Web 1.0, Web 2.0, Web 3.0 …. What's it all about? It seems you just have to turn your back for a second and a new wave of web technology, web marketing and virtual worlds have been spawned. But what is Web 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0?
Web 2.0
The concept of Web 2.0 was created by O'Reilly Media in 2004 after a brainstorming session between Tim O'Reilly and Dale Dougherty. In brief, the differences are:
- Web 1.0 refers to the web in the beginning when it was first developing
- Web 2.0 refers to new advances that allow a much more sophisticated user interaction with web pages – citizen journalism, social networks and Wikis are all products of Web 2.0
- Web 3.0 is thought to be the future - where the web is more interactive with users, leading to a kind of artificial intelligence.
Businesses get to grips with Web 2.0
But firstly, advertising and marketing have to get to grips with Web 2.0 and harness the power of social networking. Online social networks, namely the Facebook phenomenon, are currently a major trend that looks like it's not going to go away. Lee Ali writing in Marketing Week magazine said: "It's all about the customer being in control…Many Web 2.0 success stories are driven not by its products or sales teams, but by customers." Social networking, citizen journalism, blogging and user-generated content are all features of Web 2.0 technology. That means if you want to advertise and market your product, you need to find ways of getting an invite to the party without looking like a gatecrasher. Many major brands have launched video clips on YouTube for example to promote their products, but it can look clunky and out of place if it's done as a blatant ad. Worse still, it can look underhand and obscure if advertisers try and pretend it's a genuine quirky YouTube clip and the results can be detrimental.
Web 2.0 and social networking
Businesses do need to be aware that Web 2.0 and social networking currently dominate the web. Social networks aren't just a question of ego and school ground popularity anymore – users of social networks include everyone from silver surfers to young professionals as well as the school and university demographic. But it's important to tread carefully. Simon Mansell, MD of digital advertising agency TBG told Marketing Week: "The important part of Web 2.0 is that we put ourselves in the shoes of the consumer." And that means understanding how social networks work, and targeting the right social network with the right brand. It's all very well promoting music and entertainment products on MySpace, but a mortgage product would look out of place. Promoting brands using entertainment is one way forward for advertising – Marketing Week pointed out the clever Red Bull campaign on Facebook where users could play a game application of Rock, Paper, Scissors with other Facebook users. It's all about, as it always has been when it comes to successful marketing, understanding the customer.
Intimate Marketing and social networks
Another option is what has been dubbed ‘intimate marketing' that taps into users' profiles, desires, likes and dislikes to promote a brand. This foresees the future of Web 3.0 technology that will, like in the film Minority Report, build profiles of web users based on their web use and sites visited in order to directly market and sell products to them. It's thought such technology will be a step towards computers using artificial intelligence in the battle for business.
Harnessing Web 2.0 trends for marketing and promotional purposes takes skill, expertise and knowledge. As Marketing Week concluded, brands "will need to be ever more inventive if they are to find ways of capturing the public imagination without dishonestly disguising themselves as users."
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