The evolution of the internet

- Picture this, the year is 1994. You're watching the American news and talk show The Today Show. And the anchors are discussing this newfangled internet thing. They don't know how to pronounce the at symbol. Host Brian Gumbel says, what is internet? Do you like write to it, like mail? And then co host Katie Couric calls out to the producer. Alison, can you explain what internet is? Looking back, it's easy to laugh at this moment. Because by now the internet has become a ubiquitous fixture in all our lives. But that's how everyone was back then, trying to make sense of a new technology. I share this because we're in the same place right now. We're saying, what is the metaverse? What is Web3? Or should it be web 3.0? What are we even talking about? If you're feeling this way, you're not alone. And you're also not late to this party. It's just beginning. In the same way that the internet has changed the world for each of us, the next iteration of the web is going to change things even more. I always tell my clients that to really understand where the internet is headed, you need to understand where we've been. Think back to your first interactions with the internet. This was probably during what we call the Web 1.0 era, which lasted into the early 2000s. You could go online to look up information, use email, maybe participate in a chat room. Web 1.0 was the era of static informational webpages. Unless you are a web designer or owned a company who employed one, you probably had no real personal internet presence. That'll change under Web 2.0. While the internet of Web 1.0 connected people with information, the internet of Web 2.0 connects people with each other. There was no great shift that made this change. Companies just started building tools that lowered the barriers for participation online. People can actively post their own content on blogs and social media, quickly create their own websites with platforms like WordPress, and then contribute to the world's collective encyclopedia, Wikipedia. So why is this look back at history important? Because we're on the cusp of another big internet transition. And we need to look back at lessons learned. Think about how the shift from Web 1.0 to 2.0 changed your business. Web 1.0 prioritize company control of their image and information available. What 2.0, which is still in our current reality, prioritizes engagement and interaction, with customers strongly impacting brand identity and reputation. Web3 is going to change things again in entirely new ways. Let me emphasize that with each of these shifts, there was no single moment where Web 1.0 ended, and Web 2.0 begins. It was an ongoing evolution, not just in technology, but also in the way that we use it. As a business leader, you don't always need to know the specifics of how these technologies work in order to leverage their power for your business. But you do need to recognize how these technologies can change your relationship with the digital world, change your customers, and open up new opportunities. That way, as the internet continues to evolve, you can evolve with it.