Where Will Web 3.0 Be One Year from Now?

By Gary Druckenmiller, Jr., co-founder, TheOpenSea.com – If there’s one thing that digital guys (and gals) love to do, it’s predict the future.  I used to literally scour the Web around Y2K for the next iteration of “what’s next” or “the future of …”  I will admit it was like a drug.  And in many of those instances, I would find myself applying those predictions to current or future marketing projects.  Some panned out, some did not.

Today is not much different, although we’ve gotten a tad better at making technology predictions.  Here are some hopefully thought-provoking capsules of knowledge on some of marine’s more widely used Web 3.0 tools that you can make your own plans with for future social engagements.

Facebook:

No doubt that Facebook will continue to grow, but who will it grow for?  The stay-at-home mom?  The teenager next door?  A marketing manager?  Facebook was never designed to be a business tool.  And as time goes on, marine professionals will begin to realize this.  You can’t market to people who really don’t want to hear from you and Facebook doesn’t have any “major” plans to bridge this gap in the months to come.  Outside of advertising, the future does not hold any significant new business opportunities for marine pros on Facebook.  You should still be there, but don’t expect it to become anything more than it already is.

Twitter:

Twitter is a one trick pony, but a darn good one.  So what’s in store for the next year?  Twitter will begin to delve heavily into “mobile social” or instantaneous networks similar to FourSquare and other new apps that are cropping up away from the PC.  In this realm, you can still Tweet but you’ll also know where those Tweeters are at that moment via geo-targeting (a la GPS) and if they’re near you (at a nearby marina, chandlery, mooring) so you can meet up face-to-face.  This brings a whole new realm of networking to bear that for lack of a better term is physical real-time.  I predict Twitter will make huge strides here.

LinkedIn:

LinkedIn will continue to become an education tool first and foremost.  The “Answers” section is clearly on a path to become a monstrous un-biased knowledge base of business content unlike any other.  And the business topics covered are wide-ranging and hearty.  With that, LinkedIn will more than likely begin to charge for some of that content as time goes on and as the knowledge base grows, coming up with new ways to provide resources and educational tools for its vast professional audience. LinkedIn will in some ways become similar to Wikipedia in terms of how we will use it as a daily informational tool; even if it is just for business.

Niche Networks:

We will eventually all get tired of social this and social that, and realize that our true hobbies and passions (i.e. boating) need to take center-stage.  So where will we go to do all that?  The rise of industry niche networks is beginning to capture the eyes of many.  These are network sites with similar functionality to a Facebook or LinkedIn that are for just one industry; in this case marine.  You can take this concept to infinite levels (I built a niche site for my town’s little league), but for business or hobby purposes … going beyond industry level can become a little too finite (i.e. New England Boat Builders Who Prefer Slow Curing Epoxies).  TheOpenSea.com, TheBoaters.com, Fishington.com, SailingNetworks.com are all well known niche networks dedicated purely to marine or a portion of the marine world.  This is where social and professional networking is heading folks … take heed and adjust accordingly.

Watch for my next blog post, as I will dive deep into the mobile world and uncover some new ways to utilize this growing arena.