Are you ready for Web 3.0?

In the mid 90's we saw the birth of Web 1.0, I still remember like it was yesterday. Suddenly computers were not boring anymore. There was so much new information that was now available. Information that was locked away in libraries and proprietary databases suddenly made its way on to the world wide web. The World Wide Web (WWW) was the phenomenon and the best brains were occupied with harnessing and displaying this exploding information. First, we saw Netscape and then a bunch of other companies and then Yahoo! and then Google. Apple during this time rose from the ashes to became the maker of devices best suited to browse the Internet. Bulletin boards and transaction sites were everywhere but king of the hill of the 90's were the Information sites. I enjoyed the 90's from inside major universities and companies. I saw hundred's of people jump the corporate ladder or drop-out of the schools to start their dot com. Oh, it was all so cool.


The DotCom bust was the first shuffling of the cards. I remember people forecasting Amazon may not be able to survive. Survive they did to become the biggest eCommerce company providing consumers with incredible deals but also we saw the strength of the eBay's of the world. But really the Web 2.0 belonged to Social Media, Social Commerce companies and Mobile companies. Look at Facebook, Groupon and of course the rise of Apple. Apple stranded the Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 like no one could have imagined. If their Macbooks and iPods were primarily devices to consume and create media; iPhones and iPads became the devices to interact, yes they were the biggest winners of Web 2.0 by every single metric. Note that the things that became big in Web 2.0 were all present in the earlier years, just that they were not mainstream. Facebook leveraged the Bulletin Boards and so did Pinterest.


Now we are entering the remarkable Web 3.0 era. How do we know? Well look around you, people are becoming bored of just social networking. They are starting to look for something new. People are ready to dream once again because the reality is mundane for many and bitter for some. This is when color and design starts to appear everywhere. People are searching for new meaning. We are ready for the shuffling of the cards. Today in mid-2012, it is abundantly clear that the winners in 2014-2020 era will be companies that will allow individuals to mobilize the masses to get big and small things done. Things that are good for the society. This is a role that was the monopoly of politicians (and to some extent civil servants and consumer product companies). It is clear that the masses are not happy with the status quo and in time, instead of just talking about it, making and sharing beautiful infographics, taking part in shouting matches on the street or social media, people will start to do something. They will say it is time to ACT. This action will be captured by video and personal TV channels will thrive (this has already started). Yes, I believe that Web 3.0 will be broadcast live to your couch and will be so compelling that you will be jolted to act. Act from your couch instead of just browsing, socializing without meaning. Imagine reality becoming as real and entertaining as the best game you have ever played or the most engaging movie you ever watched.

The winners of Web 3.0 will be companies that make or enable this "Action", just as Web 1.0 winners were companies that made "Information" available and the winners of Web 2.0 were companies that made "Interaction"possible.

So are you ready for Web 3.0?