Heaven is other people
"The web is in its third phase," explained Le Meur. "From 1993-2000 we had the static web, from 2001-2007 we had web 2.0 - the social web, and now we're in the era of the realtime web. People want all of their friends with them permanently and to be able to communicate with them all of the time."
He clearly doesn't subscribe to his compatriot Jean-Paul Sartre's view that "Hell is other people". In this world of the realtime web, we're surrounded by thousands of other people all the time. "Most people are still discovering it, but if I know you I want to know what you're doing," said Le Meur. "My friends tell me what to read online and most people in Silicon Valley work that way. They still read a lot of content, however."
Good online content gets more traffic than ever these days, but the ways in which people are encountering it are changing. As the realtime web grows, the ability to consult with your community before committing to a piece of online content becomes easier. In theory this makes the web more meritocratic than ever.
"We're in one of the most exciting years since the Internet began. Currently there's a war between Facebook and Twitter and by next year all social networks will show activity streams," concludes Le Meur. And there will be increasing commercial interest in facilitating, managing and accessing the communities in which those streams are published.
