Yes there are the privacy concerns, which is why the terms and conditions have grown over the years to become even longer than the US declaration of independence document.

Though used in it’s most simple context it allows for a very time efficient way of connecting and staying connected to your social network. It allows for face to face virtual discussion across your entire social network.

The idea of losing touch with a friend dissolves away when using the site, and for that reason it enters the Life hack series.

Web 3.0 arrives in 2009

I believe there is a new trend developing in web design in early 2009. Having had this feeling for many months I’m now seeing evidence to support it.

Having been on the web before the days of inline jpeg images, Internet Explorer, and Yahoo, I’ve seen many trends and development and I can see another transformation taking place once more.

Web ’1.0′ was about accessible content. “Content is King” is the mantra that still rings true in web design today.

(Ever heard of a site called Google? This is why – Google’s goal was to be the Internet content King .

Web 2.0 was all about social interaction. Given that you already have some content how do you enrich it? By leveraging the link power of the web and allowing many users to interact with that data, even modifying or adding to it.

(Have you ever heard of a website called Facebook? It is popular because it allows people to interact with data from their network of friends)

I believe Web 3.0 has arrived and it will revolve around user interface design. The way that we access the web will change, browsers will evolve. For example, your clothing could be a ‘browser’, or your hands may be the ‘mouse device’. Why?

O.K. Here’s why…

In building a house the initial priority is not where to put the T.V. in the living room. It may be about the depth of the foundations or some such.
Similarly the web started with access then content – accessible content, out of which the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) (dealing with web standards) was seen to grow. Then later, true to it’s name “the web” was about creating a web of  links to data in the form of social networking.

So, now that the data exists (Web 1.0) and there are meaningful links between the data items (Web 2.0)  the next ‘fashion’ I believe is in the way that data is accessed – Web 3.0. Augmented reality systems and intuitive navigation is what lies on the road ahead. Then after, perhaps, the much disscussed semantic web will arrive in Web 4.0

Some early examples of what I believe to be Web 3.0 are as follows:

Google maps on a mobile device

General Electric augmented reality website http://ge.ecomagination.com/smartgrid/?c_id=Matter#/augmented_reality

BMW mini augmented reality advert  http://technabob.com/blog/2008/12/17/mini-augmented-reality-ads-hit-newstands/ (English article about the German BMW mini website)