Can You Move From Web1.0 Straight To Web3.0?
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008It’s a hypothetical question because Web3.0 isn’t here yet (although some would say it may manifest itself in personalisation). But let’s explore the scenario:
I’m doing a research project on Indonesia, where the internet penetration is very low (something like 9%) and many web activities are restricted to the old “Web1.5″ usage of just a static website with none of the “social” elements that are typical of Web2.0.
One question asked in class was something like “Do you think Indonesia would go straight from Web1.0 to Web3.0 by the time their infrastructure catches up?” with the illustration of starting with Friendster and moving to Facebook, bypassing MySpace completely.
My answer is: probably not. I think Web2.0 is not a “technology” per se in the way we commonly refer to it, but a way of using technology. My analogy is take cars as the parallel to Web2.0. Different brands of cars all fall under the “cars” category. If someone moves up from a Toyota to a BMW (ie Friendster to Facebook), they do advance within the category, but they do stay within that subset. It’s not until one moves out of it (to say, flying), that the previous category is done with altogether.
Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know what you think. I think it’s a fascinating discussion and would love to hear from you.
Incidentally, if you happen to know data or internet patterns/trends in Indonesia, it would be great to hear from you as well.
Tags: friendster myspace facebook, indonesia, internet penetration, personalisation, social media, web 1.0, web 1.5, web 2.0, web 2.0 technology, web 2.0 usage, web 3.0, what is web 2.0
