One of the key findings from the very popular report The Future of the Social Web (which has been translated into over a dozen languages by the community) is that identity technologies like Facebook Connect, OpenID, as well as existing identities will soon colonize the web, making every webpage a social experience even if they don’t choose to participate.
[Soon, every product page and webpage will be a social experience even if brands don’t choose to participate]
Although the identity space is still in it’s adolescence, many of the vendors agree on the direction to head, but not exactly how to get there. Secondly, there’s many different groups coming together from Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and the third party OpenID foundation that are trying to make their specific requirements work with each other.
Once the different parties representing the identity systems agree on the specifics and start to implement we’ll still need to see a transport method that will allow these identities to appear on any webpage:
How Every Page Could Be a Social Experience
¢ Connective APIs. Expect to at the highest level technologies like Facebook Connect and OpenStack to allow third party sites to connect with websites without users having to give up their login credentials or personal information essentially bypassing the annoying registration page.
¢ Social inlays and overlays. At the next level, expect social networks to create ‘overlay’ experiences so their social experience will traverse every webpage. If you currently click on a link within Facebook to a third party site it will open inside the Facebook experience. We also see this with Digg, with it’s “Digg Bar” experience.
¢ Browsers to add social functionality. Expect every browser to provide a social experience. Finally, at the next level, expect pervasive technologies like browsers to start to become social. Expect Google’s Chrome to allow your Gmail contacts to share their experiences on every webpage and product you visit. In fact, startups like GetGlue are already experimenting with aggregating reviews from a person’s network using Firefox plugins.
¢ Birth of the Social Inbox. In the most radical future, content will start to appear on a new type of aggregation webpage that resembles both email and newspages. I’m watching vendors like Friendfeed to aggregate public and some private data, expect Facebook and Google Wave to present unique new experiences we’ve not seen yet. As people interact socially with others on the internet, expect social networks to aggregate the colonization creating a new type of ‘Social Inbox’ (more on that soon). Expect to see Microsoft Live, Yahoo Mail, Gmail/Google Wave start to merge with social networks, birthing a new type of communication and collaboration platform. Why does this matter? because fragments of the corporate websites will be aggregated into these platforms, in a social context.
[As a result, people will lean on the opinions and experiences of their trusted network diminishing traditional marketing efforts]
Key Impact: A Shift to Customer Opinion Over Corporate Messaging
More importantly, this means that your customers will be able to rely on their immediate friends and trusted network to make decisions not just nameless customer reviews like on Amazon from folks you don’t know. This means they will also start to rely more on each other for reviews not the marketing created by brands. This also applies to the real world not just online, as people can access digital devices on mobile social networks to find out which stores, restaurants and activities their trusted network prefers.
Power continues to shift to the participants, and away from irrelevant corporate websites.
If this post was helpful, please tweet it by copying and pasting into Twitter:
Trends: Impacts Of The Era of Social Colonization Every Webpage to be Social http://bit.ly/aAJ9c by @jowyang
Another great post Owyang!
I definitely see the merit of social colonization as it would provide users with more trust worthy information of products and services, not to mention convenience!
However, a conversation I had with my friend last weekend sparked my curiosity about the trade-off between these benefits and privacy. Facebook Beacon got burned hard when they tried this a few years ago. I think there are a lot of people out there, who would like to remain anonymous and do everything they can to do this (from deleting cookies to purchasing a future prospective service that would keep their clients information private).
Do you think there needs to be an outside regulation (i hate to say this… but from the government? :[) to enforce companies to respect people’s choice in how much information they would like to share?
Also, do you think this movement would give much more power to the trusted 3rd party influencers (i.e influential bloggers like yourself)? :]
A great post Jeremiah. One of the reasons I love reading your write-ups is because it gives my grey matter a ‘high’ for a while afterwards wondering about the possibilities.
I think instead of fighting the change or trying to ‘reverse’ it, smart companies should already be thinking about how to leverage this era of social colonization to stay ahead in the race. I envision multiple ways one can do this — and one of them being a radical change in the product development arena. I think the product life cycle and the new product launch process will go through a total makeover from the way we know it today to accomodate the dynamic nature of customer retention and loyalty based on colonization.
Although I see the validity of your projections for the future of social media and its impact on the overarching strategy for both consumers and business, I disagree with your conclusion that “people will lean on the opinions and experiences of their trusted network “diminishing traditional marketing efforts”. First, word of mouth recommendations have always been a part of business strategy, particularly in the service sector. When seeking a doctor or a plumber, are you really going to look to the Yellow Pages or other marketing materials to make a selection. The answer is probably no, you will ask a neighbor or family member. Social media allows us to extend the concept of neighbor and provides a wider range of opinions. The danger here is information overload. Too many opinions and too many recommendations can paralyze a consumer.
Second, marketing does not create a need for a product. Marketing promotes a previously discovered need among consumers and seeks to exploit a company’s answer that fills this need. Good marketers will monitor social media, like any other part of the external environment, so suss out changes, attitudes to products and services, and new needs to be filled. If used properly, marketers will actually sharpen marketing techniques by being better able to project responses to products prior to their release and develop products that answer the need. This research can now be done more accurately, and less expensively than traditional marketing research efforts which rely on sampling of a small portion of the population. I think that traditional marketing research efforts will diminish, but that actual marketing efforts will increase, be more targeted, and more effective. Marketers will use social media in a variety of fashions, including the potential to pose as consumers and offer opinions and influence buyer perception by adjusting their methods and message to better fit what is perceived by the consumer.
I don't thing that keeping the conversation on coroprate site is important. In my opininon you have to work hard to build community around your business on major social networking websites(FB, Twitter…). It doesn't matter where do the customers hear and talk about your company, all that matters is that they do talk about you.
Type your comment here.and there is nothing we can do about it. Brands had better get on board ASAP or be lost in the clutter of the static web.
Type your comment here.and there is nothing we can do about it. Brands had better get on board ASAP or be lost in the clutter of the static web.
sports shoes
Nike Sport Shoes
Women's Nike Sport Shoes
Men's Nike Sport Shoes