ReadWriteWeb

Ever since the term "Web 2.0" started to catch-on, people have been speculating as to what "Web 3.0" will be. Briefly stated, Web 1.0 was the Static Web and Web 2.0 is the Social Web (for more a more nuanced view of this history, see here). One popular theory is that the Semantic Web comes next. Others have also called for Web 3.0 to involve user-centric identity and data portability - technologies that would depend on many of the same open standards that would enable the Semantic Web. Others suggested personalization would be king.

Youth social networking researcher danah boyd has observed that many people presume the way they use social networks is the way everyone uses them. "I interviewed gay men who thought Friendster was a gay dating site because all they saw were other gay men," she says. "I interviewed teens who believed that everyone on MySpace was Christian because all of the profiles they saw contained biblical quotes. We all live in our own worlds with people who share our values and, with networked media, it's often hard to see beyond that."

Now picture our perspective leaving our own experiences, zooming out and up until we can see how all the different groups are interacting on a worldwide social network. That bird's-eye view could be both beautiful and horrible if the resolution was clear enough. That's what a Ramen-eating, ex-Apple engineer named Pete Warden is about to release to the public this week.

What are you doing? How about now? Has anything changed since you started reading this blog post? Every story has a who, what, where, when, and why - but the event-driven nature of the social Web may be putting such a premium on broadcasting about what we're doing, that software designed to help us answer important questions like who and why are at risk of being neglected.

Reflecting on the human condition was once a popular past-time. A lot of people used to read poetry, as you may have heard. It may not be the Internet's fault that we're becoming less introspective - in fact the huge amount of activity data we're sharing online offers incredible opportunities for reflection, and for learning more about ourselves. It seems quite likely that we're going to miss those opportunities because our software is focused entirely on doing (and advertising) instead of on helping us think as much as it could. Of course that's much harder to do.

The Web 3.0 Conference in New York last week was a visible success. Attendance was good, and so it seems that the organizers are making money. That is significant in a recession, when many conferences that were announced have had to be suddenly canceled due to lack of interest. At a more qualitative level, the Web 3.0 Conference had a good mix of different types of people. It was not an echo chamber. Personally, I found the conversations more stimulating than average for a conference.

This week I gave a short presentation at a local event, Webstock Mini, in which I looked at some of the trends we're seeing in Web Technology this year. The presentation is embedded below. I gave the term 'Web 3.0' a bit of a ribbing. But my overall theme was that there is indeed a difference in the products we're seeing in 2009, compared to the ones we saw at the height of 'Web 2.0' (2005-08).

In 2009 we're seeing more products based on open, structured data e.g. Wolfram Alpha. We're seeing more real-time apps e.g. Twitter, OneRiot. And we're seeing better filters e.g. FriendFeed (and Facebook, which copies FriendFeed - er, I mean is inspired by).

In this edition of the Weekly Wrapup, our newsletter summarizing the top stories of the week, we give you a blow-by-blow account of the Twitter replies policy debacle this week, explain why the new Google Search Options and rich snippets are so significant, analyze what 'Web 3.0' means, and more. We also update you with the latest from our new channel ReadWriteStart, dedicated to profiling startups and entrepreneurs.

I've been following a fascinating 3-part series of posts this week by Greg Boutin, founder of Growthroute Ventures. The series aimed to tie together 3 big trends, all based around structured data: 1) the still nascent "Web 3.0" concept, 2) the relatively new kid on the structured Web block, Linked Data, and 3) the long-running saga that is the Semantic Web. Greg's series is probably the best explanation I've read all year about the way these trends are converging. In this post I'll highlight some of Greg's thoughts and add some of my own.

A year ago, I wrote a magnum opus three-part post that attempted to chronicle some of the underlying changes happening in the economy and how this would impact web technology ventures. "Useful, but too long" was a recurring comment. So, here is a one-year update, much shorter. And hopefully a bit clearer, seeing as we are further into this transition.

You've heard the grumblings. Web 2.0 is declining, it's so last year....no wait, maybe Web 2.0 is just dead. But is it really? Or has it just become so ubiquitous that it no longer needs a special label anymore? Former Forrester analyst and Groundswell author Charlene Li predicted that social networking would become "like air" - that is, social networks would be everywhere. And now they are. So are blogs, wikis, video-sharing sites, and everything else that comprises "Web 2.0." But does that mean the era of Web 2.0 is over because it finally hit the mainstream?

Tim O'Reilly, co-founder of the Web 2.0 Conference, gave a short address on the 5th anniversary of that event at tonight's Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco and offered some thoughts on what's going to come next. He discussed five applications that he believes point the way.

Two themes stood out: sensors will surpass humans in front of their keyboards as the primary data source on the web and Moore's Law will need to be applied to humanity's greatest problems.