The reason for my fauxpas was that I was writing this blog post right here at the same time about truth in the Web 3.0. And my little glitch turned out to be pretty inspiring. Because trust and truth are not aliens to each other, but siblings in spirit.

An important condition for the rise of the Web 3.0 - a web in that everyone becomes a media entrepreneur through user-generated business technologies - is in an increased effectiveness of Social Media connectivity. To suceed as a knowledge producer or creative author online, you need to get the right audience, and build a lasting bond between you, other content creators of your kind, and your audience. 

Social Media is the key. 

Yet, after conducting a lot of research, analysis and thinking for my next project, "Social Media Magic", an interesting point becomes clear: success in Social Media does not so much depend on the right use of technology. Actually, it's pretty hard to misuse the current, very simple technologies. It is much more about doing the right things with it in regards of content. If you tweet, tweet the right things. If you blog, blog the right things. If you create and manage your group, create the right group and manage it in the right way. Forget about finding the best technology (just use what's there), and working on design. Do the right things.

Which finally brings us to the decisive question: what is the right thing to do in the Social Web? Here, Chris and Julien hit the right button: 

it is all about trust. 

You need to do things that increase trust. And In a world in that everyone can talk to everyone else, and millions of marketers try to sell something to anyone they can get, you need to earn your trust.

From your perspective - the perspective of someone who wants to attract and keep the right people - 

the most important component for building trust is to become truthful. 

If you tweet, don't just tweet to send out a link to your product. If you blog, don't just blog to sell. People do not read blogs to buy anything in the first place - they trust you to write something that is of value for them. The central point of the Social Web is that people trust each other to deliver content that has an inherent value, and serves the primary purpose of delivering this value. Not to sell. Not to get leads.

What has this to do with truth? Well, if someone views your content, you obviously implicitly promised something he or she found intriguing. And if you did so, you need to deliver on this promise - otherwise, you didn't tell the truth. If I promise an article "Truth and Trust in the Web 3.0" and then just write: truth and trust are very important - buy my book and you will get the big picture", I implicitly lied to you.

Of course, the concept of truth reaches further than that. 

It is also about your products. 

The amazing thing is that the Social Web reduces the distance between people in an unprecendented way - which not only means you can talk to much more people directly, but also that you cannot escape if you do something wrong. If you screw up a product, people will know you. They will stay in your networks. And they will know you suck. On the opposite, with increased closeness, delivering value is being much more rewarded than in an offline consumer world. Your fans, partners and customers will spread the word about your product. They will praise you, your truthful approach, and the quality you deliver.

Yes, I believe in 2010 the world has become a better place. 

Because today, human networks become larger and yet more effective. I always viewed the old behavioral patterns in marketing and sales as slightly desperate, as something driven by people who naturally experience constant rejection by strangers, and who in return decided to trick their way into a short-term win of trust - only to see that the abuse of trust leads to the termination of the relationship. In the new world of Social Media, I believe that the classic from of marketing where you pitch something in 30 seconds to strangers is over, and everything connected to it is, too. Success in the Web 3.0 is about focusing on quality products, delivering quality content with intrinsic editorial value around them, and talking the truth about both.

This means: if you are a small business, or author, or creative, don't try to convince people all the time. Focus on making your product as high-value as possible, get it out, create content around what you really care about, and start building a Social Media publishing outlet. 

If you are big, radically shift your marketing budgets into creating high-quality, customer-centric products, including consumer insight research and innovation, and build high-quality editorial online power in the topics of strategic brand value.

Building Truth and Trust in the Web 3.0 means to

re-assign your marketing dollars and -efforts into product value improvements, and producing the highest possible content value 

in your Social Media outlet.

It's a radical concept. But radical is also the change the world of marketing and media is undergoing right now. Rather than being scared, all of us should be excited about it. 

Because in the end, we will have more truth and more trust between all of us. 

• your post have to deal with the Web 3.0 and why everyone becomes a media entrepreneur. It can be about online publishing, blogging, monetization, visionary stuff, social impact or anything else connected to the Web 3.0.

• 300-600 words
• Include a picture (profile pic, illustration etc. - no copyright violations, please)
• Describe your case, your budget, what you did, how it worked, and what you think were your success factors
• Provide a short (max. 3 lines) description of yourself, your blog etc. and back-link URL
• We only publish original content that has not been published before.

YouTube videos and the blogosphere. And it’s those 500 million people who have the strongest impact on the future of the planet. The new infrastructure that has led to such significant change is commonly called “the Web 2.0,” which is driven by the paradigm of user-generated content and the Social Web. For the first time in human history, over one billion people have access to a level playing-field, on which they can influence, connect with, and publish and distribute work to other people. The Web 2.0 has transformed human civilization at its core by creating  a network that has the potential to connect every single mind of humankind. 

Given this extremely significant achievement, I have to reassess my first sentence: the impact of the Internet, compared to its fundamentally important position, is actually marginal. For most people, neither Facebook nor twitter nor blogs are more than a little entertainment on the side. In the grand scheme of things, the Web 2.0 is of marginal importance—compared to their healthcare, finances, families, jobs, or even their cars.  The reason is simple: Facebook cannot heal cancer, reading a blog doesn’t make you rich, and Twitter doesn’t solve your family problems. Of course they don’t.

But then, what can? Who, actually, CAN solve all the problems that haunt our planet, and help you tackle the challenges of your daily life? The answer is simple, and hasn’t changed since the rise of homo sapiens: yourself, and others. In other words: US. Yes, we can solve every problem, and overcome every challenge, if we only know how, know who and know why.

Until now, this was easily said , but rarely done: Getting the knowledge and manpower to solve a problem was restricted by your network, resources and political or business skills. You could connect to a few friends or family members, or seek out one or two experts. Even a head of state could only tap into the minds of a few hundred experts and staff, maybe even a thousand if he was lucky. Removing this restriction would have an impact on our world and lives that can hardly be imagined. It would be game changer – not a game changer for a business or industry, but for human existence itself.

Has the current Web 2.0 led to this change? Not in any significant way. You can meet people, but you cannot access their minds - at least not the part that matters. You can read their tweets and status updates and 30-second videos. But you cannot read their specific, unique mental models; their insights on the world.; the bits of imagination that will shape the future; their brilliant concepts that could solve your problem; their pieces of art that will give you the inspiration you seek. The Web 2.0 fails at large at providing valuable content.

The Web 2.0 has created an infrastructure in that publishing and information  now grows at a breathtaking speed, and the information being published grows on an exponential trajectory. This book is about the vision and blueprint of turning this unprecedented capacity into an infrastructure that produces valuable content.

I have a simple belief. I believe that we, as a civilization, as of January 2010, hold the key in our hands to solve any problem, big or small, for countries, businesses and individuals alike, at lightning speed. Because, for the first time in human history, hundreds of millions of people are connected, who, together, can do nearly everything. Our mission is to figure out how we can activate this potential and embed it into an infrastructure – one in which everyone’s mental potential is leveraged for everyone else. It is a task that goes well beyond software development and deep into the logics of human motivation, economic value and social progress. It will be about a content revolution, a profit dilemma, transformative capitalism, user-generated media business and… - but wait. Let’s do this step-by-step. Enjoy a journey into the past, present and future of the web here on my blog. And don’t forget to join the discussion at my Web 3.0 group!

Cheers,

Johannes

This article is part of Web 3.0 – the book by Johannes Bhakdi, available on sophotec.com