OPEN

Hugh Macleod’s Twitter pointed me to this post from VortexDNA comparing Maslow’s hierarchy of needs with the Internet’s evolution.

The final, highest stage, actualisation is described as “the Web becomes a frictionless tool”. For me, this is the stage we’re on the edge of right now, and realising it is tied up in no small part with the mobile web becoming a reality.

When I’m at home and my iPod Touch is cocnnected to my WiFi I feel like I’m getting a glimpse of what that frictionless web will be like. My iPod’s always with me and when I think of something I want to know, do or say I connect instantly with the web and find it, do it, set things in motion.

It also makes me think about  about the way that people’s expectations and needs of the web evolve over time too. I’ve come across similar ideas before, and there’s a correlation with Ross Mayfield’s “powerlaw of partcipation” concept idea about “online tenure” (the longer somone has broadband at home, the more likely they are to use social computing tools).