Next Generation Websites : User and Business Impacts

 Probably the 2 biggest winners from the next generation of the web are the Users and the Web development community. The web was always intended for users but only now have the traditional models of business to consumer interaction started to be released and opened up.

For web developers it means a lot more access to technology innovation that was previously held closely by software giants. This in turn creates a world where developers can more easily create tools/applications for specific user needs.

Improved user experiences through improved technology

Through such new breed technologies as AJAX, we'll start to see such enhancements as click and drag operations like we saw with housingmaps.com.

Increased contribution to website's relevance and performance

Websites will also be more inclusive of users including such interaction as tagging like we saw in del.icio.us and flickr and feedback mechanisms such as ebay

Building social communities of need online

Through blogging and means of connecting through sites such as Technorati, we'll see more online communities forming in a real time fashion. Where previously we had discussion groups and mailing lists, there are more forums and blogs to share and debate common ideas.
More applications for specific purposes

Instead of the juggernaut applications to do everything we'll see more niche applications being developed. And many more tools will become available for specific needs.

All these are positive impacts for the user and as with any models of operation and interaction, applications will come and go, a shakeout will occur and the stayers will be determined by the users.

Trust in the user

User centric models mean that businesses will have to engage in a bit of trust in the user community to create and contribute to content. Some good examples of trust can be seen in Amazon, ebay, Cloudmark

Wikipaedia was described as a radical experiment in trust and many skeptics thought it would fail because there was no qualification of the sources. But it has proved to be a useful tool for information and not completely unreliable.

Niche application development with a faster time to market

The opportunities for niche application development means businesses can take the larger web applications and mashup their own applications to suit their purposes. For example consider a Market Research Company that could create a tool for demographic mapping of Australia.

Content is still king

Core data sets have become valuable assets. For example weather data, calendars, product identifiers. Owning this content will make some people very rich but there are also opportunities for uses of these data sets to brand the content in their own way. A good example is Amazon who have taken the ISBN registry of book information and enhanced it with cover shots and user feedback on titles. Now Amazon who weren't the original source are being seen as a preferred source and have actually created a new market for themselves in providing data to other relevant sites.

Broad brush tools for surface research e.g. Technorati, del.icio.us

Because so much of these applications take a user centred approach, this information can then be useful for those who might be interested in monitoring the popular thoughts and opinions within particular groups. Sites like Technorati provide an engine for searching blogs - what are people talking about, what opinions are out there. From this perspective, the Business Community is benefiting from the next generation as a user of the applications on the web.

Summary

The evolution of the web has taken us:

• From content centric to user centric models;
• From the web as a virtual space for storing information to the web as a platform for services;
• From program based innovation to web based innovation.

The Impacts on the user community are

• Improved user experiences through improved technology
• Increased contribution to website's relevance and performance
• Building social communities of need online
• More applications for specific purposes

The impacts on the business community are

• Trust in the user to contribute to content and performance
• Niche application development with a faster time to market
• Content is still king
• Availability of broad brush tools for surface research