I recently came across a webinar touting the newest trend - Web 3.0. I thought it was humorous to see Web 3.0 being promoted since there are others who sincerely believe that Web 2.0 is a bunch of over-hyped bunk.

As I listened and watch the webinar (put on by Bob De Cecco & Franco Gonzalez of SocialProfitStream.com) I found the information, although somewhat lacking in meaty details, it was very persuasive from the point of showing Web 3.0 has indeed arrived.

DISCLOSURE: I am independently involved with this firm. But as an investigative journalist, I found it very interesting that based on what I heard, and some of the proof presented in the webinar, that there very well could be a huge move of the masses to use more of the social media marketing products and platforms than most skeptics could ever have imagined.

They talked about the Blue Ocean Summary - which is a distilled down version of the book entitled Blue Ocean Strategy.  According to Wikipedia:

“Blue Ocean Strategy is a business strategy book written by Professors W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne of INSEAD, a leading global business school, that promotes creating new market space or “Blue Ocean” rather than competing in an existing industry.[1] It contains retrospective case studies of business success stories the authors claim were Blue Ocean Strategies.

The metaphor of red and blue oceans describes the market universe.

Red Oceans are all the industries in existence today—the known market space. In the red oceans, industry boundaries are defined and accepted, and the competitive rules of the game are known. Here companies try to outperform their rivals to grab a greater share of product or service demand. As the market space gets crowded, prospects for profits and growth are reduced. Products become commodities or niche, and cutthroat competition turns the ocean bloody. Hence, the term red oceans.[3]

Blue oceans, in contrast, denote all the industries not in existence today—the unknown market space, untainted by competition. In blue oceans, demand is created rather than fought over. There is ample opportunity for growth that is both profitable and rapid. In blue oceans, competition is irrelevant because the rules of the game are waiting to be set. Blue ocean is an analogy to describe the wider, deeper potential of market space that is not yet explored. [3]

The corner-stone of Blue Ocean Strategy is ‘Value Innovation’. A blue ocean is created when a company achieves value innovation that creates value simultaneously for both the buyer and the company. The innovation (in product, service, or delivery) must raise and create value for the market, while simultaneously reducing or eliminating features or services that are less valued by the current or future market. The authors criticize Michael Porter’s idea that successful businesses are either low-cost providers or niche-players. Instead, they propose finding value that crosses conventional market segmentation and offering value and lower cost.”

So, just what exactly does that have to do with Internet Marketing, MLM/Network Marketing, or SOHO/Home Based Businesses? Especially in light of the fact that the book only presents a snapshot overview of 3 industries: automobiles, computers and movie theaters.

On the surface, not much… but that is exactly what the Blue Ocean Strategy is all about. It’s where companies need to break free from their existing markets, or “red oceans” — where blood shed in the battle with competitors over market share obscures the profit pool — and wade into a “blue ocean,” where “demand is created rather than fought over.  

Everyone else (the competition) is using old technology like advertising on radio, TV and in newspapers to put their brand and/or message in front of buying eyeballs . Result? Too expensive with little measurable return.  Blue Ocean thinking says, use the latest and greatest social media marketing platforms to push your message (advertisement/brand) out to the marketplace and let those who are interested respond BACK TO YOU. 

On the surface, Blue Ocean Strategy appears to BE proof of the existence of Web 3.0.