How to Succeed in the Web3.0 era

Right now we're stuck in the middle of what's been dubbed the worst global credit crisis in 50 years and there's still no light at the end of the tunnel.

At the same time in the tech world we're seeing a number of high profile start-ups struggle and reports of an end to the Web 2.0 buzz.

So, what does this mean for the future of the web? And how does online training fit in?

As a natural progression the next generation of the web is currently referred to as Web 3.0, but there is still much speculation as to what Web 3.0 will be and how it will impact our lives.

Taking a look back, Web 2.0 brought us big buttoned clean websites, social networking, and most importantly user generated content. The web got personal. No longer were people just looking at websites, they are actively participating in building content and communities through uploading videos and photos, editing wikis and writing blogs.

The problem with all of this is there is a lot of money being made by the owners of these Web2.0 platforms, and with the exception of a fortunate few, no money being paid back to the users, the real owners of the content.

I believe this is where Web3.0 will pick up the slack. The companies that will be successful in the next generation of the web will be focused on monetizing user generated content and finding ways, other than advertising, for users to make money online.

Software as a Service

Recently we're hearing a lot about the emergence of SaaS based products and how businesses are, among other benefits, able to reduce capital expenditure by pushing more of their operations in to the cloud. Another take on SaaS is that it will empower smaller businesses or individuals to be able to operate online without the budget, technical know-how or experience in setting up and managing scalable, web-based solutions.

A prime example of how this can be achieved is through a SaaS based training platform. By combining all the goodness of Training 2.0 and throwing in a splash of Web 3.0, individuals will be able to create any number of courses and sell them online. They don't have to worry about the "How", only about generating revenue by focusing on their own core competency, which is producing educational content.

While this is a training-centric example, I believe we will see some tremendous innovation over years to come in terms of monetizing user generated content.

What do you think? Do you want to get paid for your own creativity and the pieces of your life that you make available online?