Startup Idea #66 : Implicit web

The idea of using the data collected from user's actions, without their explicit input, and using them to improve the usefulness of applications and services is very attractive to me. Many have coined this the implicit web.

Tim O'Reilly has brilliantly extend the idea of implicit web to include using new extraction techniques on existing data to produce new information on consumers' preference. The example of Wesabe very clearly illustrates that our credit card information can also be part of the implicit web if they can be intelligently extracted.

One other source of implicit data that I think holds more potential but has not been actively discussed (beyond reBang) is the preferences of users when they customise their avatars, vehicles, rooms or even pets.

Clicks, playlists, search et al are simple interactions that already create lots of value when used to make better recommendations. However, there are limitations. A person that searches for shoes will allow Google to know he is looking for shoes but leave it clueless about his preferred model, the size, the design et al.

On the other hand, when a person customises his shoes in a virtual world, using real world products, he reveals richer information about his preferences. These preferences, when aggregated, are a source of powerful consumer research that can greatly enhance product design.

I think there is a business here of creating a platform that allow consumer brands to conduct consumer research more efficiently than focus groups or surveys through a marketplace. Consumer brands can upload models of their products to the marketplace where games or virtual worlds can incorporate into their avatar customisation engine as well as the amount they are willing to pay. Games or virtual worlds that willing to use these models will insert some codes that will allow the platform to collect the data. These will then be present to product designers of consumer brands in real time, using dashboard displays.

I believe that in the future, product design will be impacted by data analysis, similar to what marketing is going through today. Collecting rich implicit data and reflecting them back to designers will become a very valuable tool.

Posted in: data driven,marketplace,startup business ideas