I’ve had a thought that I’ve been bouncing around in my head for a while now and I just need to get it out there.

I think that the next big step in internet evolution–for lack of a better term, “web 3.0″–will revolve around social media and the use of open-source content management systems, such as WordPress, Typepad and Blogger.

Social media is still very much in the infant stages of its life, but its potential is enormous. And, for me at least, it seems that the best way for social media to grow is through the widespread use of CMS.

New ways to share content and ideas, are being developed all the time for these open-source content management systems by the very people who use them on a regular basis. This fits so perfectly together; and could be the most important factor in the growth of social media. For example, someone develops a new technology to share his or her ideas and use it on his or her website where he or she already shares his or her ideas with other people who also have websites where they share their ideas. Nothing could be more instant, more viral, more…social.

So what does this mean for business?

If you’re a business owner, get on board with social media, it’s not going to go away any time soon. Check out things like Facebook fan pages and using twitter for your business. Also, consider rebuilding your web presence with a CMS and begin to implement social media strategies to get involved in the conversations that are already going on about your business. Believe me, people are talking about you.

To the employee, find a new way for the company you work for to utilize social media. What aspects of social media could you present to your management to improve visibility, cut costs, reach new audiences in better ways? Taking this proactive step will bode very well for you in the future. Here’s a post that will help you get started thinking about it.

For the job seeker, find a way to make yourself marketable in this emerging technological trend. Emerse yourself in and learn about the social aspects of the internet. Maybe even learn how to use, design or program CMS as a new skill to add to your resume. At the very least, getting involved will help increase your visibility as a job seeker. And as a bonus, being able to speak intelligently about the what social media can do for a business will probably be a great way to distinguish yourself in an interview.

What does this mean for the average everyday internet user?

Content management systems, such as WordPress and Blogger, are so easy to use and they are an amazing way to stay in touch with friends and family.

You can easily create your own web page, for free, and everytime you have something new that you want to share–thoughts, photos, videos, information–put it on your page. Then just let people know you have new content and let them go see it whenever they want. It’s so easy, and as technology advances, it will get even easier.

So, my advice is to get involved now if you are not already. Web 3.0 will be a very social, easy to use and dynamic internet revolving around relationships and conversation. Who would not want to get on board with that?

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“The internet is a journey, not a destination.”
- Mike Arauz

Arauz writes, in the Age of Conversation 2: Why Don’t They Get It?, that a few years ago the internet was a collection of websites, and you would go to a particular website to get certain content. In today’s world, “the domain is dead.” Domain owners have become content owners, and your content can be anywhere.

Arauz explains this idea by saying, “As all digital interactions become social, and tools for self-organization become available, it is no longer our responsibility as stewards of digital content to put things in their correct place. Rather, we should be doing everything we can to empower the audience to put things in whatever place they like.”

This idea is evidenced by sharing articles, photos and videos online. For example, all of YouTube’s video’s are not just on YouTube.com, they are all over the internet as part of a conversation between people on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

“Publishers and content owners…must now begin not by creating their own online environments, but rather by identifying the native environments where their content is most likely to be welcomed into the ongoing conversation within that community. The content owners must learn the unique culture, customs, and dialects that distinguish each environment in order to introduce the content without alienating the community. And content owners must employ every possible tool for enabling individuals within these environments to share the content with other members of the community.”

Enabling people to share your content is one of the best ways to spread that content. Word-of-mouth and viral marketing are vastly more effective ways of reaching your audience than traditional marketing techniques.

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I recently bought the second iteration of the Age of Conversation project, begun by bloggers Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton, entitled the Age of Conversation 2: Why Don’t They Get It? The book is a collection of over 230 authors from around the world that talk about conversation and what it means to today’s world of marketing. I find this information fascinating because of it’s enormous impact on and insight into the digital world. As I read through I will be updating the blog with some of the books content and my thoughts.

Reg Adkins, in Veritus Exostra: The Truth Revealed, lists “six trail markers that can help us on our way toward shared meaning.”

1. Edutaining is requisite: it’s about the reader/audience not the author/storyteller.

2. Remember the truth of conversing in faceless space: Six billion individual calling voices are just noise until they share a common concern.

3. The currency of conversation: consistent creativity is not an oxymoron.

4. Inclusion, control and affection are universal needs; the tolerance levels for the same are not standard.

5. Suspension of disbelief: I must momentarily reject my own reality in order to embrace yours.

6. In five years electronic publications have transformed concepts of plagiarism, research, borrowing, and disowning into the Disneyesque concept Imagineering.

Adkins uses an illustration of your finger displacing water in a glass. The water represents a person and your finger is your message. Your message displaces what was in existence at that moment. The catch is, if you remove your finger from the glass, the water returns to it’s original state, now unaffected by your message. What was the long term impact of your conversation? “That is why people don’t get it. It’s not about inserting a message; it’s about communally finding meaning.”

People (viewers/customers/readers) are looking for a relationship, not a message. Use conversation as a way to build a lasting relationship, not as a technique to sell something. The lasting impact will be much greater.

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