We are in the early stages of a major phase transition. Whatever you call it, something new is brewing, and that nasty R word has a lot do with it. It is not the semantic web. That is a part of it, a big piece of the new technology pie, but it feels too much like a solution looking for a problem.

Nobody knows what name will eventually resonate with people. Web 3.0 sounds too derivative of Web 2.0. By the time this new phase gets a name, people won’t want to be associated with the past.

Just as in Web 2.0 era we don’t want to be associated with the Dot Com era. Hype eventually debases what was once a great name. Until then, whatchamacallit will have to suffice.