Many designers and developers may disagree that the Web 2.0 craze is over, but I think it is reasonable to say it is winding down. By “winding down” I do not mean that Facebook, Twitter and other massively popular sites are going to vanish, but I do not foresee a lot more revolutionary sites emerging that are not classified under the next step (Semantic Web or Web 3.0). As a developer I feel that there will always be a piece of 2.0 in all of our future sites for quite a while, but there are a few items that will have a major impact until newer technologies make these obsolete (after the jump). I would love to hear your opinions as well so please leave some comments.

Content Tagging
With such a simple idea as tagging content it is a wonder why it took so many years to become widespread. Go back 10 years and say “Tag Cloud” and people will pull out their umbrellas. Until search engines are able to accurately decipher exactly what you are looking for and filter out the bad, tagging your content will remain an important aspect of organization and SEO.

Communication
I did not want to say “Social Networking” because I did not want the misconception that I mean friends lists, private messaging, personal news feeds, etc. Instead I feel that as time and technology progresses we will see more sites that allow you to network and share, but without having to create Yet Another Profile (YAP). Too many sites have every feature possible which just leads to site bloat and unused features. Rather I think sites will either integrate a global networking API (such as Google’s Open Social), limit features to a simple method of sharing data within the site, or limit the features available to what is really necessary (or sellable). In my opinion the idea of global networking API is a great option as long as it remains open source and independent of other sites (sorry Facebook). The option to link profile information between sites (or even gaming consoles) might be quite appealing to users that have a well-known tag name. We are also seeing a lot more open API’s to a site’s resources with newer sites to allow sharing of data between other services which will most likely become a common practice for all new Web apps.

Emphasis on Usability
With Web 2.0 I feel sites really started to make user interaction a #1 priority. Some sites failed miserably while others had a two-second learning curve. Yes, AJAX was a part of this with decreased load times and some delightful eye candy animations. The use of space and color is prominent in any modern site classified as “2.0″. With the next generation of sites the usability factor will definitely remain a high priority with any profession Web application, and only continue to improve with further research and new technology.

The Advertising Model
Many popular sites do not charge users to use their services and have made billions doing so. A large ad on YouTube or Facebook is like a Super Bowl commercial for the Web these days, so paying top dollar is nothing to shrug at for those who can afford it. This model has proven to be successful and will continue to be a large part of the Web. Even video games have considered employing this model by dropping prices for games and putting a few real-life company billboards or ads in the game. The discussion of the pros and cons for this idea is for another time, but for advertising it is a brilliant idea.

These are educated predictions of what I foresee being familiar aspects in the upcoming years of the Web and most likely other fields of New Media. With new technology some will fade and others become obsolete, but in one way or another the underlying principles remain an integral part of our connected lives.

Tags: advertising model, API, communication, predictions, semantic web, usability, Web 2.0, web 3.0

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 16th, 2008 at 5:41 pm and is filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.