THE PHYSICAL WEB: THE NEXT BIG THING FOR MOBILE & BEACONS

Heard of the Physical Web? It’s not just another crazy marketing buzz term like actionable, social shareability and brand virality. The Physical Web is a tech vision for a future reality. So possibly more like Robocop, really.

There is the idea that relevant websites and pages can be delivered to your phone based on your physical location. iBeacon solutions, such as Live Beacon, have been connecting web pages with physical objects for a while now. It’s already in use to an extent and as more and more companies start to get involved, it will soon be working its way to reach its potential.

What potential, you ask? Can’t people already access any website from anywhere?

Well sure. However only if they know what they’re looking for. And they still have to type in URLs or search Google to get there. That’s pretty hard work, you know!

The point of the Physical Web is to give a digital use to physical objects and spaces. And that’s really freakin’ cool when you think about it. Just like Robocop.

By using beacons, you can broadcast specific web content to people’s phones when they’re near your physical space.

Here’s some of our favourite ideas for iBeacon technology.

The practical
We all know that parking machines are super annoying for charging 5p more than you have in your pocket and forcing you to attempt the hell of paying over the phone.

With the Physical Web, the car park operator can just deliver a payment website to your phone as you drive into the car park. You can pay with a few taps, before you even get out of your car.

The interesting
They say attention spans are dwindling. But for stuff people are actually interested in, we’re always wanting more (notice how that last Harry Potter book was about 12 million pages longer than the first?).

When we visit museums and galleries and theatres and historical buildings and what not, chances are we want to come away knowing as much about the place/exhibits as we can fit into our heads.

Using the Physical Web, and this is happening already, these places can deliver content to us that satisfies that thirst for more knowledge. They probably don’t have the physical space to list every interesting thing about everything but digital space is limitless.

The awwww
One of the suggestions Google makes is to use the Physical Web with dog collars. Now let’s face it, anything to do with dogs is amazing. Fact.

But this really is a great idea. You can update the digital content whenever you like so instead of having to engrave a new tag for your dog’s collar if you change your phone number or address, you simply update a web page.

And if you lose your dog, you can update the content (“I’m lost! Please help me get home”) and everyone who comes even close to your poor pup will see it via the physical web platform. Should make finding your dog again much easier.

There are endless opportunites to take advantage of the Physical Web with iBeacon technology.