True Wisdom begins with a definition of terms.

Definition: Highly specialized information silos, moderated by a cult of personality, validated by the community, and put into context with the inclusion of meta-data through widgets.

The media is abuzz around Web 2.0. Flickr, FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter, and mashups like Beebo and Joost, and the list goes on and on and on.

Each one of these sites seek to capture the social side of the web. They focus on the bloggers, micro-bloggers, video, photo and audio content and the foundational social experience that extends beyond web of yesterday.

Staying abreast of the changes in the Web 2.0 world is a full time job, but as we race to the next giant leap in this evolving interactive space we cannot help but ponder what the future will bring – we’ll call it Web 3.0.

Web 3.0 is an experiential leap. In this future, I will start my journey through the web with one of three tasks — seeking information, seeking validation or seeking entertainment. In this posting we will explore the facets of Web 3.0 and their impending impact on the way we use the Internet today.

Explore the facets of Web 3.0 here >

The interesting thing about marketing in new media is that it continually evolves. Consider the fact that I wrote previously about the virtues of Second Life. Second Life for those who don’t know about it is the property of Linden Labs. A glimpse into a 3D virtual world, Second Life was widely recognized for the real-world wealth it created. Many companies and individuals alike nestled up close to their computer to create Avatars (virtual representations of themselves) and develop “real property” in the virtual world. Most of this was a marketing ploy to gain notoriety and eyeballs.

Months after the land rush measuring the value of this activity paints the picture of the value of this non-traditional media type – consider this excerpt from TechCrunch:

Wagner James Au at GigaOm has a set of figures worth looking at. In defending Second Life, Au notes that the visitor rate to corporate installations on Second Life is 0.8-2% vs a CTR rate on standard web advertisements on 0.5-1%. Great, but does a higher CTR really matter? The 5 most popular corporate destinations on Second Life have between 1200 to 10,000 visitors per week. An island on Second Life (a popular choice for corporations) costs $1,675 upfront then $295/ month, and that doesn’t include the cost to actually create structures on the island from one of the various Second Life design firms (cost: approx $5-10,000). So lets do the figures: the most popular corporate destination has 10,000 visitors per week; at $295/ mth in maintenance fees that’s a CPM rate of approx $7.40. The bottom destination of the top 5 has a CPM rate of approx $61. If we apportion the upfront costs of design (say $5,000 although it’s probably higher) and setup ($1675) over 12 months the CPM rates become $21.20 (top) and approx $180 (bottom of the top 5). The CTR rate is irrelevant: the CPM cost for businesses on Second Life is insane: simply even for the very best, the figures don’t add up.

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Rumor has it there is a quiet storm brewing in Boise. Thought-leaders on the Boise tech front met yesterday to discuss the future of technology start-ups in Boise. Those involved were sworn to secrecy with regard to the context of the conversation, but let’s just say “the match has been lit” and the firestorm is coming!

Boise is a thriving economy with a diverse workforce, but due to layoffs at Micron and the downturn in the local real estate market we must take a look at our assets – our people assets.

Have you ever taken an early morning flight on a Monday? Well if you haven’t it is like riding the bus. The same people week after week riding the “bus” to Seattle, Portland and the San Francisco to work. They buy homes in Boise for the quality of life and commute each week to a job that out-pays our local companies.

It’s not difficult to understand from the employee’s standpoint, just pick up a paper and see how many high paying jobs are listed – can you find one?

The challenge facing Boise is the refocusing of this brain-trust here at home. We have to create opportunities for these individuals to use their knowledge here by building companies that they want to be a part of. We have the opportunity to perform on par with other tech Meccas including Denver, Austin, SF and SLC, but we have to seize the day and catalyze our own success.

More to come .. stay tuned.