Report: Web 3.0 is the next frontier

If you thought Web 2.0 - or social networking and rich media - were hard to fathom, the Web 3.0 revolution is just around the corner. According to new research from In-Stat, Web 3.0 is the next wave and will merge social networking with online gaming to create a new world.

by Kristina Knight

"Evidence supports the conclusion that the 'killer application' that is critical to virtual worlds - and by extention to Web 3.0 - is, in fact, already here and it is none other than social networking," said Vahid Dajwakh, In-Stat analyst.

Researchers know that blogging and comments on news has both popularized news while at the same time making average Joe's commenting on news as important at the news itself. Now the same is happening with gaming, specifically with virtual world gaming.

3-D networks are going to change how consumers interact on the web according to the report, and the change is already beginning. By 2012, registered users in virtual worlds are expected to exceed 1 billion users with total revenue growing to more than $3 billion per year.

Currently, there are more than 300 million registered, virtual world users; about 70% of whom are under the age of 18. These users are spending online; researchers have found that roughly 90% of revenue for virtual world companies comes from consumers buying virtual items - currency, land and fees.