Dropping vowels is so 5 minutes ago. Am I in 3.0?
Chris saw an article on Forbes.com today about the trend for some Web 2.0 companies to drop vowels out of their names. I could share my thoughts on this phenomenon, including how we branded one of our (unreleased) projects this way, we dropped an E too, but I won’t. Instead, I want to get some feedback on Web 3.0.
Being in 2.0, I feel like I’m in a herd, granted a relatively small herd, and we’re all running towards a common goal — an exit strategy. I would venture to say that most 2.0 companies have at least thought, if not completely banked their entire existence on the possibility of one day being purchased by Google (or any company for that matter). I’m not saying that we are or aren’t one of those companies, but it is interesting to think about how fast we’re moving.
Back to the Forbes.com article. It just seemed so old to me. Dropping vowels is something that’s cliche to us, and although I’m sure we never considered it a powerful branding strategy, the novelty of a company like flickr going sans-E has worn off. So, because 2.0 is reaching the mainstream, and I feel like I have moved beyond it, does this mean that I am in 3.0?
Obviously, I’m not as serious as I may seem. If 2.0 is something real anyway, and not some trendy buzzword, then we will probably continue to live in a 2.0 world for the next few years. Besides, I hope the real Web 3.0 is more like the Jetsons where my computer is light as a feather, as mobile as a cell phone, as experiential as a big screen TV and where the interface and OS are replaced by an intuitive touch screen technology.
Wow, that’s quite a Christmas list. Maybe I’m describing/dreaming of Web 12.0.