By now, you may be getting tired of hearing about how the social networking revolution and Web 2.0 practices will revolutionize the planet. What is more interesting to debate -- at least for Website strategists and marketers -- is how to morph your own Internet site from a final destination to a virtual syndication.

For years, the focus for Web thinkers has been purely on driving traffic, increasing page views, and keeping things on the site “sticky.” Coupled with an almost cult-like obsession with search-engine optimization, link exchanges, and analyzing statistics, one begins to see a blinkered focus on individual Website properties instead of on distributing information most effectively.

Well, imagine an Internet of no sites per se, of no partitions from one source to another. Imagine a Web comprising what we can call “big data.”

The Internet was not designed for segmentation and commercial control, but rather to be an endless data collective that delivers data simply and intelligently. It’s time for enterprises to realize the vision of the Internet forefathers -- namely, that delivering data flexibly is more important than page views.

So the movement out of Web 2.0 to whatever may come next will require all of us to shift from our natural practice of storing data online to empowering data -- everywhere you can. One important element in this shift, social networking, has hopefully taught us that it is completely acceptable to syndicate your content on someone else’s platform, a practice virtually unheard of in the previous World Wide Web administration.

It’s time to stop underestimating the power of gaining audience through third-party channels.

What we need to be looking at instead of bringing eyeballs to a specific location is how flexible our content and data are and how easily we can syndicate that data through smart delivery practices and even smarter devices. Are you ready for new level of thinking where delivery of data supersedes impressions to your master domain?

By some estimates, the current “invisible” Internet -- the volume of content existing behind various online barriers -- could be 500 times larger than the current reachable or “visible” Internet. Considering that Google has an estimated 8 billion pages ranked, that’s a big animal if someday all that data gets released.

The point is: Start to shift your current interest in traffic patterns and page views and take a step back. Look at your opportunities in content distribution outlets and audience points of contact. Through some basic listening programs, you can even track down where conversations and communities are engaged about areas of your service, product, or specialty. Rather than having to pay for any audience influx to your property, realize that it may make sense to start paying less by distributing your content outward to the audience that wants what you have -- even though someone else may have carried the content for you in the last mile.

So maybe Web 3.0 is a bit out of reach for us to ponder, with its promises of cognitive learning, semantic searching, and intelligent offerings. What is real today is that you need to dust off that database, start filling it with compelling content, and start finding every possible outlet for it in every format. By doing so, you will turn your old online truck stop into a trucking line that begins to deliver the goods wherever they are needed.

What happens when someone “Googles” you? This process of personal identity research may seem harmless or even comical at times. But in reality, how you are ranked, represented, and positioned online is becoming more important than you might think.

Online branding has traditionally been a concern for companies, celebrities, music groups, and other established entities. But with the explosion of social networking and the sprawl of personal publishing opportunities online, how and where you appear in search returns can have a significant impact on both your personal and your career situations.

Your personal brand online may currently be disorganized or even damaging. It’s important to recognize that your name is being searched more often than you think, and what comes back in those searches can make or break personal relationships or even business opportunities.

So how do you start managing your own brand online?

The first step is to do an assessment of your online presence, keeping in mind that personal brand control and management online is either an act of offense or defense.

If you have little personal presence online in search returns, or what does return is simply not polished, you may want to go on the offensive and position yourself with more substantive content that matches your status while engaging with prospective opportunities. If search returns are bringing back negative or “past life” content that does not positively reflect who you are or what you do, then execute a defensive online brand strategy that overshadows the negative content.

The key point is that you need to start controlling your brand in search returns within the first page or two. When you control your “name space,” your brand value will improve -- and so will the perceptions of those that view you online.

Here are some steps you can take to rapidly increase your online brand value:

1) Get a personal domain. Having a personal domain is the most effective way to control your brand. Even having a one-page bio, resumé, blog, or simply links that connect viewers to find out more about you will make a huge difference. A personal domain can be optimized to be the top return when your name is searched -- pushing other content further down the ranks.

2) Control your profiles on social sites. If you have personal social sites, be sure they are turned off to outside access unless you use them specifically for personal marketing. It’s enjoyable to network socially online with friends and relatives; but be sure that content is sealed up in a closed and protected environment. Opening up means exposure.

3) Build online profiles in the right places. There are many sites that now offer legitimate profiles that aim to make your presence official online. Use them wisely and spend the time or resources to have them done right. Some examples of profile sites include Google Profiles, Wikipedia, Naymz, and AboutUs. If built properly, these profiles will rank high in search returns for your name.

4) Clean up the past. You may be surprised when content from many years ago is still lingering online and representing your name. If there is content about you that does not reflect your current situation, then try to have it removed from the site source.

5) Use video. It may seem a bit over-the-top, but using video to represent who you are and what you do is the most effective way of having your audience connect with you online. Video is a great offensive strategy to control how you are perceived and project the opportunities you are capable of handling.

By taking these steps, you can begin to increase the brand value of your name and open yourself to new opportunities.

Of course, managing your online personal brand does take work and a commitment of time and even resources, should you decide to outsource the effort. The important part is that you recognize that no matter who you are, your personal presence online matters, and you do have direct influence on what is being projected about you to others around the world.

The continued growth of rich Internet applications, including video, has made Internet bandwidth a major contributor to business productivity; and ensuring that network bandwidth resources are used efficiently is more important now than ever before.

Indeed, an organization that does not currently monitor and regulate employee Internet usage will find its business in a compromised position, where performance, efficiency, and information operation levels suffer.

Speed and bandwidth shouldn’t be confused when it comes to enterprise Internet. Connection speed to the Internet is broken into downloading and uploading time. The faster the connection, the quicker data can be transmitted up- and down-stream. Bandwidth is the size of the connection, which allows for consistent speed rates when multiple users are simultaneously accessing the Web through the same link.

If bandwidth is low and speed rates are high, resource drains can be a factor in overall performance. The key to managing enterprise Internet connections is to monitor their use compared to overall speed and bandwidth performance -- and to make sure that employees are aware of what is acceptable and unacceptable online use.

The most damaging element to speed and bandwidth is streaming video. Nothing stresses a corporate network more. Video requires hundreds of times more bandwidth than email or simply navigating Web pages. Unfettered use of streaming video can cause significant network issues, from slow access to networkwide failure.

Other rich-media applications like Web conferencing and even Webinars can have serious negative effects on a company’s network connectivity. Add voice-over-IP applications to the mix, and you may have an even greater bundle of productivity problems.

To prevent network connectivity and performance issues, a company should clearly outline Internet usage standards. Policies should be enacted that permit online use for business-related activities while discouraging employees from indulging in non-work-related online diversions that drain resources.

Communication is vital among departments, staff, and especially the IT group that should be monitoring online activity levels and spikes in online use. Employees must recognize that their activities online are always affecting the overall integrity of the network connection, and that can seriously affect others within the organization.

It’s also important to have a connection audit performed. By testing and monitoring the performance of your bandwidth, you can get a sense if you are under- or over-utilizing your connection. In many cases, companies have the wrong access package for their user population. Although business DSL and cable packages may look attractive in price, they are not always a strong solution if you need more bandwidth rather than additional speed.

On a side note, if speed is an issue, you may not want to go wireless, as that will cause some degree of latency compared to a wired network.

Many companies make the mistake of purveying the same type of constant Internet connection throughout the organization, even to employees who do not require it. Connecting an employee who simply needs email to full Web access is not always necessary and ultimately will drain limited connectivity resources.

The key is to find a balance between use and quality control, while allowing certain online freedoms, especially if accessing the Internet is a positive activity that ultimately contributes to overall business objectives.

But if employees go overboard with personal online use, especially by tapping into rich media applications, there is no question that those who are trying to optimize their own job performance will be affected. Keep watch on your organization’s connection and online use, and hopefully your enterprise network will click a little faster.

With the turbulent economic environment, many once-stable brick-and-mortar brands like Circuit City, The Sharper Image, and Comp USA have fallen out of play or migrated strictly to online models -- a trend some analysts are now calling "Retail Darwinism."

But not everyone will make it online. Businesses that simply use the Web to flee offline costs won't last long.

Businesses that operate online have an exceedingly challenging course to run in the next chapter of our economy. First and foremost, they need to decide what the proper balance of spending should be for online-versus-offline sales. Typically, offline sales have been more expensive to close versus those closed online, but that model is changing as competition for online transactions rises quickly.

Those businesses that do not invest in satisfying consumer needs online will become less likely to survive this natural selection era of online commerce.

Businesses need to blend and balance their online and offline offerings. Even though the Web may be a minority channel of sales for many businesses, the fact is that consumers' desire to learn about and locate products and services online will continue to grow.

Businesses online also must learn to follow through. Many companies are chasing online commerce with investments in sales and marketing, not the customer service side of the business. The fact is, very little effort is being made to improve the customer experience after the actual sale is made. This results in poor customer service for items purchased online.

I recently bought a designer product directly from a very reputable brand online. The product was delivered to me defective, but instead of dealing with the issue directly online, I was forced to fix the problem in an offline transaction at a local retailer that was plagued with problems -- thus making the whole experience a significant negative.

The point is, if you purchase something online today, it's likely you will have a high percentage of success and satisfaction only at the point of sale -- the Web. If you are forced by circumstance to require any type of service, support, or assistance post sale, you will quickly find a major gap between the selling and servicing sides of most businesses that have an online presence.

Retailers and online commerce strategists need to understand that the consumer is smarter and faster than they previously thought and will not tolerate being brushed aside in the digital world, especially as people cut back their standards of living. Consumers are just as frustrated at the state of economic affairs today as businesses are, and that translates into more aggressive consumer behavior when dealing with online e-commerce issues and customer support needs.

Online retailers that have reduced the back-end costs of customer service representatives to offset sluggish sales are doomed to fail. Only those online retailers that continue to push the envelope in product search, video information, ratings and reviews, and developing online conversations will ultimately succeed in the space. Additionally, those businesses that negate consumer needs online after the sale will quickly find themselves immersed in an even greater trend of declining sales.

No doubt you have seen or heard about the new “faceplate” and application enhancements Facebook is planning to roll out to its nearly 200 million users.

If you are a current Facebook user, you can view a demo directly at the top of your profile page. If you are not a user, you can still view the enhancements here.

When you add up this latest, extensive round of changes -- mostly live publishing feeds, contact filtering, and a more robust user tracking system -- it becomes apparent to me that Facebook may be targeting the elimination of Twitter Inc.

It can’t be coincidence that the changes Facebook is making reflect a near duplication of the primary Twitter offerings. And from the looks of it thus far, Facebook’s will be done better.

Now that Facebook will virtually overlap the primary offerings of Twitter, questions appear: Will Twitter fans begin to migrate to Facebook? Will new social network users do a quick comparison of the two sites and choose Facebook over the now-overshadowed Twitter offerings?

People may believe that the business models of Twitter and Facebook are distinct from each other. They are not. Both sites have goals to retain active social users and expand their offerings to keep those users loyal and connected. In the long run, the only way to reach these goals is to provide a one-stop location for developing, publishing, and sharing content of any kind and in any format.

In my view, Facebook's ahead. Here are three reasons why I believe Twitter is in serious “twouble”:

When social networking first emerged, there was a general sense that the Internet had finally found a way to allow individuals and communities to engage in conversation freely without the presence of commercials.

It didn’t last.

Most initial social networking sites began out of a sort of anti-establishment media mentality, but like any successful application or product online, the ability to grow and sustain a successful user base can really only happen through the introduction of paid commercial space.

When examining the huge growth of social networking, the question at hand is: Will increasing corporate presence via applications, interactive ads, and fan pages compromise the integrity of social networking sites originally built on people connecting, and not on brands selling?

Today, the social networking landscape has changed dramatically from its inception. MySpace sells out and immediately blends ad monetization with user fixation. Facebook , which has surpassed all possible growth expectations, is now becoming flooded with ads, corporate fan pages, and profiles that look as if they’re for real people, but are really promotional campaigns in sheeps' clothing.

In addition, many micro-social networking sites are being developed and launched from commercial investment and brands that attempt to attract loyal buyers under the umbrella of their own community.

Are social networking users ready for their once promised land to become yet another corporate cloud of commercial clutter?

According to Michael Cohen of New York online advertising company Catch Interactive, the problem with social networking commercialization is not the presence of brands themselves, but how those brands are marketed online.

Indeed, the trend toward marketing seems to be cluttering the social networking cloud.

“Marketers are rushing to create applications for social networking sites without first developing a proper social media strategy. The easiest way for them to do that is to create a fan page or a widget, and that isn't necessarily going to resonate with their target audiences," says Cohen.

Should the trend continue, the social networking space and the success of sites like Facebook and MySpace may see decreasing growth trends as users declare mutiny and migrate to other, more commercial-free networking zones.

Think about it: Building a large contact network on Facebook is relatively easy, and once established, you may see large, mature groups migrate away from the ads, widgets, and useless applications that seem to detract from simple peer interaction. After all, how hard would it be to take a social group with enough critical mass and move it to a white-label site where ads are filtered out?

As radio once migrated from the airways to subscriber-paid, commercial-free, satellite and even Internet-based programming, we may end up seeing a trend where social networking sites allow members to pay a small premium not to be bothered with ads and unapproved widgets and applications.

Business social sites will see the same competition between communication and commercialization.

Will user activity or ad money dictate the future of our current social networking scene? The question will stay unanswered as long as social networking purists and the millions that tend to follow them will tolerate the growing commercialization of the social networking space.

Here’s a prediction: We will soon be seeing the next great hiccup in the Internet’s lifecycle of prosperity preceding pain. The fact is, there simply is not enough good content to fill the volume of online spaces being created.

Everything about online content is in major transition, and, for many organizations, the current status and future plans for content are in serious trouble.

The majority of Internet sites online are burdened with the same common symptom: lack of killer content.

Several challenges face organizations regarding content. Now that millions of new sites, online business models, and even social networking zones have opened up these giant content caves, an imbalance exists between online space inventory and the ability -- or commitment -- to fill that space effectively.

Content strategists like Jeffrey MacIntyre and a small minority of other media insiders are trying to determine just how the next generation of content thinkers and purveyors will ultimately impact the online scene.

In Macintyre’s view, content specialists were once hidden in plain sight, employed as agency copywriters and journalists in both media and marketing organizations. Today, these valuable writers need to regroup in the massive content shift online.

Collectively, MacIntyre believes that online content strategists and producers have yet to really shape into any valued industry segment.

So how can you quickly turn your online real estate into more of a competitive beach-front content property that produces targeted traffic? Like any good business move, it starts with a solid strategy followed up by some resources and, ultimately, sweat equity.

Although there are many areas to consider in shaping content strategy and development, here are just a few suggestions organizations might consider addressing in regard to their content planning and production:

• Get a strategy. Every organization competing for attention online needs a content strategy and a focused plan that should absolutely include conversations about audience, content sources, production, editorial review, vetting, and, ultimately, publishing, distribution, and marketing.
• Don’t settle for hand-me-downs. Content development should never be a chore passed along to just anyone in an organization that can string a few sentences together. The biggest challenge is getting organizations to marry their content development processes with someone who actually has a fundamental understanding of the subject matter. Outsourcing content creation may seem appropriate, but be careful that it does not create impersonal filler.
• Speak to your audience. Recognize that the medium is still the message. If you believe third-person journalistic prose or brochure-ware editorial are the proper flavors to engage new online audiences, you are sadly mistaken. The way online content is written needs to evolve intimately with the medium and those who want to interact with content. Content generation is no longer about simply re-purposing old-school writing techniques online.

So take a moment and look inside your own organization. How far away is the source of your content from the eyes of the audience? Where does content strategy sit in relation to your company’s financial or HR strategy? Is there someone well qualified to advance your content position online?

These are important questions that must be answered if you are planning on being online for a while -- in a way that is worthwhile. This incredible online content shift from development to delivery is changing everything, and those who ignore the trend will ultimately fail the test. One thing for sure is the demand for content online will continue to perpetuate. Will you be serving or standing by?

Years ago, when I would try to explain to people what I do as an Internet consultant -- so far back it was then called New Media -- I would tell of a client that pronounced he had a wife, a lawyer, an accountant, and me. That acknowledgment was not only revealing as to the importance of the Internet to his company, but it was the first time I realized just how trustingly transparent his business and life were to me.

Today, there is a huge transparency shift where businesses are concerned; they are releasing information once held behind closed doors. Additionally, they are engaging customers to act as marketing agents online through social communication.

Will your business fight these trends of online transparency? If so, you may be causing more harm than you can imagine.

For years, there was the private, business side of the Internet, and there was what the public had access to see. Companies used the Internet as a powerful source for correcting defunct business processes and enhancing efficiency issues. On the front end of the Web was the company marketing. Today, that game has changed, as the once Great Wall of separation has rapidly given way to the demand for real business transparency.

The new value of social media, developing online conversations, listening, and building consumer confidence in these long-tail online marketing programs is: Transparency can sell. Transparency can build trust. Gone are the days when your online brochure was sufficient to glean response or action. Today’s customer is seeking reality, references, and relationships that surround your business brand, products, and services. Online, this equates to being as up-front and honest as possible, and doing it quickly -- without the traditional spin tactics that marketing has pushed on naïve consumers for years.

Remember the term "crisis PR"? Well, online, the only public relations crisis is to not engage your customers to talk about your brand -- good, bad, or indifferent. In this environment of instant online discussion, they are going to do it anyway. By participating and even facilitating these transparent communications, you are developing a new type of currency for a new type of online social buyer.

Although business and marketing transparency does not lead to immediate trust or transaction, it does put you in the game. Customers want to purchase from companies that provide things like order tracking, online forums for customer feedback, and user reviews. They want access to product information that goes beyond simple tag lines and sales hooks. Likewise, vendors want to service companies where business intelligence is shared in two-way communications. And always remember that employees are much happier working for companies where they are in the loop instead of dwelling in the dreary land of assumptions.

So move the Great Wall of transparency farther back to the core of your organization, away from the front door. Allow the outside world to see more about what your business really does and how you operate and perform. Share your business experiences and those of your customers online, and allow the social sphere to interact as you gather new insights about those you serve.

Then sit back and watch how these new online bonds begin to develop between your brand and the almighty buyer.

Heading into 2009, there are a couple of occupations in which I would be less than excited to be employed. The first: anything involving handling clients in the financial services sector. The second: being involved with the commercial office space industry.

For an explanation of the financial services scene, I would defer to insiders to explain exactly the reasons why things are so bleak. For commercial real estate businesses and professionals, I say the Internet is one of the primary causes of “triple net” losses.

Let’s face it, the home is becoming the new wired brick-and-mortar office node; and if trends continue, we will see an even greater shift in home-office build-out -- leading to more vacant square footage of commercial space across the country.

According to the research firm IDC , the "work at home agent" (WAHA!) trend is growing at a rate of over 35 percent per year and is expected to continue at that level of growth well past 2012. The reality is that customer service and sales representatives, and other general office workers once bound to a cubicle, are now quickly shifting to more “flexible environments.”

In other words, they’re working at home in slippers and pajamas.

There are other factors at play here as well. The economic situation is forcing massive expense reduction. Shifting overhead from commercial office space to employees’ living rooms is one way to lower the monthly nut. Additionally, offering flexibility to qualified employees at lower-level jobs gives a new sense of lifestyle to those who once only dreamed of working outside the office.

Let’s not forget the green component as well. Today, it is quite PC in corporate America to be green conscious. Allowing employees to work from home saves resources in gas, car maintenance, and insurance premiums. Another upside is the carbon footprint factor. Estimates from IDC reveal that by 2010, home-based employment will save over 1 million metric tons of air pollution in the U.S. alone.

This mass exit from commercial space is not just about saving money. For many retailers, the persistent growth of e-commerce continues to drive even small companies to close up their shops offline and build up their shops online. Recently, I met an art gallery dealer who gave up four of her regional locations to focus completely online with an even stronger global sales strategy. With Circuit City’s recent Chapter 11 filing and so many other businesses going under, it leaves the future of brick-and-mortar questionable.

Companies considering work-at-home employment options for their staff need to beware that this doesn't always guarantee an upside. It takes a certain type of person to be able to work effectively from a home environment, where distractions are many and management can be mouse-clicked away.

For some, however, the chance to work from home elevates morale and loyalty to the company, actually resulting in even better job performance. The bottom line is to find the right people for home-based work and set up the proper telemanagement procedures to ensure a win/win for both company and staff.

Although there are many business sectors that will remain secure with their physical plant locations, it is evident that the trend toward empty commercial space is going to remain a part of our landscape for years to come.

For commercial developers, construction firms, realtors, and leasing agents, the trends of the Internet, the green movement, and a new sense of at-home achievement may be building up to an unwelcome perfect storm.

— Peter W. Bowman, Executive Vice President, Avericom

The race to find the next online marketing trend seems to recycle about every three months these days. But one area of particular interest to me is a relatively new online advertising strategy called, oddly enough, "listening."

Listening involves a process that facilitates consumer conversations and interaction online in order to hear what is being said. Listening lets marketers capture word-of-mouth discussion on products, services, and general consumer needs.

To capture conversations with their target audiences, publishers and service providers are creating their own social networks. Instead of branding on a number of target sites as straight media buys, these sellers are establishing independent social networks that operate in clouds, based on geography or special interest, or even consumer needs and wants.

These social network clouds are segmented to attract users in their own environments where they are most comfortable, communicating with other like-minded individuals. An example is Gannett’s MomsLikeMe.com , where more than 80 micro-geographic sites were developed as part of a mom-centric social network -- all under one programming and content distribution platform, in this case based on software from Ripple6 (a company Gannett recently acquired).

This example shows how a social network of networks can scale and manage conversations among members while collecting marketing data -- and allowing marketers to listen to what these moms have to say. This process has now evolved into word-of-mouth marketing online in a seemingly non-invasive way.

Gannet has released numbers on Momslikeme.com of nearly 1 million users spread across 80 local U.S. markets. The analytical program in the back office of this network is releasing astonishing amounts of data, as marketers listen to what the community is telling them.

But what happens when the community grows up and realizes their safe social network is nothing more than a marketing mousetrap and that whatever they say will be used to fuel the next marketing campaign -- which with be directed right back at them?

No matter how marketers re-position themselves online, there is still the inherent challenge of keeping consumers engaged with any type of long-term online marketing program. It seems no matter what form online advertising takes, users are conditioned to filter out the pitch while utilizing whatever offering brought them to use the site in the first place.

So marketers’ challenge will be to take the social network cloud concept and spread a centralized campaign across all the major social networks, where listening is an option for all media buyers. This type of network exists in the print world but has yet to translate online.

Collective listening will be more effective for marketers than building and maintaining multiple vertical social network sites -- only to have consumers filter out this next-generation marketing trend as they discover they’re in staged social spheres.

The success rate of listening as a marketing vehicle over the long term remains open to question. One thing is for sure, though: Anyone with any significant marketing insight, product offering, or killer application that can connect brands with social network markets and engage transactions is worth watching.

— Peter W. Bowman, Executive Vice President, Avericom