Whether for shopping, banking or further education – a world without the Internet as an information and communications platform is no longer conceivable. Through new technologies and applications the Internet continues to develop further and these changes are having a permanent effect on user ­behavior. From an originally static construction of ‚firmly’ linked pages to be consumed passively by the user, the net has now moved on to enabling casual personal contacts and setting up social networks. Throughout the world new services such as forums, web logs and web communities have been set up, and here the users can make their opinions and ideas known. In a public space they can discuss their day-to-day problems, their experiences with products and markets, market themselves, or make their personal videos and photos available to the world wide community. The next evolutionary step in the web will be to pull together this mass of knowledge now available.  

Interactive web services such as Flickr or MySpace have made room for new players in the commercial Internet. Now the ­established providers such as Google and Microsoft have taken up the scent for business opportunities in the so-called participative web. They are investing large amounts of money in successful platforms and hoping for lucrative business models. However, as the use of the services is generally free of charge, it is to be expected that the investments will only be paid off through the targeted use of customer-specific advertising – a viable, although not disputed, revenue model. 

The web can tell us what is important to the customer 

This hype is not the only interesting opportunity offered by the participative web. Existing business models in all industries have other options open to them. Using the web interface valuable information concerning the customers’ needs can be integrated into the company’s value creating processes faster and at ­lower cost. Resources and even the customer’s social network can be used in various business activities in the company - ranging from product development, through production itself, and on to service. Customer and supplier are moving closer together. This relieves pressure on internal resources and opens up new potential for revenue through new value creating structures and business models.