One final vision I’ll leave you with for Web 3.0 comes from a comment on Stephen Baker’s blog that’s worth quoting at some length. Andy Carvin said he pictured Web 1.0/2.0/3.0 as paralleling the read-write-execute commands of a computer. Thinking in those terms, Web 1.0 was the read-only web; web users may have put up plenty of web sites, but they were designed with limited opportunities for interaction from visitors. Web 2.0 was the read-write web, where we started seeing “all of these services that make it easy for us to contribute content and interact with others.”
So what is the next level? “A Web 3.0 that plays on the idea of read-write-execute would be having a web that gives people the tools to craft their own tools, their own software, etc., rather than just uploading stuff to other people’s software. Why go to YouTube when you can set up your own MyTube, if you will, with the same functionality but tailored to the specific purposes of your own blog/community/website/etc. People will be able to create their own complex online social media tools with a few clicks, but remain linked to other tools and other people through tagging, RSS and all that good stuff.”
We’re already seeing some of that, most notably with Google CSE. But I believe the kinds of tools that Carvin is talking about will give the user even more power and control over functions, features, and above all, data manipulation. In a world where users have that kind of control, SEOs must be prepared to give up a little control –- or at least the perception of control. It’s the user, in the final analysis, who will decide whether what you offer them will suit their needs. Your job will be to make sure they have enough information to make an informed decision -– which, when you think about it, isn’t really that different from what you’re doing now.
Search Engine News 
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