Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS)
Written by Sramana Mitra
I have written a few pieces already addressing the disjointed nature of the web, whereby, you go one place for content, another for community, and a third for commerce, the most notable of these is the popular, 4C: Yahoo’s Turnaround Formula.
Let’s quickly recap the terminology:
3C = Content, Commerce, Community | 4th C = Context | P = Personalization | VS = Vertical Search
This, I submit, is the formula for the future: Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS).
Web 2.0 has been a nichy phenomenon with hundred and thousands of microcap efforts addressing one of the Cs, lately, Community being the most popular force, producing companies like MySpace, Facebook, Piczo, Xanga, and Flixster.
In Web 1.0, Commerce had been the driving force, that produced companies like Netflix, BlueNile, Amazon, and eBAY. It had also resulted in the Dotcom meltdown.
The same period that is seeing the surge of Web 2.0, has also seen a great deal of investment in Vertical Search, like Sidestep for Travel.
Personalization has remained limited to some unsatisfactory efforts by the MyYahoo team, their primary disadvantage being the lack of a starting Context. More recently, Netvibes has raised a lot of buzz, but also lacks the same organizing principle: Context.
In Web 3.0, I predict, we are going to start seeing roll-ups. We will see a trunk that emerges from the Context, be it film (Netflix), music (iTunes), cooking / food, working women, single parents, … and assembles the Web 3.0 formula that addresses the whole set of needs of a consumer in that Context.
Imagine
- I am a petite woman, dark skinned, dark haired, brown eyed. I have a distinct
personal style, and only certain designers resonate with it (Context).
- I want my
personal SAKS Fifth Avenue which carries clothes by
those designers, in my size (Commerce).
- I want my personal Vogue, which covers articles about that Style, those
Designers, and other emerging ones like them (Content).
- I want to exchange notes with
others of my size-shape-style-psychographic and discover what else looks good. I also
want the recommendation system tell me what they’re buying (Community).
- There’s also some basic principles of what looks good based on skin tone, body
shape, hair color, eye color … I want the search engine to be able to filter and
match based on an algorithm that builds in this knowledge base (Personalization, Vertical
Search).
Now, imagine the same for a short, fat man, who doesn’t really have a sense of what to wear. And he doesn’t have a wife or a girl-friend. Before Web 3.0, he could go to the personal shopper at Nordstrom.
With Web 3.0, the internet will be his Personal Shopper.
Sramana Mitra is an Entrepreneur, Founder CEO of 3 companies, Strategy Consultant to 50+ companies, and Author of a popular technology business blog, Sramana Mitra on Strategy.
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I love the formula and the style! In my mind more than just shopping, much more, will come out of what you are saying: personalized news, personalized recommendations, personalized search. All of these are going to be part of new web. Of course shopping is important, but we do not just shop all the time :)
Alex
My vision is pretty close, although I imagine people will at least need to know what they want (simply stating "I'm fat and don't know what I want" won't suffice).
I envision the system to be driven by RSS... Users know what they want, and it's humans who make the suggestions and product offers. Web 2.0 is all about making humans into the ultimate democratic algorithm, and I think that will carry over.
Your formula is awesome, and like Alex said - it could be applied to many different areas.
-Robert
That's right money can be made from many things on the internet. It isn't just limited to shopping for clothes, gadgets etc...
As for the formula I think you can't really generalize it with just that, as I can come up with the 4A's
Avenue for marketing
Assimilation of Information
Absorption of that Information and
Abolition of negatives
to get to the "Z" which is the "Zeroing" in on the required Information.
Hence the most important factor is the "I" the "Information"
So my formula -> Web 3.0 is I = (4A + Z)
Just thinking outloud :)
at www.fashmatch.com we are trying to build what is depicted in the example. We are taking small steps, but we will get there.
Nice formula. What is the keyword for Web 3.0?
Thanks all for the nice comments. Jon of fashmatch, pls email me with details about your project. Cheers, Sramana
My tought on Web 3.0 :
http://www.fredcavazza.net/index.php?2006/11/19/1348-toward-a-web-30
/Fred
I think you need to add an 'I' in there somewhere for Interoperability or Integrated or something like that.
But maybe we shouldn't call it Web 3.0, but Web 2.0++.
How about adding a 5th "C" for Collaboration?
Not overwhelmed by the forumla itself or the notions of extending the blanket term Web 2.0, although the parts of the formula – 4C, P, and VS are very interesting. You write well with good analogy and aplication to what we've seen in the past (dominance of commerce) to the current (community) and where we are going – which is a good debate. Thanks.