So as I have been working on building and evolving several of my side projects into something that is somewhat more cohesive and organized. I have started to think about what is next in online media or even just internet technology. Since 1998 I have known the power of the internet as a tool to bring back influence to the consumer. If you think about the way traditional media has worked, you will find that largely they were the single source of information. We relied on Newspapers, Radio and Television stations to tell us what is going on in our world and we expected that it would be relevant.
As society has grown something unconsciously started occurring. Since so much was happening everywhere it was difficult for traditional media outlets to, digest it first, then put it out in a meaningful way. Organizations got larger to handle all of the information and through media ownership reforms we had consolidation in the environment. This new environment has created a difficult situation. Now suddenly what used to be news, is no longer that relevant. It’s not about a traffic accident down the road from your house. It is now more about how the president handles peace talks. Or how a government halfway around the world is doing business in your own local government.
This has left a void in communities within large markets. I am sure that peace talks are important to me, but are they as important as the fact that 5 of my neighbors down the road were burglarized? How about the fact that a local shop owner is having a fire sale and it just so happens to be a store you visit all the time? This information never makes it to you because it’s relevance by world standards is low. Traditionally, media had to dedicate an employee to write up the story. An editor/producer had to determine it’s relevance. Then time was spent distributing this information. At the end of the day, it was left up to the consumer of the program or newspaper to filter out what matters to them most.
The power of the Internet and computing allows us to let sophisticated algorithms do the work for us. They can do this work based on our preferences. If you have ever talked with anyone in advertising, they will tell you the most important thing in their business is understanding behavior. This has been true of media for decades and true for business for centuries. So what is happening now, is a transition to allowing the internet to track and determine preference based on behavior. Your cell phone is the first step to allowing this. In a few years time, I imagine that the next big thing is a basic tracking setup on your phone. Some might argue that this already occurs, but I imagine that this tracking will be hidden under the guise of something cool or trendy for young people.
Companies are already hard at work trying to feel around how invasive they can be. You have several apps that the user can intentionally allow location based information to be sent. Some are disguised as games and others are marketed as beneficial because it allows your friends to know when you are nearby or where you are located. This is why privacy is becoming more and more of a concern but that is another article.
The next evolution won’t require as much investment in time as I see it. The next evolution has already begun. Web 3.0 as some have called it. You might find some overly technical explanation for it on the web but basically it will be about the silent web presence. How the web is going to be a part of the physical world and how it will interact with you in that world. 10 years ago it was talking refrigerators, however, I think that is a little overboard. I imagine a world that reacts and knows you and mirrors you. A dating experience involving going to a local hangout and having a device tell you that a potential mate is there as well. A social experience where behaviors are shaped by the way your preferences cross with other individuals.
Your smart phone won’t only know that you need something to do tonight, but it will know where you should go to have the highest potential for meeting new people because, based on past behaviors, it calculates that you might need new friends. It might remind you to lock your door because not only did you forget, but there were 5 burglaries down the street from you.
These ideas are both scary and compelling. However, it has already happened with intangible properties like music. Could you see yourself going back to the old model of actually having to go to a store to not only find a good artist to listen to, but to also purchase your music? For most, I think not.