As companies continue to join the ranks of Facebook – realizing that Facebook 2011 = web 1997 – they’re continually bumping into the question of whether or not they need a more robust fan page or do they put more money into their site. After all, 33% of all Internet traffic in the US is on Facebook. Shouldn’t I be where my customers are? Also, if my customers are moving to mobile device as one of their primary web interfaces, shouldn’t my site be mobile ready? Isn’t my fanpage on Facebook mobile ready?
These are all valid questions and as businesses work out the specifics of the splinternet in regards to their business, I was wondering what corporate websites may look like in 10 years. It’s been many moons since I posted about what I refer to as the corporate social graph but now that it’s more pertinent than ever. In essence the concept simply means that your business has many outposts throughout the internet, dependent upon your business model. For instance:
- YouTube
- iPhone/Android app
- mobile site
- iPad app
- website for the iPad
- and last but not least . . .the website
As these venues evolve, I believe the website will have less and less meaning and in the end, essentially become a database. A database that all of these venues pull information from with a multi-venue CMS with analytics for all built right in. (If a site has ecommerce they’ll move that function to Facebook and eventually others such as YouTube, Foursquare and Flickr. Businesses like JCPenney and Delta Airlines have already moved on to Facebook and I’ll post later about the anywhere consumer later.) The site will be accessible but instead of trying to be all things to everyone, businesses will focus on the niche tastes of users on those outposts. I think this transformation will help within 5 years. Start the countdown . . . . now.
