the internet is made of context.

Earlier this week I was asked ‘what’s next?’. This is as close as I can come to an answer.

The first major revolution online was search. It’s hard to remember now, but there was a time when search engines were both new and strange, when the idea that you didn’t need to know where to look for information was gamechanging. And when you compare it to everything else in the world, it still is. Search gave us the ‘what’.

Another major shift was the introduction of social. I’m not going to create a strict definition, but I’m referring to two specific aspects of social media - the creation of profiles, and the mapping of social connections. Profiles helped us to define ourselves publicly. Tracking and mapping our social connections provided an important context - giving a wider set of affiliated profiles (interests and favourites included) that would further hightlight potential interets. Social gave us the ‘who’.

Location based services are just cresting into mainstream acceptance. Both check-in based services, and continuous location awareness, are adding another key peice of context - geographical awareness. This can both mean what is around you, and where you are most likely to head. Obviously this helps determine what is important in yet another way. LBS gave us the ‘where’.

The reason I mention this, is because it’s time for what, where, and who, to be integrated into everything. And it is going to start happening soon.

What’s next? What’s next is what who and where helping us to define relevance. What’s next is that feeding to our experiences meaningfully and passively.

I’m not necessarily talking about a heads up display situation. I’m talking about taking the main function of the internet, sharing and discovering information, and using these filters to integrate it into everyday actions, where relevant.

It’s not about needing to ASK for more information. It’s about finding information has made itself available, because the qualifiers necessary to determine need are becoming ubiquitous as smartphones become the standard.

The internet is made of context. This is why who, what, where, why and how are important.

What’s next? Finding new ways to determine context from behaviour on and offline. Everything else is application. New forms of context have power. And if, like Google, or Facebook, or Foursquare, you have a significant majority control over a form of context, your best move is to find a way to let others integrate your service into thier offerings.

The future is always more context. From the dawn of the hyperlink, this is what the internet has been about.