The next Internet: You control the Multi-Person, Social and Live Digital Earth
The Internet will outgrow text, video, social media and e-commerce. A new user-controlled, “everyone’s live” Digital Earth will be normal.
Your scale grows to multi-person: You will have multiple Shared Spaces with a “presence” in each one so you can be everywhere you want to be. You manage your “presences” — you could be Active in only one Shared Space and Inactive everywhere else. Or you can Multi-Space and be Active and Live everywhere you want.
Others are multi-person, too: In each Shared Space others have “presence” with you. Right now you could be Live and “present” with teams at work, company suppliers around the world, a key Washington lobbyist or two, and your family scattered at school and at home.
Your personal power multiplies: Digital Boundaries give you control over privacy, the ads and content on your displays, and new ways to assure that you are treated well.
Shared Spaces: How many do you want?
One Shared Space is a set of always on connections with one thing that you’re doing, like the most important project you’re heading up at your company.
One Shared Space includes all the people, online resources, services, systems and tools that you use in that project. But when you turn to it, everything is already connected and in the state that you’re using it — so if it’s a document it’s in the right place in the document. Or if it’s an online service it’s on the task that you’re using. If it’s the project team members, they’re always connected to the Shared Space.
Like you, everyone uses the “presence” system to automatically manage their real-time presence. You’re “always on” in all your Shared Spaces. Where you are “Active” you’re “present.” And where you’re “Inactive” you’re not instantly available. But to return, just flip to this Shared Space and you’re instantly “there” with everything in it “on” and ready to serve you.
You will have multiple Shared Spaces, and you will flip between them. When you flip to a different Shared Space it is already open and focused. Its people, services, tools, Internet of Things devices, and companies are just the way you want them. You you don’t have to load its parts. You just use it right away.
Your Multiple Shared Spaces: Multi-spacing
Simply flip to each Shared Space when you want to be in it instantly. You’ll always be with the teams you need at work, in a Supplier, and with Customers. Then you can flip to your Family and be with your kids after school.
At work each project you run will be a Shared Space. You’ll also be in the Shared Spaces of other projects where you’re a team member.
In your personal life you’ll have Shared Spaces for your family, friends, a sport like college football or your favorite NFL team. You can also have personal interests like travel, entertainment or a hobby.
This makes the old Internet look, well, ancient. It was just information, text, data, video. And a flood of ads that showed you what it was trying to do to you.
On your Digital Earth every person, resource, place and tool is “always on.” It’s social, multi-person, multi-resource, multi-place, multiplying everything. And even though you may choose to be in only one Shared Space, you can also multi-space — just flip into as many Shared Spaces as you want, and be everywhere.
Digital Boundaries put you in control
Multiplying you multiplies your power. You’ll be powerful enough to guide the economy to sell you the worlds you want to live in.
Active / Inactive is a simple Digital Boundary. Most connections are Inactive until you want them active. When you want anything it’s like you — already on and going full speed. You can even take the same digital tool and run it inside multiple Shared Spaces. It’s multiplied like you, everywhere you want it to be.
But Shared Spaces are even better because these save each item’s state so it’s right where you left off. You don’t have to load each part you need. You just turn to it, make it Active and it’s already going.
Public / Private / Secret is another Digital Boundary.
- Public is like going out on the street.
- Private is like what you do inside your company. Everywhere in the world, everything that’s done inside of companies, is private.
- Secret is like talking to your attorney or your company talking to its attorney. Those communications are even beyond the reach of the legal system.
Presence is another Boundary. In each of your Shared Spaces, your “presence” lets others know if you are available or not. And it tells you if the others “there” are “Active” and present, or “Inactive” and in one of their other Shared Spaces.
This is more than the early Internet of information. It’s the world of multiplied people and resources, with everyone’s productivity and capacity rising above today’s limits. Ready to multiply your lives, and look down on your ceilings?
Filters and Priorities is a Digital Boundary that can transform the Digital Economy. It can change your life, the economy and the world — starting with advertising:
Media and Advertising: The obsolete business model
Advertising grew into a powerful technology in the mid-1800’s. Since then media and advertising have always depended on each other.
Today advertising has grown into the Internet’s main business model. It includes the ad industry, social media, publishing, entertainment, broadcasting and digital media.
Advertising is incredibly important to corporations because it’s how they reach both new and existing customers.
But because computers can scale bigger and operate faster than anything in history, they are evolving marketing into a tsunami that profiles billions, then tracks, targets and inundates each person. Its next big advance is already in development — AI that learns how to manipulate each person individually and effectively.
Ad blocking is the natural result. It gets easier to spread and use every year. It’s mainstream on PC’s for some groups and countries. In parts of Asia, 25% of smart phone owners have downloaded an ad blocker.
The next business model—Partnership Capitalism: Consumers guide vendors and the economy
Today’s ad systems target you by retrieving ads selected just for you, and inserting them on your screens. But computers also control more than systems that track and target you.
Computers also construct and control what is displayed on screens. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality show how powerful this has already become.
User-controlled filters and priorities are another Expandiverse Digital Boundary: On a Digital Earth it will be normal for everyone to control their displays. They will filter out what they don’t want to see, and prioritize what is important—to them.
The user-controlled interface will be the world’s most valuable real estate: These users will decide the future of advertising, companies’ best sellers, and the direction of the economy.
For example, when you control which food ads and content display, you will help transform unhealthy food—and obesity and disease. Then when you control energy ads and content, you’ll help end climate change—and replace fossil fuels with renewables.
Your Expandiverse Digital Boundary choices will be a decisive force that removes the products and services you don’t want, and green lights the kind of world you want to see sold to you, your family and children.
Customer-centered advertising and content services can run Digital Boundaries automatically for millions, making this an easy personal choice that people can spread quickly through social media. The tech includes the ability to save and share Digital Boundaries—so millions of people can easily copy and try them until they find the ones they like.
Companies can bring in their customers to partner and share ad revenues with ad services. Weight management companies like Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig can help transform the food industry, while a renewables company like Tesla-Solar City can transform both energy and automobiles.
Nonprofits can also direct Digital Boundaries for ad services, by attracting millions who share their goals — healthy food (obesity and disease) and renewable energy (climate change), for example. These nonprofits will earn money from helping reshape industries. They will:
- Share in the advertising revenues from controlling the ads and content that are prioritized and kept off their members’ screens,
- Use this funding to increase the size of their larger operations and their activist roles in the economy,
- Turn nonprofits’ ideals into direct connections between millions of consumers and best-in-class vendors by bringing together consumer-members and responsive product managers at participating vendors,
- Help re-focus the economy on nonprofits’ goals that turn what large numbers of people really want into market and industry transformations.
People changed entire industries when they took control of digital music and news. Consider how tens of millions of people could wipe unhealthy food products off their screens. Each of those people will enjoy more power in shaping their personal world’s food choices than the U.S. Congress’ laws and the FDA’s regulations, which implement what the food industry lobbyists require.
If a company CEO has to tell the company’s share holders that tens of millions of consumers refuse to display the company’s products, stockholders have an easy answer: If you won’t sell products consumers want to display and buy, we’ll find a CEO who will.
The result will be Partnership Capitalism: Consumers’ Boundaries will guide customer-centered companies that want to lead their industries. Customer-centered companies will deliver the products, services and world consumers want.
When people throughout the economy choose which ads and content they will display, responsive companies will save a fortune by skipping “shotgun marketing.” They will know you and serve you personally — and deliver the “high quality experiences” you want.
When you choose the Digital Earth you display, your choices will change your quality of life, the economy and the world.
This article was originally published as part of the Growth 2025 Roadmap, as The Next Internet: A Multi-Person, Social and Live Digital Earth
The Digital Earth 2025 website provides access to 5 Roadmaps, 3 Executive Briefings and a corporate Digital Transformation Guide. It also includes videos and foresights into the future of Business, Technology, World, Health, Education, Living, Entertainment and Opinion.
Dan Abelow’s latest invention, the Expandiverse, is new technology for building a people-first Digital Earth. Its first patent has already been cited over 450 times by subsequent patents. His latest project helps build a Global Digital Transformation by posting Roadmaps and foresights at DigitalEarth2025.com, with technology and services at Expandiverse.com. Dan is an independent inventor, author, speaker and technology consultant. His previous patents have been licensed by over 500 corporations that include Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung Electronics and others. He holds degrees from Harvard and the Wharton School.
