Duane Nickull on not using “Web 3.0”

The Expert: Duane Nickull, Technical Evangelist, Adobe Systems Inc.

Definition of Web 3.0: Wikipedia notes that Web 3.0 has been defined as various technologies coupled with Web 2.0 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_3.0), including semantics, geo-spatial and database type functionality. Given all of this exists in the current web and the internet evolves continually, I favour not using the term “Web 3.0”.

Knowledge of what has been referred to as “Web 2.0” is can be distinctly captured as a series of design and architectural patterns and as new patterns (such as semantic tagging) are added, there is no need to increment the numerical suffix.

How it will affect business: The business community has already noted that web 2.0 patterns have resulted in several successes that have disrupted the status quo. As media companies have witnessed revolutions from MySpace, Flickr, Facebook and YouTube causing them to rise to some of the most visible assets in the world, they have struggled to understand the patterns behind the rise to duplicate in their own domains. Businesses cannot ignore the evolutions in their industries and have got to understand what these patterns can do before their competition locks in their customers to their own platform.

Elaborate: Businesses were greatly affected by the first internet adoption and that trend continues today. Businesses can not longer rely on customer loyalty, patience and history if they are in competitive fields. If a competitor rises with a new business model and innovation in web presence, customers might leave to become customers of the competitor. This constant force should not be labeled Web 3.0. It is instead a concept of the constant beta, a pattern in which continual innovation exists. Other concepts and trends like trusting your users and harnessing collective intelligence can propel a business to the top of their field if done correctly. Those who neglect the potential disruptive innovations may soon find themselves buried within their industries.