Web 3.0 shakes up the Marketing field…once again!

Today is very common to hear acronyms such as SEM, SEO or CMS in our daily life, even if you are not a techy or an online-marketing expert. The more time we spend online, the more important those terms become.

For those who are still not familiarized with them, here you will find a short explanation:

• SEM: Search Engine Management, which includes marketing tools to increase the visibility of your website, i.e. pay-per-click, pay-per view, placements, online-ads and SEO, too.
• SEO: Search Engine Optimization, referred specifically to how to optimize the position of your website in the search engines.
• CMS: Content Management System, the one used to manage the content on your website, social network and any other “platform” where your content is displayed.

But what does these have to do with the Web 3.0? Well, let’s take a look at the evolution of the web to answer this question.

First, we had the Web 1.0, focused on webpages and how to make them reachable by customers. As a result, SEM (including SEO) appeared, letting marketers get closer to their customers by pushing their content, over competitors.

Then, the Web 2.0 was developed and Social Networks came along with it. Now the web was not only flooded by one-way communication pages, but by networks that allow everybody to interact, comment and create his/her own content, leading marketers to create new tactics, in order to take advantage of these new information generated by their customers.

And finally, we are witnessing the Web 3.0 entering the picture. This new concept is still confusing for some of us, because it seems to be just an extended version of the Web 2.0, since the semantic web can be seen as a new way to organise data and make it more accessible, but as it has been explained in previous posts, it’s definitely more than that. 

One of the major aspects of Web 3.0 focuses on data and how to link it. Firms that master the rules of the game faster, will be able to enhance and optimise their online-marketing strategy (including SEM, SEO, CSM, etc.) and, therefore, generate more traffic in their website, by reaching the right customers (the one willing to purchase) with the right data (the data the customer precisely wants), at the right time (when they need it). This is a big deal for marketers, since this kind of customer has a high rate of purchasing, so sales might consistently increase (if well managed and aligned with the goals of the company).

Metadata... Wait, isn't that one of the X-Men?

Before we dive into the 4th post of our blog TINN Can, lets do a small recap of what we have covered so far:

• Web 3.0 includes a number of different meanings ranging from the convergence of the physical and virtual worlds to the conversion of web pages to semantic data formats. When we say “nobody knows what the &!%$ it means,” we mean it.
•  Semantic web is a type of technology used in Web 3.0 and the idea is to structure the meaningful content of web pages.
• Ontology is a component of semantic web, which is used to interpret and analyze metadata. As this technology continues to improve, it will provide users with the exact information they need.

Now in our last post we introduced a new concept: metadata. Meta who? Yes, I know that it sounds like some sort of superhero out of a Stan Lee comic but we are far from that. Right about now you must be thinking, “I knew we had data but what is this metadata stuff you are throwing at me?”

For the purpose of our conversation, we will keep the definition of metadata as simple as possible. And metadata is, wait for it…

DATA ABOUT DATA

Wait, what? That’s it? Yup, for now that is it. We could go into the details of the different types of metadata available but we will leave that for our more curious readers who wish to expand their knowledge and perhaps complicate their lives a little bit more. (Hint: You have structural, descriptive, operational, analytical, Business, etc.)

When we say “data about data”, we mean, for instance, the data that describes the data fields in a database, what data is allowed or how are values expressed. Take for instance, a database with the birthdays of all the people in your company or your school. Now, birth dates can either be written as MM/DD/YYYY, DD/MM/YYYY, YYYY/DD/MM and so on… For this example the term metadata would apply to how the birth date values are kept in the database (Ex. MM/DD/YYYY). Hence, our data are the birthdays of everybody and our data about the data is how those birthdays are to be recorded in our database. We can even go further and include as part of our metadata where in the database the birthdays are recorded, who is the “owner” of this data, who has access to it, etc.

Now, what does this metadata crap have to do with Web 3.0 and how is this relevant to the users? Well, I’m glad you asked. Metadata allows Web 3.0 to be fully interconnected thus facilitating better information search, findings and an overall improvement in content management. What the hell is content management? We will leave that for a future post… All you need to know for now is that metadata will improve your experience in the web as we move forward into the Age of Information.

Ontology?

  So what are the functional components of “semantic web?” We know it can provide us personalized recommendations for what we want to find. This can be seen in many companies such as Google and Amazon who are already applying it to their services. 

  Before seeing more examples, I would like to suggest looking at which “technology/concept” is supporting semantic web, because it is important for us to understand how semantic web works.

  Of course not all of the technology can be covered in one blog post. In this post, let’s focus on the subject of “ontology,” which is a kind of dictionary of languages for the semantic/web 3.0 world.

  Tom Grubber calls ontology:

  “a specification of a conceptualization.”

  It is a description (like a formal specification of a program) of the concepts and relationships that can exist for an agent or a community of agents. This definition is consistent with the usage of ontology as a set-of-concept-definitions, but more general. And it is certainly a different sense of the word than its use in philosophy.[1]

  According to Arvidsson and Flycht-Eriksson, an ontology provides a shared vocabulary, which can be used to model a domain, that is, the types of objects and/or concepts that exist, and their properties and relations. With ontology languages, including DSML+OIL, OWL, and Ontolingun, ontology realizes an accurate search and navigation for knowledge sharing by linking integrated information. Fore example, Facebook is able to offer its genius Graph Search due to web ontology which integrates scattered information and then sorts out valuable information for users through reasoning.

  Search engines based on ontology is great in terms of suitability. However, there are limitations or challenges. First, semantic relations depend on the definitions between words we use in searching. The clearer and more detailed the words are defined, the more coherent and suitable results we can get. Second, we need to consider ambiguity of words.

  To conclude, ontology is a tool to interpret and analyze metadata at least to some extent in semantic web. If it continues to improve as it has done, it will provide the exact information you need. This developing technology could eventually enable a company like Google to narrow down search results with greater relevancy.

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[1] http://www-ksl.stanford.edu/kst/what-is-an-ontology.html

Goog-book???

In our last post, we introduced our philosophy of viewing the web and related technologies, and outlined the iterations of the web in terms of 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0. Our contention is that there is no clear definition of what web 3.0 is exactly. This post is the first in a series that describes some of the technologies and features that are seen as being part of web 3.0. In our journey towards a clearer position on 3.0, let’s talk about “semantic web.”

Semantic web according to the web inventor Tim Berners-Lee:

 “will bring structure to the meaningful content of web pages, creating an environment where software agents roaming from page to page can readily carry out sophisticated tasks for users.”

What does this mean in the real world for businesses and consumers? To demonstrate the idea of semantic web in a business application, let’s see how Facebook used this concept to create a genius idea, which is called the Facebook Graph Search. It is a semantic web engine that is designed to give answers to users queries rather than a list of links.

Graph Search operates by use of a search algorithm similar to traditional search engines such as Google. However, the search is based on intended meaning, which is a feature of the semantic search engine. Rather than returning results based on matching keywords, the search engine is designed to match phrases, as well as objects on the site.

Facebook supports searches for the following types of

·       Places

·       Check-ins of the user, friends, or where user or friends have been tagged

·       Objects with location information attached. In addition, the returned objects will be those in which the user or friends have been tagged, or those objects that were created by the user or friends.

Users can filter results, such as in time (since and until), or search only a given user's News feed.

The feature also allows users to search the web directly. [1]

You can watch the video below to see how Facebook graph bar works:

Facebook Graph bar is only one of many of the applications that use the semantic web technology and in our blog you will see further examples and analysis and how deep the field of the web is.

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Graph_Search

Web 3 Point What?

Web 3.0 is not a technology, but a set of concepts proposed by both amateurs and experts in an attempt to describe current technology and services on the web, as well as the web’s horizon. This isn’t something to be explained through the course of a blog, but is something to be explored. And the exploration of “what the web is and where it’s going” is a philosophical as well as technical discussion. This blog will explore the technical aspects of the web and its horizon from the philosophical reference of why the hell we humans make and use stuff.

The tin can, or lover's telephone. Why is a blog about the next generation of web technology named after really old technology? Wait, is two tin cans connected by string technology? This is the purpose of the name of this blog. It is meant to incite this question, and challenge our perception of technology.

The first known concept of the telephone is from the experiments of Robert Hooke in the late 1600‘s--the basis of the tin can telephone. It wasn’t until two hundred years later in the late 1800‘s that the first “practical” telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell. We present this two-hundred year lapse as a reference point for thinking about the world wide web and related technologies.

While it’s hard for us to imagine people deriving hours of content enjoyment from the tin can phone, we think people a couple hundred years from now will literally equate an iPhone to a tin can phone. Maybe not even that long--there was only a 130-year gap between Alexander Graham Bell’s first patent and the release of the first iPhone in 2007.

What is the current developmental status of the web? Can it be equated to one of Hooke’s early implementations of telephony? Maybe it can be equated to a 1970’s rotary phone, or early touch-tone phone? Even more importantly, wherever the web is at now (now meaning the current as well as perceivable advancements in development) where will it take us in the future, and why? These are the things we’re going to explore in this blog.

To start, here’s the quick down and dirty of the web and its current horizon, web 3.0.

What is the internet? What is the web? Are they the same?

They are not the same.

The internet = a worldwide computer network that connects millions of computing devices.

The web = a service running on the internet that is a collection of interconnected documents and resources.


What’s the deal with web 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, etc.? The numbering scheme is a somewhat informal reference to the progression of how usage and creation occurs on the web. There are several concepts that exist pertaining to the distinctions between the so-called iterations of the web, and we will reference the various theories throughout the blog, but to keep things easy for introductory purposes here’s the down and dirty:

(1990~2000) Web 1.0 = Most users consumed content, and did not create much content.
(2000~2010) Web 2.0 = Shifted toward user-generated content, and user-focused interfaces.
(2010~2020) Web 3.0 = Nobody knows what the &!%$.

The thing with web 3.0 is that there are a number of different concepts of it ranging from the convergence of the physical and virtual worlds to the conversion of web pages to semantic data formats. When we say “nobody knows what the &!%$,” we mean it. Everyone is all over the map regarding what exactly 3.0 is, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing for the industry or users. In future blog posts, we will be discussing the predominant concepts of web 3.0, their related technologies, and what they mean to humans.