Everything you need to know about Web 3.0
- 23 December, 2020 09:18
As we continue to grapple with the shake-up to our lives and work brought on by the pandemic, there’s another era of computing innovation on our doorstep waiting to disrupt us once again: Web 3.0.
This next phase of computing will redraw the relationship between brands and their customers and add to the challenges, as well as the opportunities, of the modern marketer’s remit.
Web 3.0 is an evolving development in computing, on the same trajectory that began with Web 1.0 and our current Web 2.0, according to Deloitte. This coming phase will be realised through growth and convergence of enabling technologies, including augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), advanced networking (such as 5G connectivity), geolocation, Internet of Things (IoT) devices and sensors, edge computing, distributed ledger technology (such as blockchain), and artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML). While estimates predict the full realisation of Web 3.0 may be five to 10 years away, many early-stage applications are already driving significant competitive advantage.
If Web 2.0 was characterised by user-generated content, digital platforms, data and rich user experiences, then the next phase, Web 3.0, will take that even further. Web 3.0 will bring deep integration between virtual technologies and the real world, and promises a new, hybrid space for brands and marketers to develop connections with consumers through their digital lives.
Gartner VP and distinguished analyst, Avivah Litan, says Web 3.0 is characterised by users owning and controlling their own data, which they will be able to monetise. Users will own their own algorithms and their online experiences will be controlled by them rather than by the ‘gatekeeper’ platforms.
“It will be a user-driven online experience based on the preferences of the user, rather than platforms like Google, Facebook or Amazon driving the experience,” Litan tells CMO. “Consumers will not be persuaded by search engine results, social media algorithms or online commerce platform algorithms. They will own their own algorithms that will bring them to the brands most suitable to their preferences, without any third-party intermediation and influence.”
The Web 3.0 will encompass a wide array of technology innovation, but for Litan, blockchain will be fundamental to this phase of Web applications.
“It will be the back-end protocol managing the decentralised Web and will enable and support peer-to-peer, or direct user-to-service provider experience, across ecommerce, news, payments and so on,” Litan says. “Service providers will be able to reach customers directly without going through the gates of the gatekeepers. This will lower prices, increase competition and be very good for the global economy all round. It will also serve to bring in the unbanked populations into online commerce, as they can work with cryptocurrencies and don’t need to open bank accounts.”
It’s a mix that will continue to meld the line between digital and physical realms, with new technologies and innovations pushing the boundaries of how we engage, and prompting new ways of working and living to emerge.
So just what do savvy, forward looking brands, with an eye to catching the zeitgeist, need to understand about Web 3.0 and putting their name up in virtual lights?
Consumer brand perceptions
The early days of the Web, or Web 1.0, were characterised by static Webpages, with simple graphics accessed through a browser. As the Web developed, websites became more interactive and digital platforms developed, the primary one being Google, offering users a host of services and tools. Participatory social media then came along, generating reams of data through multitudes of interactions.
Over time, Web 2.0 has developed, with richer digital experiences, a host of new and redesigned Internet-connected smart devices and immersive, superimposed and virtual realms giving us new digital spaces and ways of interacting. This has been accelerated by COVID-related remote working, schooling, ecommerce and entertainment.
While we might not see a clear starting point for Web 3.0, many of these next-generation technologies are on the horizon.
Common Ventures MD and executive creative director, Brian Merriman, predicts Web 3.0 will bring at least three distinct trends in the way consumers engage with brands. “All consumers will be more critical of the brands they buy into and will want to know they’re buying into something that aligns with the way they live,” Merriman says.
He also predicts brand values will need to be reflected in real actions.
“We live in a world where brands can be as easily cancelled as individuals – you only have to look at the brands that backtracked on their position when it came to the Hong Kong protests such as NBA, Tiffany & Co and Blizzard Entertainment.
“It’s not that all brands need to jump on the ‘company with cause’ bandwagon. But they do need to be truthful about their purpose and actually abide by it, from company culture through to product development and every marketing touchpoint inbetween.”
The strength of online communities coupled with the COVID lockdowns has brought about an unusual duality in many people’s lives, Merriman continues. This has given rise to worldly digital citizens who live locally, but have a worldview shaped globally and at home.
“The opportunity for local brands to strengthen their position in Australia cannot be underestimated, especially as international deliveries will get back to normal time frames,” he says.
Finally, Merriman says the decluttering trend, rising in interest in home-made, along with the economic downturn and climate change, are creating consumers who want to buy less and make more. “Brands need to help us consume only what we need. Packaging needs to consist of less, be environmental or just be the naked product,” he says.
“Showing what else the products can do by highlighting how others use it is another key. The life of products will be extended as 3D printers become more commonplace. Brands should participate in providing these parts.”
Up next: Keeping consumers engaged in a Web 3.0 world
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Direct connection
If the first iteration of the Web was websites linked together as the World Wide Web, and from this developed a networked, interconnected Web of devices, spaces (virtual, augmented and real-world locations) and people, then how will Web 3.0 remake the connection between consumers and product and service providers?
For a start, it’ll be even harder for brands to keep those consumers engaged, Litan says.
“Brands will need to continue fighting hard for consumer attention and do whatever they need to do to garner it,” she says. “But now they will be able to focus on the consumer rather than splitting their focus between the consumer and how they are presented to consumers via gatekeepers.”
Litan also predicts changes to the digital advertising framework using blockchain as consumer concerns around privacy escalates and advertisers and publishers question the transparency and value in online advertising. “Added to this, enterprising hackers are also getting rich off this convoluted architecture,” she comments.
The analyst sees the future potential for blockchain changing the value of online exchanges to measure and cost personal attention rather than meaningless unverifiable clicks, which can easily be falsified through bot networks engaged in massive ad click fraud schemes. Litan points to blockchain startup, Brave, an Ethereum Blockchain-based ledger and privacy-protecting browser that blocks ads and tracking, unless consumers specifically opt out, as an example. With scale, this offering could also handle ad networks.
“Perhaps we really will move to a consumer demand-driven online economy and really be able to maintain our privacy while blowing away all that online ad pollution,” she says.
Advertising and content control
Targeted advertising will also change in Web 3.0, according to UniSA Online STEM program facilitator, Dr Rhoda Abadia. Advertisers in Web 2.0 that performed target advertising will continue to do so; however, with Web 3.0 Blockchain adoption, consumers should have more control on how they engage with advertising.
“They own and authorise any third-party of use of their data and can deny any third-party from being able to get personal data or advertise to users without their authorisation,” Abadia says.
“And with the use of AI applications, users have control over the ‘facts’ provided to them through digital sources. This will also have an impact on advertising. Consumers can filter out advertising with unverified claims.”
Abadia sees Web 3.0 technologies as also being able to extract semantic information to target specific market segments and build relationships with consumers.
The semantic Web, first envisioned by World Wide Web investor, Tim Berners-Lee, is characterised by enormous amounts of data where inquiries like searches will be carried out in a more human-like way through the meaning of words rather than keywords and numbers.
Apart from the advertising element, Web 3.0 could see devices acting for consumers and playing more of a human role. Abadia sees a future of websites that are even more customised based on customer preference or historical use. “As an example, the use of intelligent agents that will have the ability to categorise, contextualise [semantics] and automate processes,” she says.
“Two different people can search using the same keywords and the same search engine or Web service, and they will receive different results determined by their profiles and historical use as identified by the intelligent agent.”
Abadia also predicts consumers using their devices in Web 3.0 will have new personal experiences, from interacting with the product using AR or VR, to natural language interfaces, and even smart inter-connection between device data and social media.
This combination of AI and AR will change the relationship between the product and the consumer.
“Consumers can trigger the AI to populate the virtual environment with digital content to go along with the physical objects and environment in front of the consumer. Products can literally communicate its features, from energy rating, pricing options, colour options, directly to the consumers,” she says.
Plotting a course
For Abadia, organisations looking to start preparing for the changes presented by the emerging Web 3.0 will need to invest in technology infrastructure changes to satisfy their customers’ needs and capitalise on emerging trends. Web 3.0 may also enlarge the capabilities of individuals in their daily lives.
“There will be opportunities for users to interact and contribute information, but also have the ability to create new Web services based on user preferences,” she says.
Marketers looking to plot a course to Web 3.0 might first want to start by carving off a small percentage of budget to do more in unknown spaces and using different technologies.
“Align yourself with people who can think in these spaces, but don’t profess to be experts,” Merriman recommends as a way to starting coming to terms with where the Web is heading. “Test-and-learn and your brand can help shape the landscape of the near future, rather than waiting on the sidelines for someone else to figure it out.
“Too many times brands wait for others to test the waters to find out where the ROI is. However, when it comes to aligning with a different set of values lived by emerging generations, we are beginning to see ROI is something that contributes to the whole experience of participating with a brand as opposed to the decisions around a single purchase.”
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