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What is the World Live Web?
According to Technorati it is:
The World Live Web is the syndicated subset of the World Wide Web. Sites in this subset update often, sending out "live" notifications, by RSS and similar means, every time new content is posted or updated. While weblogs constitute the majority of these sites, many non-blog sources also syndicate their content. Technorati currently indexes over three million sources on the World Live Web. Each one of these sources can be updated at any time, generating "active content" (such as new blog entries) within a 24-hour period.
So in essence the World Live Web is that part of the web that is LIVE and operates in real-time. Blogs allow for the real-time publishing of information and the ability to reference and link to that information instantly. Blogs magnificently and ingeniously send notification to the World Live Web about new information as it becomes available.
What results is the symphony of activity where real-time indexing and spidering is take place. Other bloggers are reading and linking and ideas and information are shared and exchanged with lightning quick speed and efficiency as blogs cross reference each other and the searches who love blog content, drive this frequently updated content to the top of the search engine result for freshness and relevancy.
Like The Universe...
The world live web is like the universe which is comprised of galaxies, solar systems and stars. Each element has it's own orbital track, ecosystem, gravitation pull and that influence other celestial objects nearby. Each planet lives in it's own solar system among other solar systems in the same galaxy that is among other galaxies that go on to make up the entire universe.
In the case of the World Live Web each citizen blog lives within it own social system and network.
[UPDATE: My universe metaphor was used to paint a picture of "influences" among social networks. It as been brought to my attention that John Udell's metaphor of a neural network perhaps expands the idea better overall. I agree. Check it out: John Udell: The Network Is A Blog]
These social networks tend to grow over time and expand (the universe is said the be expanding, right?) over time. What occurs is the natural a natural influence of ideas and opinion upon one another as like minded individuals reference and link to each other as authoritative sources.
The building blocks of these social networks are the real-time conversations of citizens as expressed through instant publishing of topically relevant micro-content and commenting. These social networks grow based on how well trusted each citizen becomes in his or her own expressions.
Each citizen normally garners a readership that can range from one person to thousands. This readership is a basic building block of an individual social network. As that citizen engages the readership in two-way communications that involves the publishing of content and the feedback on that content a common "trust" begins to build. The citizen begins to establish an authoritative voice for his or her topic and begins to build influence.
This new way of communicating can be characterized as conversational in nature and real-time in execution.
Readerships are comprised of two types of individuals.
Content Consumers vs. Content Creators
Content Consumers and Content Creators. Content Consumers are people that are apart of the growing trend in consumer controlled marketing where consumer feedback and discussion are a major influence in driving how businesses conduct their communications online. Content consumers participate regularly within markets that are directly related to or similar to their interests. These citizens know that their markets are influenced by providing valuable feedback and they look for opportunities to help shape their market.
Content consumers know the value of consumer opinion and they know the power of choice they have. This type of citizen may not have a blog or even a web site of their own yet they are avid readers, rely heavily on information in qualifying their consumer decisions online and they do have a clear voice and strong opinion plus they know how to exercise it.
Content consumers will be the online business and marketers greatest asset or greatest liability. Consumers can become evangelists and good ones at that for any enterprise if they are cultivated properly else they can use their influence collectively for greater influence overall which may not be so favorable for a particular enterprise should something go awry.
Businesses must decide how to invest and participate in conversations with these citizen content consumers because these "new" conversations are very informal yet highly sensitive to marketing speak, PR fluff and corporate lingo. Content Consumers are looking for market participation and they are the backbone of these new "market conversations" that are driving changes in online business communications.
Content Creators are citizen journalist or news masters who specialize in filtering and presenting information to a target audience based on focus, topic or theme. Content Creators are bloggers and while they are not news makers specifically their ability as news masters has had news making results.
Content Creators are Content Consumers on steroids as it were. They can spread ideas faster and farther than anyone else because of the power, reach and efficiency of the blog and the World Live Web. Content Creators evangelize at a higher level than Content Consumers because of the tools they use. Content Consumers pull information for decision making and feedback. Content Creators push information for the purpose of influence, reputation and authority.
At first sound it may sound a ambitiously selfish but it is not. You see, Content Creators know that they too are in the public trust and they know that the Content Consumers and other Content Creators have a controlling influence as well. To obtain "winning" influence, reputation and authority a Content Creator must do justice and service to their audience. They must help them by providing information that is deemed valuable within their niche topic or theme. They must participate and communicate frequently and they must be authentic and personable.
Content Creators use blogs to link consistently to internal and external sources creating a rich network of links that spread ideas and messages faster than any other online publishing tool at the moment. They are more powerful, personal and far reaching than forums, instant messages and e-mail.
Enter the World Live Web for Businesses and Marketers
If you wish, you can still participate in the World Wide Web where information is static, stale and infrequently updated. It's your choice. But you should understand the price should you do so.
The World Live Web is a living mechanism. It never sleeps. Everything happens in the "now". Where is used to take web site content weeks and months to get in the major search engines and spread, blog content takes seconds, minutes or hours and it spreads exponentially. Nearly instant in a lot of cases. Web Live Web content is viral and spreads easily and effectively with little effort on your part by comparison to the World Wide Web.Business content in the World Live Web out performs the World Wide Web. Hands down it is the only way to publish.
As a business or entrepreneur you now have to become a market thinker instead of a product pusher. Pushing brochure type content or direct marketing messages will not only fall flat it could mean a reversal of fortune if done obnoxiously enough. In this new era of consumer controlled consumption, consumers are using technologies like RSS to customize their content consumption and they are using blog commenting systems to make their presence known and felt.
You have to think about your markets conversations, understand the influences and needs in real-time and formulate a communication strategy to get connected in. If you think you will join the World Live Web with a hit and run marketing piece yourl message will be dead in the water before it will ever make a sale. You must be thoughtful and committed to building relationships.
You have to understand that you don't control the message entirely you control influences and consumers have ultimate choice. Deliver value and people will choose your content and your wares. You have to prove you are trustworthy. This is a good thing. It forces the quality up to the top because the greedy and opportunities seekers won't stand in long enough to build a relationship. They won't have the passion, the patience or the person to give it the full on commitment.
Fakers and opportunist beware.
The Broad Reach of the World Live Web
The brochure web site is dead. The homepage is dying a slow death. You can thank RSS for that. RSS allows world live web content to spread broadly and widely across citizen boundaries. You message can be published to multiple locations instantly creating greater visibility for your words and more opportunities for your content to be discovered. And the best thing of it all is that RSS drives all attention back to your live content.
RSS is fast, viral and its speed of influence is unmatched and not to be understated. RSS is practical for distributing plain content or media rich content. As a distribution tool it allows you to broadcast and deliver content remotely. As a syndication or subscription tools it allows consumers to "pull" your information and visit you at a time of their choosing which will lead to the sun setting on the homepage.
It is not as important to have a landing page or homepage that people like. It's more important to have content that people find useful and to have that content connected to someone people can trust.
There are live search directories that patrol the World Live Web for all the live content updates and they index them. These live search directories patrol your blog feeds and links and ping aggregator servers for constant indexing. This indexing is so fast, so efficient, and so viral that mainstream search engines like Google and Yahoo vigorously crawl the World Live Web for content.
The cup runneth over...the World Wide Web is being overrun by live content found through blogs and RSS feeds. I have another blog or two and if my competitors ask me how I caught them so fast in the top ten search rankings I'd just say..."World Live Web...baby!"
An yet it's all natural and without pretense. The World Live Web is organic in its transfer of information. This information is micro content whose constructs are words that are naturally written as if you are saying them or thinking them. This natural language writing is without all kinds of literary rule and is a boon to natural organic search.
Do you see where I'm going here? It may sound like it's all too good to be true but it's not. You cannot lose with the World Live Web. Everything is designed to proliferate information quickly. Organic search causes traffic to pour into your blog as others find you in the search engines and the social networks you create themselves are part of other social networks that reference and cross reference good information and *boom*...your content is off and running.
Finally...
With so much more to write but not willing to bring you to tears with all this writing I'll close out by saying this.
Blogs as participatory-journalism tools or citizen media tools (blogs are called by several cool buzz phrases that captures the essence of what they do) has out flanked and out ranked mainstream media. Businesses must now speak to bloggers along with regular media if they are to be effective.
Marketers must be conversational in their messaging and must be interested in building relationships in order to recognize new revenues. Communication is in real time, two-way, peer-to-peer, instantly flowing. Information no longer flows from the top down but multilaterally through informal and viral web-based discussions.
Welcome To The World Live Web!
Markets are now experiencing the affects of the niche influencers. These influencers produce micro content that is econsidered authoritative within niche markets. These niche influencers are Content Creators that have passionately published on their topic for a time and have gained the public trust for their subject matter expertise. They are sometimes referred to as A-listers.
Their blogs have many incoming links, tons of traffic, they are often quoted and are great sources of quality thought and content. That's what helped them build reputation to begin with.
A-listers are important to the World Live Web ecosystem as they help others measure market attitudes, they are great sources for thought leadership, they can be tipping points for the others (one link from an A-lister can sling-shot you from obscurity to popularity in mere moments as they can send a flood of people and spiders your way with a single link) who happen to get their attention.
A-listers are examples of how the Web is organizing itself around living, viral content that works around traditional means of delivering messages. There are lots of Content Consumers out their looking for authoritative content that they can interact with. More so the person behind the content. It's participation all around for everyone. Some want participatory consumption where they influence the persons, business and products they like and some want participatory creation where they want to influence, report and dialogue with others. It's a win-win for any business that will do the work required to make the World Live Web their home.
Whether A-list or common Content Creator or Consumer, blogs cannot be ignored. It is imperative that every online business and entrepreneur determine their strategy. The World Live Web is really still in infancy. It's still defining itself but it is no less powerful in it reach and influence of ideas.
But the real truth is that it is work. If you are passionate about your message and your market you'll do well here over time. If you are not, then the World Live Web may not be for you. Businesses must be creators of content and that takes a considerably larger commitment than being a consumer of content.
As we come to the end of the year I just wanted to throw my thought about this down. I'm really full of ideas and they are coming fast, furiously and not so logically in order at this point. This was a rather stream of conscious moment and I feel my train of thoughts here at the end are more disconnected than connected. Time to rest the head and hands I guess.
Ref: - How To Blog For Fun & Profit!
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