Some people think whoever wants to shape the future shouldn’t look back into the past. Others believe only the past can reveal the future. I believe that only a decent understanding of the past allows to build a future that lasts; but that, equally important, we must let go of the past and present to make the leap of faith true progress requires.

So when I take you on a journey into the future of the Web – the Web 3.0 – I want to start with a look back into history. Move to the present. And do the leap into a Web in that everyone becomes a media entrepreneur.

Beginnings: the Web 1.0 

When the Internet was invented, all it was at first was a bunch of computers empowered to communicate with each other using TCP/IP, a protocol (a set of rules and standards) that enabled a group of computers to connect in an orderly way.

The presence of this early web was limited to some research and military labs, and not too many people were aware of its existence. Slowly, following the open nature of TCP/IP, the Internet grew by adding more and more computers in more and more labs – and so did its appeal. Suddenly, researchers could communicate with each other through what we now call websites and email, post new ideas or just entertaining stories online, and thusly access every connected computer in real-time. It didn’t take too long until, in the mid-1990s, the Internet had outgrown the boundaries of labs and restricted installations, and was on its way to become a mass phenomenon.

And as so often in history, the first people pouring serious energy and resources into the usage and development of the web were the people who sensed the sweet smell of money: Business people. And one of the first, most obvious business applications of this new technology was the distribution of content (or, in other words, publishing).

Think about it: a new technology evolves which is used by more and more people. Its potential is huge, because every computer on earth can potentially be connected. Anyone who has something to say can set up a website, and be viewed by everyone else more or less for free. The industry most obviously connected to a technology of this nature is the industry that deals with access and awareness – the industry that is capable of turning eyeballs into money.

If we want to turn this first wave of global online publishing activity into a visual model, some basic underlying principles become obvious: someone (let’s call her “author” (a)) wanted to publish something and used web technology to create a website (e). In case of larger institutions, the technological and publishing-related activities were planned and coordinated by a manager (b) who controlled the process. Even in the case of student groups or individuals, someone managed the web page.

Once the webpage was ready, it was published – in Internet terms, this means just being put online – and made available to everybody. Now, the special thing about the internet as opposed to other media was that users (d) has a much larger choice what media they wanted to access: Suddenly, the could choose not from a limited and controlled number of magazines or TV channels, but from a number of websites that was constantly growing and wasn’t controlled by anyone. The Web 1.0 created “user generated choice” (1).

But except for this twist, there were not too many differences to the old media world. The Web 1.0 worked very similarly to traditional publishing: content needed to be created, put into the right format, targeted at the right group, and managed by someone who understood what the purpose and return on invest was. In other words, the Web 1.0 was simply another way to do the same thing everyone did before: push content to consumers, only this time through a new channel which behaved slightly differently. The result was obvious. The content available was not much different from what was offered before. If people saw revolutionary potential, it was seen exclusively  in terms of access: everyone could now instantly access all the stuff professional publishers created. Following the bottleneck logic of editors-only content creation, the content variety in the Web  1.0 was heavily limited (e).

Web 2.0 user-generated content

When exactly the Web 2.0 was invented is hard to say. Some name the blogging company Wordpress as the first true Web 2.0 company, others attribute that title to Wikipedia. But before we get lost in the search for the first person who thought about or mentioned the Web 2.0, let’s first understand what it exactly is. And the first insight is nothing short of stunning: the Web 2.0 was actually not at all a technological innovation. It was a simple idea: allowing users  to generate their own content on a prefabricated web page. That might sound trivial today, and it was technologically trivial in the 1990s. But in terms of social implications, perception, and innovating the idea of publishing, it was a truly revolutionary approach.

Let’s try to understand it a little better: Basically, all that early Web 2.0 entrepreneurs did was switching a metaphorical software lever from “Professional Authors Only” to “Everyone”.  The content management or authoring platforms (a) could now be used by all users (b) by simply signing up with an email address and password, and were designed around a very different idea. Everyone could publish, and everyone could create his or her own little webpage without any technical knowledge. The formerly hand-picked, professionally  edited content became user-generated content  (2). Now, everyone could start publishing on the web. The available content variety (c) started to grow and grow while more and more people explored the possibilities of personal online publishing through blogs and content sharing sites.

What didn’t change was the business side:   The new Web 2.0 companies were still managed by teams or professional managers (d) who controlled 100 % of financial logics and value building. The core problem in the Web 2.0 today is: no one (except for managers and entrepreneurs) gets paid. And as long as this problem prevails, both the quality and the value of content cannot excel to its full potential. People cannot commit the time and effort into creating high quality content. The true revolution of the human mind cannot happen.  

Web 3.0 - Everyone becomes a media entrepreneur

Unlocking the vast potentials of a limitless mind market requires everyone to become a media entrepreneur. Since most creative authors are neither business afficianados nor tech geeks, this requirement can only be met if technology makes managing a media business as easy as generating content. This is the simple but groundbreaking idea of the Web 3.0: to let technology do the same for media value creation what it has done for content generation: To go from user-generated content to user-generated business.

The empowerment of users to build their own online media asset (a) is based on three key components that together constitute the architecture of the Web 3.0. First, user-generated media platforms that substitute the simple content sharing tools of the Web 2.0 (b). These platforms allow users to maximize their content value through structured, rich content publishing which builds their brands and integrates media products. Second, user-generated traffic tools that allow authors to utilize their content to reach out into the Social Web, connect to their target groups and build sustainable communities (c). And third, user-generated business platforms (d) that provide users with easy to use tools to embed advertising, digital sales and e-commerce in their content, control and improve their profitability and do financial optimization around their revenue streams.

While most of the technology components of the Web 3.0 already exist, the decisive step will be their factual integration into a seamless user experience. Like the Web 2.0 could only prosper once publishing and sharing content became as easy as a mouse click, the Web 3.0 revolution will take place from the moment where the first platform offers a fully functional, smooth and easy media business technology for everyone.