Jeremiah Owyang speaks with Blake Cahill on what he sees the future of the social web is going to bring us. He theorizes that there will be 5 era’s of the social web. He believes that people will start to own the market instead of companies and that communities will continue to take charge over brands. Here’s a break down of each era.
1. Era of Social Relationships – Simply connecting with others online (i.e. – facebook, myspace, twitter)
2. Era of Social Functionality – An era we entered in 2007 where third-party applications could be built on top of social networks to allow the user to do something extra. Jeremiah believes we’re still in the early days of this era.
3. Era of Social Colonization – Your entourage of friends come with you wherever you go online or with your mobile device. You will make decisions based on what they’ve purchased and what they recommend.
4. Era of Social Context – Content (web, advertisements, TV, etc) will be tailored to your preferences. The more data that a user reveals about him or herself, the more relevant the content they receive. Brands will offer added benefits to those who have favorable preferences to their products or services. He predicts the death of the registration page.
5. Era of Social Commerce – Communities will come together and define entire products and features they want. These groups will then bid out their wants to competing brands. PR models will flip and agencies will now represent groups rather than companies.
