Information is everywhere.
Just Google (or Bing) it. Any topic. Any person. Any thing. It is all at our fingertips,but is the info helpful?
If I want get up to speed about Lady Gaga,Lebron James,or current unemployment conditions,the web delivers. If I want to plan a vacation,buy a HD camcorder,or optimize my stock portfolio,the web becomes a dizzying array of facts,opinions,and data that is rarely helpful —and often misleading.
This is the conundrum of the web. Plenty of information is sprayed around cyberspace,but it is one size fits all. We leave it up to the user to interpret the data – the information to meet their needs. Some can interpret the information into knowledge,most cannot.
In the past decade we have failed in many respects to create an online dialogue a conversation to assist people. Sure there are pockets of hope out there like Click to Chat technology which thankfully humanizes many online shopping processes. However,like an unseasoned salesperson,click to chat is hit or miss based on the competency,the experience of the person on the other side of the keyboard. Click to chat provides the intelligence of the person or company. It does not bring to bear the collective intelligence of the web.
Is there a better way to take advantage of the collective intelligence on the web and personalize it?
Web 2.0 is all about the social web. Sometimes social connections can lead to valuable assistance in making a purchase decision. Many times it is social white noise —opinions without basis. Not any better than the inexperienced salesperson.
The vision I see is the conversational web. A human engine which can engage people in a conversation. A conversation that leads to knowledge —quickly and efficiently. I believe we are very close to someone cracking the code and creating an inference engine which can decipher and disseminate knowledge based on who we are,how we shop,what we need,and what we aspire to be.
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Early newspapers were wild,untrustworthy and numerous. It took some time for the “gatekeeping”system to get set where people had trust in certain news sources. This system translated well to radio,though different,and television,because they were based on the same basic profit structure. It worked for the content and later the advertising,but both developed a structure that consumers could use. Lately,the digital explosion has blown up the systems. Consumers are again in need of structure and gatekeeping. How will the digital world adapt? We see systems change and develop quicker than ever. What will the new structure look like? Similar to the old? A whole new world? Time will tell. A great example is Craig’s List,which drove almost all classified advertising out of the newspapers. At first,it looked like a great replacement. Now it’s a sea of spam that people hesitate to enter. Consumers no longer have the option of newspaper classifieds,but the replacement is questionable. Will a better system emerge? Will it come from traditional newspapers? Will Craig adapt? Will something else come in to replace? Will it be your conversational web and what will it look like?