It is increasingly apparent to me that we curently have two distinct business models on the web. Online applications including search, e-commerce, productivity and information management are replacing the antiquidated desktop proprietary software model. The challenges with this model are monetization and scale.
The other model is content delivery or media property development. Here we create sites that either deliver news or vertical-interest information including social components. Monetization is naturalized due to the relevancy algorithms used by ad networks and search advertising. The challenge is the creation of highly relevant and profitable content combined with developing traffic.
Semantic search is going to combine these two models in ways that will make them indistinguishable to the user. A query involving a potential shopping decision already combines search, reviews, specifications, pricing and transaction-capability, vis a vis Amazon. Hundreds or even thousands of web resources are utilized in these semantic searches and combined to create an idealized response, one that completes the search in one destination. Understanding and building these semantic destinations will be the new Internet business model.