed up to meet personal preferences.  Read more about how Berners-Lee envisions the semantic Web here.

I’m not sure that I like the idea of Web 3.0.  I have to wonder if privacy doesn’t become even more vulnerable in a Web 3.0 world.  Will my browser be reminding me that I want to lose weight and tell me that I can’t eat Mexican for dinner tonight?  Will it decide that I can’t afford a new car, or that I don’t have enough free time in my calendar to own a dog?  I’m not sure that we will like what we learn about ourselves through our Web 3.0 browsers.

Of course, the major implication for marketers is that the world will be even friendlier toward an integrated marketing strategy that has the customer-centric focus.  Since IMC is about building a relationship with the customer, this kind of personalization is perfect for the marketer.  IMC strategists want to know their customers, and it seems most customers don’t mind if they do.