It’s been approximately 25 years now, that the internet initially evolved from a tiny little network in a gigantic room, into an electronic god, who knows all and sees all. The net has all the questions and answers, and is being used by almost every consumer as well as business in the developed world.
And every year that has passed, the net has evolved enough to meet the demands and expectations of each and every user, including the demands and the visions of developers. The internet has become bigger, quicker and a lot more interactive. The most exciting and important web developments however, are still yet to come. The term Web 2.0 is still developing and evolving. We may also be on the threshold of yet another exciting new era in this thing we call the Internets.
Can The Web 3.0 Be Far Away?
Industry developers and IT, Information Technology businesses all agree that the internet may be entering into yet another new era. It will still continue to present knowledge based information, but will focus more towards ‘real-time’, on the fly data and communication. Users who have been accustomed to using social networking or instant messaging are beginning to drive demand for yet more immediate, personalized and unconstrained web communication.
This new real-time internet will completely transform how employees collaborate, how businesses communicate with their customers, and will also completely redefine how social networks work. The most amazing thing is that this continuing evolution of the web is not driven by new technology. Rather, it’s driven by the internet users themselves, which is you.
This ‘new internet’ will build from the success of the original WWW or World Wide Web, and interact it with the current Web 2.0, to cater to the needs of a brand new generation of ‘give it to me now’, hyper connected users. These next generation users will exploit the internet extensively, and not only use it for: research, or fact finding, or for online shopping, but will also conduct social as well as business communication. They will stay current with breaking news or information as it happens, in real time.
Blame It On Twitter
This thirst for real-time information and communication is driven by stepping away from the traditional desktop computer, to web based applications that can be accessed by the increasing array of portable mobile devices. Twitter is leading the pack, and has become iconic for this new intense appetite for immediate, real-time communication.
Twitter however, is actually missing two key components in the next phase of this internet evolution.
First: Twitter is not exactly ‘real’ as in real-time. When someone happens to post a tweet, the followers will then have to check for any new messages to get the info. If the user happens to check often, then it’s fast, but it’s not real-time in it’s true sense.
Second: The user must have a Twitter account to subscribe to or receive the news.
The internet of the very near future will possibly address both of these issues. Real-time information and communication will become platform independent. This is where the users will receive the ‘real-time’ info from possibly 5 to 10 different networks simultaneously, all from one location, thus the broadcasts will be truly unbiased, split-second instant as it happens news.
The Interpersonal Web
While all the users will want to be able to access information, instantly and in real-time, they will also have very little tolerance for any communication that has no relevance or interest to them. Instead, they want to be able to see the status of their immediate circle of contacts, and only receive information that only peaks their interests. Real-time information will therefore have to be coupled with relevant content that is highly personalize. Well, the internet is evolving itself to deliver this to you, and as such, the net is becoming interpersonal. It may soon become possible for web surfers to pull instant content from a variety of contact sources to one centralized location.
Web 3.0 Is Coming To A Browser Near You
Businesses as well as it’s consumers will have to become aware of the importance of real time interaction and personalization. They will have to recognize the new challenges presented by this new evolution, and be prepared to act on them. The internet is once again evolving. There are a lot of businesses, web gurus and IT developers who are eagerly ready to announce the creation of the new Web 3.0.
Yet, the Web 3.0 is not really a creation. It is an evolution that’s driven by yet a new generation of internet users. They are changing the way that we use and exploit the web and demand more services to feed our appetites. This new developing era of the internet will be technology agnostic. As long as this new web service behaves as it’s supposed to, then we wouldn’t care who or what has created it.