Is there such a thing as web 3.0?

I haven't been posting onto my blog very regularly recently and ironically this is because of the internet. Inverse to all predictions we are actually very busy at the moment, and, like all self-employed people, I am grateful for it. However, this has led to me not being able to spend as much time on my social networking as I would like.

But, as everyone knows, keeping up with the daily machinations of the world wide web isn't easy, and in my business (and probably everyone else's) it is fundamental to at least keep abreast of what's happening out there. Hence I have my 'Twhirl' app floating on my desktop all day long whilst I bury my head in practical daily tasks like layout, useability, accessibility, seo and more besides.

So now and again I am raised out of this web designer's dwam by a little dinging noise. 'Twhirl' has alerted me to the latest updates on my Twitter network. Inbetween the ongoing furore over the conviction of Pirate Bay's founders, Newsnight requesting Stephen Fry's opinion on the matter, and various other bulletins I see someone opening a discussion on Web 3.0. on LinkedIn.

And I pause.

Web 3.0! I'm still trying to explain to clients what web 2.0 is all about, and now we have an upgrade, why wasn't I told?

And the truth is I was, by a web 3.0 app.

So what's it all about then?

Well, if web 2.0 was all about the democratisation of internet publishing (and I mean that in the widest sense possible) via blogging, RSS feeds, podcasting, youtube etc. Then it seems that web 3.0 is about how we gather and how we use this information, as well as how we publish it.

Social networks, micro-blogging and aggregators are the key to this, Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, LinkedIn, Twitter, Friendfeed, the list is endless. But all have two things in common, intimacy and immediacy.

So I started digging a little bit deeper in order to educate myself, and to prevent the embarrasing situation of someone supposedly less web savvy than me bringing up the subject. And to be honest I'm still not clear on the specifics. All of the talk rings familiar bells and bears huge similarity to the discussions about web 2.0 several years ago; it is all about marketing.

Yes there is a huge and very welcome change in the way people are conducting business, what customers expect, and how people communicate. And the aforementioned websites are all growing geometrically to facilitate this. But I'm still wary of the motivations behind those marking this period as a watershed in the history of the web. And, when it really comes down to it, I don't feel the need to box up and re-brand such an amorphous media, but I understand that some people do.

My clients are generally too busy focussing on their own industries to be too bothered, but, at least if they ask I can give them a short explanation without feeling the embarrasment of not knowing, then I can return to my developer's fugue.

Sixth Sense Computing -

It's not often I am blown away by new innovations, but some things just tickle my 'geek' buttons.

This video below will explain more than I ever could.

(Stick with it past the toilet roll talk and you'll see what i mean)