The complete socialisation of the web may have just taken a giant step forward. While Firefox, Google & Internet Explorer have been tweaking and releasing new models of their Internet browsers over the last couple of months, a small Australian company has trumped them all in the innovation stakes. The company is called Exit Reality. And they may well have taken the first steps towards creating a true social browsing experience.
Of course, social browsing itself isn’t a new concept. Flock and Browzmi are two primary examples of social browsers. Both allow you to surf the web with friends and keep tabs of their activity across multiple social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and StumbleUpon. But these browsers essentially preach to the converted. They don’t bring new people into the social realm of the web. Social interaction is limited to your personal network. Exit Reality changes this.
A new type of social browsing
Exit Reality makes it possible to connect with friends and strangers alike while surfing the web. As you browse different web pages, an integrated chat feature updates to list everyone currently viewing the page in the Exit Reality browser. Which means with Exit Reality, every single web site is a real time social networking platform. Social interaction is no longer confined to the walled gardens of individual networks such as Facebook. Conversations can happen anywhere with anyone. The opportunities and applications for web surfers are endless:
- Ask fellow surfers for help in finding a specific page
- Ask fellow surfers for product reviews
- Ask fellow surfers for other companies that offer similar products
- Meet people with similar interests online as you surf
- Watch videos on the web with friends
- View photo galleries with your friends
However, it’s the applications for web site owners that really interested me. I immediately imagined the potential for true audience interaction via my blog. I tend to monitor my blog at least several times a day. What if every time I visited the blog I was able to connect with my readers in real time and open a direct line of conversation with them? What if I anticipated a surge of social media traffic and made the time to introduce myself to each of the hundreds of new readers visiting my blog? I’d be willing to bet I’d be able to send that infamous social media conversion rate climbing.
The potential for businesses is even more lucrative. Customers would no longer be left to fend for themselves on a corporate web site. Indeed, staff could become virtual sales people, tasked to roam the site and help customers. Problems with web design and information architecture be minimised, with staff able to guide customers through the web site. Indeed, the level of customer service delivered on the web site could begin to replicate an in-store experience.
Now that’s cool!
The downside of Exit Reality
Despite the clear potential of Exit Reality’s social browsing, I doubt it’ll catch on any time soon (at least in its current format). The product has a significant downside, which also happens to be its most publicised feature. And that… is 3D browsing. Once downloaded, Exit Reality transforms the World Wide Web into a virtual world. You are able to select a personal avatar and walk’ through your favourite web sites. Here’s what Google looks like in 3D browsing mode.
Each web site is transformed into a virtual room. The site you are visiting can be seen on a 2D screen, and the links are visible as ‘street signs’. You can run around the room… but there’s little else you can do. In fact, I couldn’t even run a search. The only way I could access the search engine was to click on the 2D Google screen, which transported me to standard a 2D search. Hmmm… why exactly would I want to view the web in 3D if the core functionality is redundant…? The story gets worse when I go from an uncluttered site such as Google to a busy site such as Sphinn.
Eeek!!! There’s about 1000 links/street signs confronting me on Sphinn’s home page! The usability experts would be having a coronary. How the hell am I meant to find my way around this room…?!?! And again, the functionality of the site has been stripped. I can’t actually do anything. I get an error when I try to vote for an article. And whenever I click on a link I’m taken to a 2D version of the site. So what exactly is the point of the 3D browsing…? Whenever I try to do something I’m taken back to 2D.
Am I missing something here…?
So what’s the verdict for Exit Reality?
Unfortunately, Exit Reality has taken one really good idea (social browsing) and married it with one really bad idea (3D browsing minus the functionality). The social browsing component is only active when browsing in 3D mode. Subsequently, the positives of Exit Reality’s social browsing experience are redundered redundant because… well… browsing the web in 3D is utterly ridiculous (not to mention pointless). People have intent when browsing the web. Exit Reality’s browser actually makes it harder to fulfil that intent.
However… all is not lost. I’m sure the major browsers are watching with keen interest. And if we’re lucky, the Firefox crew may just integrate a similar chat feature that will truly create a social browsing experience.
