Taking social networks into a new dimension

I have seen the future of the web – and it involves standing around talking to small bears in funny hats. No really, it does. Last week, Google launched a piece of "virtual socialising" software called "Lively", which allows you to create a cartoon version of yourself, and chat to fellow humans (some posing as animals) in user-generated "themed rooms".

Odd as it sounds, it could well be the biggest revolution on the internet since Facebook.

Yet the idea is not new. 'Second Life' (SL) is the best-known and oldest of the existing 3D social networks. Populated by animated "alter egos" (called avatars), SL allows you to chat, buy land and even trade using a currency called the SL "Linden Dollar", which has a real-world exchange rate.

SL has been around since 2003, but only really took off in early 2007. The hype surrounding it, however, is already on the wane. As ever, the first in isn't always the first to win. Google is on the case.

And, true to the search giant's business model, using "Lively" free and easy. The software is quick to download, and it costs nothing to create your own "virtual room", which can – importantly – be embedded on other sites and blogs, so you can invite friends to chat there too.

Unlike Second Life – which can only be accessed through one site – you can use "Lively" via Facebook; Google is also working on an application for MySpace. Aside from being more accessible, "Lively" is also more compatible: users can plaster the virtual walls with videos from YouTube or the photo-sharing site Picasa (both of which happen to be owned by Google).

Within five minutes of downloading the software, I found myself in the "Lost" room (there are already hundreds of rooms to choose from – some of which you wouldn't want to be seen in if using a work computer).

Five minutes later, I'd created a suitably-balding avatar (see above), chosen my clothing, and was chatting away to strange animals – and other users who had, more sensibly, chosen human avatars – about this weird new environment.

"Lively" is currently rather clunky: it slows down your computer and the graphics are not perfect. However, the software is currently at Beta (testing) stage, and can only get better.

So, can this "mash up of instant message, chat room, virtual world, and web page", as one commentator described it, be what defines the next generation of internet use, which has been dubbed 'Web 3.0'?

Perhaps. Much has been written about the "Semantic Web" – new coding that makes intelligent links between information – as being the backbone of 'Web 3.0'. This may well be the case, but I believe that 3D sites like "Lively" could well be how users – and talking bears – experience it.