Marketing and the

World Wide Web lue Paper

4imprint.com
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Web 3.0: In which were all replaced by

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artificial intelligence
Remember the Walkman, that beat out the boom box, that turned into the
Discman, that led the way for the MP3 player, that got eaten by the iPod? Its
the perfect example of evolution. Perhaps not exactly the kind Darwin
wrote about, but still the Walkman demonstrates the spark of a
culturally driven, technological evolution.

Just like the World Wide Web.

The Web is constantly changing as people innovate, as the demand for

information ebbs and flows, and as cultures shift. The Web that Sir Tim Berners-
Lee launched in 1989 is not the Web we know today, nor is the Web today what it
will be tomorrow.

Tech enthusiasts, Web developers and others are providing a veritable cacophony
of exciting conversations on new innovations and new processes that are being
explored and implemented. Innovations and processes that will no doubt change
the Web as we know it. At the same time, however, there seems to be an absent
narrative in the conversations of tomorrows Webthose who stand the most to
gain (and the most to lose) simply arent at the table.

Marketers, were looking at you.

Many marketers are still trying to come to grips with the Web as it stands
now: Leveraging data, building websites with SEO in mind, and trying to turn
customers into fans all the while wondering just how to measure the ROI of a
tweet posted six months ago. But, if businesses hope to continue to be relevant
with audiences, take on competitors and get the most out of marketing dollars,
marketers from small businesses to large corporations need to know whats
around the corner. Its time to conquer the now and prepare for the Web-olution.

The next generation of the Web as we know it is not just about learning how to
do something new or different, its about enhancing what tools we already have.
Its about taking advantage of the potential opportunity that this new Web offers
to enhance communication, make engagement more meaningful and increase
relevancy among target audiences. Its time to pull up a chair or cop a squat at
this conversation. That is, unless we would all prefer to continue
selling cassette tapes.

2010 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved

The World W ide Web: A brief history

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In order to begin to understand the concepts of where the Web is going, its best
to become familiar with where the Web has been and is currently:
Web 1.0 and 2.0.

Web 1.0: 1990 2000

As mentioned, Berners-Lee launched the World Wide Web 1989although
its often said that he invented the Internet, this is not technically the case. At
the time, Berners-Lee was working for the European Organization for Nuclear
Research (CERN) and, like many scientists at that time, was frustrated that there
wasnt a uniform way to access data on one computer from another. He used
processes and information previously identified by his peers, like Internet Protocol
(IP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Domain Name System (DNS)
which was the basis for e-mailto build the World Wide Web (WWW), in order to
share information across computers and the globe.1

For his idea to work, though, he had to convince others to join the Web by using
the same type of HTTPs, URLs and Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML code). As
interest grew, so did the concept of the World Wide Web. Users slowly shifted
from those in the scientific community to the masses and as this happened,
people tried to figure out what the technology meant. During this stage of the
Web, people developed their own HTML websites, businesses found a virtual
place to showcase inventory, while Yahoo!TM, AltavistaSM and AOLSM made the
Web a popular place to hang out and find static information.
This stage of the Web was all about searching for online viability.2

Web 2.0: 2000 Present

Once people and businesses started to get their bearings, the Web
morphed into something more useful, more entertaining and more
collaborative than ever imagined. Users developed networks, enhanced
interactivity, connected through social media, and grew business with crowd-
sourced content. First Google, eBay, YouTube, BloggerSM and Wikipedia,
followed by FacebookSM and TwitterSM, ruled the Web. Originally the name of a
conference, Web 2.0 became an all-encompassing term for the stage of the Web
that is all about user-generated content, multimedia, information sharing
and collaboration.

In Web 2.0, the Web experienced a social change but most of the technology
stayed the same. Thats where the next stage begins.

1 Berners-Lee, Tim. World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Web. 05 May 2010.
<http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Kids>.
2 Bijlbrand. Web 3.0 Explained with a Stamp (pt I: the Basics). SlideShare. Web. 05 May 2010.
<http://www.slideshare.net/freekbijl/web-30-explained-with-a-stamp>.
2010 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved
The rise of Web 3.0

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Essentially, the next stage of the Web involves the previous incarnations of the
Web becoming more intelligent. Some people call it Web 3.0 while to others its
just the Web, evolved. A Web-olution, if you will. Either way, there are elements
of this next Web that are already apparent and especially relevant to online
marketers and communicators, such as:

Linked Data, intelligent search

capabilities and the Semantic Web
Open source, OpenID and Open Graph Protocol
Artificial intelligence
Software as service and cloud computing

These technologies work together to make the Web a more engaging and useful
place for all users, yet these technologies will also pose particular opportunity to
businesses and organizations wishing to reach and interact with their audiences
and constituents. Read on to find out just what these technologies are, how they
stand to affect your business and what pioneers are doing with Web 3.0 right
now so that your business can take the leap to the next evolution of the
Web, today.

Linked Data, intelligent search and the

Semantic Web
If Web 1.0 was about linking pages and Web 2.0 was about linking people, then
Web 3.0 is about linking data. The Web in its current form is more or less a giant
collection of documentsdocuments that are indexed by search engines and
searchable by keywords. The thing is, these search engines cant tell if a person is
searching for Phoenix the band versus Phoenix, Arizona or, as a common analogy
for describing Web 3.0, a red stamp versus stamps from the Red Sea.

Linked Data aims to increase the usefulness and the relevancy of the information
on the Web by structurally describing content and relationships to other content
instead of just utilizing keywords. This is accomplished primarily through datasets
that are interconnected in order to make sense of the plethora of information
available on the Web. Instead of searching Phoenix a user could tell a search
engine, Find me bands sharing a name with a city that have had hit songs on
the charts within the last five years. Or, instead of searching red stamp, a user
could tell a search engine, I want to see every red stamp to come out of the U.S.,
Italy and France in 1976.

2010 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved

Barney Pell, president of Web company, Powerset, calls the restrictive language of

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current search engines keywordese.3

Search engines try to train us to become good keyword searchers.

We dumb down our intelligence so it will be natural for the
computer, said Pell. The big shift that will happen in society is
that instead of moving human expressions and interactions into
whats easy for the computer, well move computers abilities to
handle expressions that are natural for the human.4

Although the concept of Linked Data goes back slightly further, the movement
started to gain serious momentum in 2009 and since then many platforms and
datasets have already popped up across the Web, linking data that has been
available previously but never before connected. For example, Google currently
pulls together universal search by considering, a users search history, Google
content and products to provide relevant results to the user. Sites like www.Evri.
com, www.Infochimps.com and www.OpenCalais.com find popular articles on the
Web and link them to other relevant articles based on topic and content, or when
a shopper makes a purchase in an online storefront, the website may recommend
similar products to add to a cart or during a subsequent visit.

As Web 3.0 continues to grow so too will the power of Linked Data. From a user
standpoint, Linked Data increases the value of the Web exponentiallyjust think
of all the time saved paging through millions of search results to find the one
relevant article. Linked Data can also offer users context and connection for the
information they are seeking. From a marketing perspective, Linked Data offers
opportunity in increased measurement and market research capabilities, along
with a shift in the way content for websites is approachedthe search engine
optimization game is no longer just about which company has the best keywords,
but which company truly has the most relevant information.

So how does a business get started with Linked Data? For starters, its Web
developers and marketers should be well-versed in World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) standards, particularly those pertaining to Linked Data. Berners-Lee, who,
go figure, heads up the Linked Data shift through the W3C project, has identified
its four principles5:

3 Olsen, Stefanie. Spying an Intelligent Search Engine. CNET News. Web. 17 May 2010.
<http://news.cnet.com/Spying-an-intelligent-search-engine/2100-1032_3-6107048.html>.
4 Olsen, Stefanie. Spying an Intelligent Search Engine. CNET News. Web. 17 May 2010.
<http://news.cnet.com/Spying-an-intelligent-search-engine/2100-1032_3-6107048.html>.
5 MacManus, Richard. Linked Data Is Blooming: Why You Should Care. ReadWriteWeb. 18 May 2009. Web. 17
May 2010. <http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/linked_data_is_blooming_why_you_should_care.php>.

2010 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved

 1. Uniform Release Identifiers (called URIs; URLs are a type of URI) are

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used to pinpoint things a person offers to the Web as a resource

2. HTTP URIs are used so that people can locate and look up
these resources

3. Useful information about the resource is provided when it is referenced

4. Links to other, related URIs in resulting resources (the data) are

included as a means of improving information discovery on the Web

Beyond these principles, businesses need to understand the broader concept of

the Semantic Web. The Semantic Web is part Linked Data and part well
semantics. Specifically, the language for recording how data relates to real
world objects.6

This language is based on what is called the Resource Description Framework,

or RDF. RDF is an XML-based standard (Sorry! Lots of acronyms: Simply, XML is a
more advanced form of HTML and is used for feeding data.) for describing the
relations of things on the Web, building on existing XML and URI technologies.
Essentially, they are statements made in the code of websites that describe a
resource, its properties and the value of those properties. Called triples, these
statements consist of a subject, a predicate and an object that correspond to a
resource, a property and a property value.7

Kind of like this:

[resource] [property] [value]

[The president of the U.S.] [is] [Barack Obama]

Then, based off of this set of triples, other sets are added to further define the
resource and its relation to other resources. This code also creates an identifier
that subsequent Web developers can then use as well to link their own relevant
resources to.

Other technologies like Web Ontology Language (OWL), RDFa, RDFs, Simple
Knowledge Organization System (SKOS), Dublin Core, Creative Commons and
SPARQLwhich is an RDF query languageand more work together with or build

6 World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Web. 17 May 2010. <http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/>.

7 What Is the Semantic Web? XML Editor, Data Management, UML, and Web Services Tools from Altova. Web.
08 May 2010. <http://www.altova.com/semantic_web.html>.

2010 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved

off of RDF to make the Web more robust and functional and search results more

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relevant, more intelligent.

As all those languages sound confusing, lets nutshell thisLinked Data and the
Semantic Web will impact the Web so that in the future:

Web information has exact meaning

Web information can be processed by computers
Computers can integrate information from the web8

As marketers, we need to recognize that the ways in which we provide

information to our customers, along with the ways in which we conduct research
and learn about our customers, is going to shift. Web 2.0 is still pretty linearits
push and pull between businesses, marketers, brands and audiences and search
results are still more or less a listing of documents. With Linked Data, the Web will
no longer be linear. It will be Web 2.0 on steroids. It will be so jam-packed with
data that is connected to other data that will show us connections we did not see
before. As marketers, we will be able to use this data to advance market research
and product development. We will make correlations and causations between
the audience and the brand that we previously never knew existed. This in turn
will enable us to become even more targeted in messaging, more efficient in
resonating messages and more relatable as brands.

The key to getting the most out of this new technology will ultimately be figuring
out how to analyze the vast amount of data that will be available to us, how to
select the data sets that are most useful and most insightful and then apply it in a
way that connects us more with our audiences while being profitable.

The downside to this overflow of connected information first and

foremost is the lag in adoption. Its a new idea that may take some
getting used to. Other challenges arise over the issue of privacywill
consumers be okay with this level of information and knowledge of
their interests and habits being used to sell them goods?

Additionally, we will likely deal with ownership issues: Because Web 3.0 it is still
so new, its hard to speculate as to who, if anyone, can claim ownership of links
and datasets. Code is precise, the law is not; and copyright law is still too complex
for a computer to discern. While techies say that there can be no ownership,
that hasnt stopped businesses from trying. The New York Times includes claim to
some copyright ownership to content in their Linked Open Data library. So, does

8 Introduction to OWL. W3Schools Online Web Tutorials. Web. 20 May 2010.

<http://www.w3schools.com/rdf/rdf_owl.asp>.

2010 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved

this mean that a competitor could claim ownership of language specific to your

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product, requiring your business to obtain a creative commons license from them?
We dont yet know, which is why we need to place a greater emphasis on learning
about Web 3.0 before these questions become obstacles.9

Semantic Web, IRL (in real life)

Best Buy decided it was better to begin exploring the technology of the
Semantic Web sooner rather than later, so recently it implemented a
Web Ontology for e-commerce, called GoodRelations. Shortly after,
Jay Myers, the lead Web development engineer at Best Buy noticed
something: The rank of Best Buys pages that incorporated the
Semantic Web language rose significantly in search results compared to
other pages. Myers also noted that since they launched their beta
Semantic Product Web, augmented with GoodRelations and RDFa,
Best Buy has seen a 30 percent increase overall in traffic to its pages.10

What could be considered a fluke was reinforced by Nick Cox from Yahoo!, who
has been quoted as saying that search results that are augmented with structured
data, such as with GoodRelations, get a 15 percent higher click-through rate
which we all learned in Web 2.0 further boosts SEO.11

Open source, OpenID and Open Graph Protocol

While much of Web 3.0 is about linking data, its also about openness. In
opening application programming interfaces (APIs), protocols, data formats,
open source software platforms and open data, possibilities are opened up for
creating new tools. An open Web is one that is high-quality, reliable and low-cost
for the world to create and maintain.12

The term open source is most often used to describe software and/or code
thats availablein part or in wholeto the masses and usually distributed
with the executable code. Unlike traditional software license purchases, open
source software can be altered by anyone and redistributed relatively freely.13 Its
important to note that open source does not mean free, but rather it is about
efficiently creating and altering software that is accurate and powerful for the
purpose of the greater good while reducing research and development costs of a

9 Hellman, Eric. The New York Times Blunders Into Linked Data, Pillages Freebase and DBPedia. Go To Hellman.
30 Oct. 2009. Web. 20 May 2010.
<http://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-york-times-blunders-into-linked.html>.
10 Best Buy Jump Starts Data Web Marketing. Chief Marketing Technologist. Web. 17 May 2010.
<http://www.chiefmartec.com/2009/12/best-buy-jump-starts-data-web-marketing.html>.
11 Best Buy Jump Starts Data Web Marketing. Chief Marketing Technologist. Web. 17 May 2010.
<http://www.chiefmartec.com/2009/12/best-buy-jump-starts-data-web-marketing.html>.
12 What Is Web 3.0?: The Next Generation Web: Search Context for Online Information. Suite 101: Internet.
Web. 17 May 2010. <http://internet.suite101.com/article.cfm/what_is_web_30>.
13 2006, Wikinvest. Concept:Open Source. WikInvest. Web. 08 May 2010.
<http://www.wikinvest.com/concept/Open_Source>.

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business. A few examples of open source software that you may be familiar with

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are Linux, Drupal, www.WordPress.com, many of Googles applications and the
Mozilla Web browserbut dont be fooled into thinking that it ends there.14
Based on our previous conversation, its also important to note that linked data is
not necessarily open and open source content is not necessarily linked.

Technically a product of Web 2.0, open source has a major presence in subsequent
generations of the Web, especially in the context of data. Tim OReilly, founder of
OReilly Media and also known as the Open Source Prophet, explains that while
we have open source software and content currently, its about how the data of
Web 3.0 will make it more powerful and useful for the masses.

We can have as much open-source software as we want but weve now created
this new layer where these databases that grow through user contributions are
the real source of lock-in, explains OReilly.15

Eventually, [developers] will make their software open source because it wont
matter. The value lies in having the data, says OReilly. The real question is, will
there be a future open source movement thats really an open data movement.16

Hes right of coursein order for data to be linked, it must first be open. The
idea of open source has also grown to encompass the term open contentany
creative work that is published under a license and allows copying and modifying
of its information by anyone. Essentially an alternative to copyrights that often
create monopolies, open content facilitates the democratization of knowledge.17

This open content allows for increased engagement with audiencesmarket

research and product development merge with the consumer when they are
allowed to take software, content or products and turn them into something
they find valuable. Additionally, the ideology behind open content has
leached into a new philosophy of the Web in general. In particular, consumers
now demand access to and participation with the very code of companies. Web
2.0 taught the world that anyone can use social content to build up or break
down a brand and that businesses are no longer in control of their own brands.
Web 3.0 runs with the concept to create an online environment that is mutually

14 2006, Wikinvest. Concept:Open Source. WikInvest. Web. 08 May 2010.

<http://www.wikinvest.com/concept/Open_Source>.
15 Tim OReilly: Open-source Purists Trying to Answer the Wrong Question | The Open Road - CNET News.
Technology News - CNET News. 15 June 2009. Web. 17 May 2010.
<http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10264471-16.html>.
16 Tim OReilly: Open-source Purists Trying to Answer the Wrong Question | The Open Road - CNET News.
Technology News - CNET News. 15 June 2009. Web. 17 May 2010.
<http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10264471-16.html>.
17 Lawrence Liang, Free/Open Source Software Open Content, Asia-Pacific Development Information
Programme: e-Primers on Free/Open Source Software, United Nations Development Programme Asia-Pacific
Development Information Programme, 2007

2010 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved

beneficial to the user and the content creator, who are often times one in the

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same. New technologies helps further define, measure and create content for the
masses in a way that meets demand for this new iteration of audience buy-in.

The base concept of openness has also led to other innovations that serve to give
users access to the information they are seeking in ways that makes it easier for
them to obtain and to share, such as crowdsourcing (link to BP), the OpenID and
the Open Graph Protocol technologies.

OpenID is an open standard that allows users to log on to different services with
the same digital identity. Ever notice how logging into to Yahoo! automatically
logs you into Flickr? Thats OpenID its a log-in created by the user, for the user.
Not any one site or company retains a users log-in credentials, giving the user
the power to control the information that a site collects on him or her. Whats
more, OpenID provides a potential security safety neteven if a site gets hacked,
OpenID users wont be affected the site in question is not storing their
log-in information.

Whats in it for you? Easy-peasy websites, thats what18:

Web developers no longer have to choose an identifier for

usersusername, e-mail, id numberit no longer matters.

Theres no longer a need for a log-in screen, which means not having
to worry about encryption, which means no dedicated IP address,
certificate or a server that knows when and when not to switch from
http to https and back again.

Because youre not obtaining a log-in means that you dont have to store
passwords or implement remember password pages.

Oh, and of course, this means less liability for hacked, exposed or lost
data because how can user information be stolen if its not ever obtained
in the first place?

Unfortunately, this could stand to impede some Web marketing efforts because
many businesses rely on the information obtained through account creation
to develop opt-in mailing lists or pools from which to draw demographic
information. Ultimately, its a trade off because in place of customer information

18 The Advantages of OpenID. Pablos Site. 10 Aug. 2009. Web. 17 May 2010.
<http://pupeno.com/blog/the-advantages-of-openid/>.

2010 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved

by way of log-ins, business will gain further trust and appreciation in ease of use

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when it comes to website customer usability.

Another such example of the open source concept expanding in Web 3.0 is
through the Open Graph Protocol, which allows any Web page to become
rich content within a users social graphalso known as social networks. Open
Graph further hands off power to the consumer to become brand advocates,
which marketers have known for a while is much more effective than a brand
being touted to others by the brand itself.19 The second one person shares this
content on a social graph, its broadcast to their entire followingexponentially
increasing word of mouth and arguably more than making up for the lack of data
capture involved with unique log ins. Its relatively simple to implement, too, just
head over to OpenGraphProtocol.org and add a few lines of code to your site.

It may also be important to mention that this concept was created in part and
significantly developed by our friend, Facebook, and currently only works with
such. But that doesnt really matter in the grand scheme of things: Facebooks
involvement doesnt mean the protocol as it is now isnt beneficial to other sites,
too. As David Recordon with OReilly Media explains, Open Graph increases
openness with people based on the ability to connect with people, businesses,
brands, articles and other content around the Web.

Within Facebook this means that people can like any Web page
anywhere, not just those on Facebook.com. says Recordon.
Open Graph protocol also increases the amount of semantic data
on the Web in a manner that isnt specific to Facebook or any single
social network. While we can all disagree about where the quotes and
angle-brackets should go, at the end of the day I think we all can
agree that this sort of metadata is good for the Web.

Overall, Recordon goes on to explain that Open Graph dramatically increases

the amount of semantic data on the Web and does so in a fashion which builds
on RDFa and Microformats that anyoneincluding Google, Twitter, and the
OpenLike projectcan make use of.20

The entire concept of open source allows for more innovation, sourced from a
bigger pool. Subsequently the impact of this innovation will require us to adopt
new innovations faster and market them faster. In essence, open source will

19 The Open Graph Protocol. Web. 14 May 2010. <http://opengraphprotocol.org/>.

20 Why F8 Was Good for the Open Web - OReilly Radar. OReilly Radar - Insight, Analysis, and Research about
Emerging Technologies. 23 Apr. 2010. Web. 17 May 2010.
<http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/04/why-f8-was-good-for-the-open-w.html>.

2010 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved

ultimately shorten product lifecycles. How will marketers adopt new innovations

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when there will always be something new?

Whether its open source, OpenID or Open Graph, the open phenomenon is going
to continue to grow and change the ways in which the Web is developed and
used by companies and their audiences alike. The content that marketers are
creating and sharing is about to be amplified through the open concepts and new
language will likely be required to entice users to share more of such content.
While traditional e-mail marketing is still a key player in the game, move now to
add the ability for users to share articles, blog posts, videos, events, coupons and
more through their social graphs.

Software as a service and cloud computing

From the customers perspective, software as a service (SaaS) and cloud computing
are the sameservices or software provided over the Internet that are housed
in some magical place called the cloud. While technically different, these
aspects of Web 3.0 are changing the tech industry while making the day-to-day
operations of businesses much easier and often more affordable than ever before.

Along the lines of the open concept, Saas and cloud computing are not new ideas.
However, in the Web 2.0 realm, these technologies were used almost primarily for
sales force automation and CRM. In the Web 3.0 world, though, human resources,
websites, social media monitoring, e-mail, service desks, collaborative projects
through open source, crowd sourcing, financial information and backup
apps are the new bread and butter.

SaaS is software that is deployed over the Interneta developer or

service provider licenses the application as a service on demand, through
a subscription or a pay-as-you-go model. The provider will also always
host and operate the software for the customer. SkypeSM, Google Apps, Amazon
Web Service, www.SalesForce.com, file sharing services, e-mail marketing services,
financial software and databases, content management systemsthese are all
examples of SaaS. The main benefits of this technology are the reduced costs seen
in not having to house powerful software and data on a businesss server space,
the ability to scale back or expand software or services as you go in order to fit
a budget and the reassurance of specialized tech support available at any given
moment, along with training that is often included in the purchase of SaaS.

Furthermore, an increasing number of marketing and communications firms are

developing their own SaaS applications as an offering to clientsmost popularly,
applications that can be used to monitor media hits and manage social media and
the continued enhancement of customized Web editing software.

2010 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved

Similarly, cloud computing is a the sharing of resources, whether it be software,

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communications, applications or server spacerather than having local servers
house and manage these things. Basically, cloud computing effectively eliminates
the need for an organization to store programs or information on individual in-
house computers or on expensive servers. Many of the same benefits of SaaS can
be found in cloud computing, too.

In 2009, the City of Los Angeles became the first government entity to convert its
entire internal e-mail system to Google GmailSM. Why? It was identified as a safe,
secure and affordable solution to replacing the citys outdated and cumbersome
e-mail system.

Additionally, the switch enables agency-wide access to Google Apps, like

internal document sharing, calendaring and more, that increase employee
efficiency and streamline processes among all departments.

Both SaaS and cloud computing have marked a definite change in the way we use
our personal computers, as Nicholas Carr, former editor of the Harvard Business
Review and author of The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, from Edison to
Google, explains
Sometime in the past few years, most of us began to change the way we use our
personal computers, says Carr. We stopped going out and buying new software
programs and installing them on our hard drives. Instead, we started using the
Internet as our computer, tapping into the vast quantities of software and data
flowing through the network. Our powerful desktop and laptop PCs have been
turned inside out. Most of their value comes not from whats inside them but
from the network theyre hooked up to. Theyve become, essentially, terminals.21

Carr also explains that because of cloud computing, theres an evident blurring
of the line between software and media occurringsoftware that once sold as a
packaged good is now stepping aside for the next big media business.
The success of a software program is coming to be judged not by unit sales
but by the ability of the provider to attract an audience, hold that audiences
attention with interesting data and tools, and deliver relevant ads to it,
adds Carr.22

MySpace and Facebook were the pioneers of such an idea, but the concept in
Web 3.0 spreads to more traditional programs, like word processors, spreadsheets,
e-mail, photo management, games, and as Carr points out, even tax preparation.

21 What Cloud Means to Marketing Forecast - Advertising Age - Digital. Advertising Age. Web. 07 May 2010.
<http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=125739>.
22 What Cloud Means to Marketing Forecast - Advertising Age - Digital. Advertising Age. Web. 07 May 2010.
<http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=125739>.

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Work with your organizations IT department to assess what cloud computing

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applications could serve as resources or solutions to your organizations current
efforts. Examine e-mail systems, servers and databases or consider moving to on-
demand software services, or try using wikis or shared documents as a means of
storing and editing draft publications.

The SaaS and cloud computing services increase our access to information and
give businesses and marketers ease in sharing information. Contacts, media lists,
presentations, client files and more can be reached from any computerallowing
marketers to serve their brands and their clients more efficiently, whether from
the office, at home or by Smartphone at a baseball game. In an already over-
connected culture, you may be thinking, Oh great. Ill never have a vacation
again. Keep in mind, though, that this means the same for customersthey will
become just as connected and more accessible than ever before, is your business
going to be available?

Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is not a term coined by Hollywood.

(Although, it is the name of an action-packed Will Smith film in which

robots created by humans to enhance the quality of life murderously
rebel but thats neither here nor there.)

The term actually dates back to the 50s and refers not just to robots, but to any
technology or machine that is intelligent in that it holds the capacity to perform
operations similar to learning and decision making in humans, and the branch of
computer science that aims to create it.23

Where Web 3.0 is concerned, AI is what makes much of the new technologies
possible. It offers another name for the intelligent search capabilities made
possible by linked data, it is often housed in the cloud and many times its
available through open capabilities, but it also refers to much morea channel to
make these other aspects of Web 3.0 accessible.

Chat bots, for instance. Computer programs that simulate intelligent conversation
with humans online (through text or voice) were once used primarily as a means
to fool users into believing there was a human behind the curtain. In Web 3.0,
however, these bots are now being utilized as online customer support services,
personal assistants or a means of acquiring information. They are also still used

23 Artificial Intelligence. Dictionary.com. Web. 04 May 2010.

<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/artificial+intelligence?r=75&src=ref&ch=dic>.

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as a means for Spammers to reach new, nave audiences through blog comments

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and Twitter.

These chatterbots, as they are also called, appear to the end user to have the
ability to converse, when in reality, this technology is automated to scan for a
combination of keywords and reply as programmed from a database. As youve
probably predicted, linked data will also affect how these bots converse
in the future.

In February of 2010, a mobile app called SiriSM launched as an AI virtual

assistant that uses linked data and intelligent search to seek information
for users. Once the app has been purchased and downloaded, a user
simply opens the app and tells it (verbally) what to do:

Say I need reservations on Tuesday at a French restaurant and Siri will

then follow up with a few questions pertaining to location and other details, find
you a restaurant and then guide you through how to make reservations.

Say Are there any funny movies playing by home? and Siri will pull listings for
comedies showing at theaters closest to your home.

Say Take me home, Ive had too much to drink and Siri will call you a cab.

Essentially, AI can serve two functionsyour business can incorporate it as a way

to communicate with customers and audiencesincluding internal onesor it can
create a new product based on AI to offer.

Where to start?
We predict that Web 3.0 will provide more data to use in which to better reach
audiences; that Web 3.0 will speed innovation while shortening the product
development lifecycle and that it will enable marketers to work more efficiently.
As Web 2.0 has hinted at already, the future of marketing is about relationships.
But, now its not just the relationships between brands and consumers its also the
relationship between data and information and brands and consumers.

Brands have nary a hope of ever being the primary source of information on
their own products, services or reputation again. While Web 3.0 offers us all the
tools to be better marketers and to measure the effectiveness of campaigns more
completely, in the same token it makes us less relevant. The content matters but
the message is no longer oursthe story is no longer being told by us or housed
by us. Its in the cloud, in the social graphs and ranked in importance by others
through Linked Data. In order to survive, marketers must embrace collaboration

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and innovation, become open and transparent and continue to produce content

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of value.

While its important for businesses and organizations to know what Web 3.0 will
bring, and therefore be able to better meet the needs and demands of audiences,
its equally important for marketers to take a step back and assess the needs and
uses of Web 3.0 technologies in relation to existing goals and strategies. Perhaps
the biggest blunder of Web 2.0 was too many marketing departments jumping
on the Web 2.0 train without knowing how to use or how best to use it in their
situations; there was a whole lot of back tracking before it became productive. In
Web 3.0, lets make the biggest innovation the one that surrounds strategyhow
is your marketing department going to incorporate and use these technologies in
a way that is needed and makes sense to your audience? How will you use Linked
Data to become more targeted? These are the questions your business should be
addressing now, before the technologies take hold. Early adopters to Web 3.0 will
find benefit and leverage over competitors more readily available to them than
those who wait. Dont forget, though, that while the technologies are changing,
our goal must be the samebuild customers who love our products as much as
we do.

.end()
OReilly is known as an adamant opponent to the term Web 3.0. He argues
that its more than just an expanded iteration of a previous versionits
something new, something of its own right and the Semantic Web is a large
part of it. Regardless of what you call it, the Web that is quickly upon
usalready upon us in many casesit affects businesses. Marketers
especially stand to be thrilled or bamboozled depending on how prepared
they are and how much thought has been put into developing strategy.
The tools and the strategy are interconnected just like Web 3.0 and isnt it
just perfect that so many of the aspects of Web 3.0 are so linked to one
another in order to make sense and to be effective? We think so.

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