I’m a big believer in livin’ in the moment. Professionally and personally speaking that means being fully immersed in the Web 2.0 world. It’s almost a religion in my life. I am forever amazed and entertained at the Web 2.0 “nose bleed experts” who are already talking about Web 4.0. You know who I’m talking about. They position themselves as social media Gods, digital media gurus, and actually believe they are so clairvoyant and visionary that they can speak with great authority on Web 4.0 and even write a book about it. Yet these people don’t have a Facebook account, don’t blog and think twittering is something a bird does in the morning. They are so far removed from today’s Web 2.0 environment that they can only speak about broad, 50,000 foot topics that are usually so far from the truth that it is often times laughable. It’s like eating air. Ask a nose bleed expert about a “wall” and they start reminiscing about Pink Floyd. Ask them about a “tweet” and they tell you they’ll have ice cream. Ask them about getting “poked” and they’ll tell you it’s none of your business. Ask them about a podcast and they’ll tell you that’s what happens when your fishing bobber lands on a lily pad. Ask them about a “status update” and they call a meeting. Ask them about a “mini feed” and they tell you about the quick lunch they had. OK, you get the point.

Web 2.0 is alive and well contrary to these Nostradamus know-it-alls. Ask the real Web 2.0 experts like Max Levchin (Slide), Tim O’Reilly, (O’Reilly Media) and Marc Andreessen (Ning) and they will tell you Web 2.0 is not going away and to even speak about Web 3.0, never mind Web 4.0, is absurd. At O’Reilly’s recent Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, this subject was part of the opening keynote address. Think about what Web 2.0 is: the web as a platform, user-generated content, power to the people, aggregating the wisdom of crowds, software as a service, service above a single device and light business models. Yaaaauuhh (said in Bill Lumbergh’s tone of voice in the cult movie Office Space) I’m thinkin’ it’s here for a bit. Ah…I’m no genius and I went to a shitty state college (UMASS Dartmouth) but I wouldn’t bet on its demise anytime soon.  

Remember Lincoln’s quote: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.” Earth to Nostradamus with the nose bleed…Web 2.0 is all of the people all of the time. Careful what you say…it will define you forever unless you do something like win a Nobel Peace Prize for a documentary on global warming. Just ask Al Gore, the inventor of the Internet.  

What’s the most laughable Web X.0 prediction you have heard?