Interactive Web

From what I've seen, the web is moving towards a more interactive form. There is tremendous potential for instantaneous connectivity. But if you go to your average site, it's really a one-way transmission. I go to ESPN.com and I'm bombarded with data but what if I want to talk back? What if I have questions? Comments? Well, you can leave a comment or post on a message board. But I don't feel that's good enough. It's like talking to your family by leaving notes on your fridge.

Meebo came out with a little chat widget for websites. It allows visitors to your site to chat with each other. This is a step toward my goal for interactivity, but there has to be more. I recently decided to check out the game Second Life. I heard a talk given by the CEO and it piqued my interest. (It's totally free, by the way). It's basically a 3D, user-generated world. You can walk around with your little avatar and interact with people around the world.

In the middle of playing this game (although CEO Philip Rosedale doesn't consider it a game) I realized that this could be the future of the internet. A highly interactive user interface that allows you to gain information while at the same time connecting you with the people of the same interests.

I have a friend in Korea. I haven't seen her for a long time but we still keep in tough. I got her into the game and it was quite surreal. She's thousands of miles away from me yet here in this virtual world we are talking as if she's right next to me. This kind of "shrinking the world" is what I think the web was originally created to do.

I feel we've only seen the tip of the iceberg here. It's going to be very exciting what the near future brings.