Web 3.0 will make celebrities of us all

The wonderful thing about the web (and the terrible thing about the web) is that it changes. The original web was simple, with static documents that linked to each other.

The next version of the web gave us transactions. It was a big step up: We could buy stuff! Books, CDs, and eventually batteries, household items, groceries, and even cars. But this version of the web did not let us share with others, except for e-mail.

With social media came "Web 2.0" and the ability to share information with others. From reviews of books and music to on-line journals and blogs, from friend sites (Friendster, MySpace, and Facebook) to micro-blogging sites (Twitter and Identi.ca), we built circles of friends and shared our experiences and opinions. But the sharing of information was not very granular. Reviews were available for anyone to see. Journals and blogs were visible to the world, unless we locked things to friends and family.

Twitter changed the game and let people sign up (and unsubscribe) without our say-so, but stayed within the Web 2.0 realm. We were still sharing data to everyone.

I think that "Web 3.0" will be different. It won't happen in the browser, but instead will happen on cell phones. The next generation of apps to connect us will be cell phone apps, not web browser apps. (Although there may be a web version of the cell phone app.)

And Web 3.0 will be defined not only by the primary platform (a cell phone and not the web browser) but also by the degree of control we have on sharing information. With Web 3.0, we will have a big say in who gets to see information, and there will be different levels of openness. For example, there is already a grocery list app that spouses can share. The list is shared between spouses (or significant others) and either person can add or remove items from the list -- but the list is visible to only the parties involved. This makes sense -- who really needs to see my grocery list? Yet it is useful to share it with my spouse.

Web 3.0 will have multiple sets of "friends", from spouses to family to close friends to distant friends and then to business associates. We will be aware of our different "circles of friends" and apps will be aware of them too. When we make information available, we will select the desired level of sharing.

With multiple circles of family and friends will come various politics. Will people be offended when they are placed in an outer circle and not in an inner circle? Will people lobby for more intimacy? Will they cry out when they are "demoted" to an outer circle? We will soon learn the answers to these questions.

The magazine "People" needs the movie industry to create material to fill pages. The movie industry needs the magazine "People" to have a venue for the news, pseudo-news, gossip about actors in the industry. It's a tidy little symbiosis. With Web 3.0, we will each have our own outlet for news. Perhaps not "People" magazine (or a magazine of any name) but web pages, public blogs, and friend-locked blogs. We will each be a celebrity, to some degree, with our own publicity and innermost group of friends. And also the drama that comes with celebrityhood.