the instantaneous web

the instantaneous web is upon us and i see several converging trends that are creating it under our very eyes:

1) social media goes mainstream – twitter, friendfeed, their clones, facebook growth, other social media platforms being created – think the hype machine for other verticals than music – contributing to global acceptance of what it means to interact on the web.
2) social media interactions become quasi live – think of the us airways hudson landing coverage on twitter and how google was left behind.
3) deeper understanding of consumer behavior, intent and communication via social media which will be monetized via a combination of vertical ad networks – see my article on the subject here – and more refined online retailers/marketers/advertisers programs.

what does this mean? a) our interactions are moving towards live all the time, b) how we are catered to will bring us ever more value and unfortunately ever less privacy.

on a more practical level, focusing on the business landscape:
- i expect google to take either offensive or defensive measures to either replicate twitter or even buy it – yes, i know, they just scuttled jaiku – in order to close the gap between historical searches – their legacy platform – and real time searches off of the twitter platform.
- i expect twitter to launch biz dev and monetization initiatives around search
- i expect like-minded users and those who cater to them to organize in verticals – see here – on twitter and other micro-blogging platforms
- i expect other companies such as yahoo and aol to benefit from the combined effects of “verticalization”, specialization, thereby leveling the playing field and somewhat eroding google’s lead in search and advertising.

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