Walk around in a visual representation of the web
Written on 11th December 2007
6 COMMENTS 
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
According to the makers of Yoowalk, ‘surfing alone is so sad’. They’ve just pitched their project during the Start-up competition of Le Web 3. In exactly seven minutes they had to impress the jury with a talk about their target audience, revenue plan, market etcetera.
Yoowalk converts the World Wide Web into 3D flash-based villages (I’m sure McLuhan likes the idea). It’s a combination of the WWW, virtual worlds and social networks.
Users can walk through streets and visit houses and rooms. For example, there’s a YouTube house with a room showing the most viewed videos of last week as paintings on the wall. Also, RSS feeds of news sites are shown in frames. (I wish they made up a more creative visual metaphor for that.)
You can in addition create your own room, representing your blog or site. Make it as comfortable as you want, and don’t forget to pick your favorite music.
Main advantage is the possibility to create a 3D avatar and surf with others. I assume that it can be quite interesting to see your visitors walking around ‘in’ your blog. If you’re really impressed by the number of people walking around in your room, you can make a screenshot and embed it in your blog. A really smart move by the creators of Yoowalk, since it will probably generate a fairly good buzz.
During the presentation, Yoowalk seemed pretty simple to use, making it relevant for a large group of people. Unfortunately, there aren’t much screen shots available yet. However, I did subscribe for the private beta, which will launch early 2008. So more about this cool start-up soon.
The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show off, the future of the Web. (More info 
By Jasper on Dec 11, 2007
Wow! Looks like it is 1998 all over again.
Are they distributing this on CD-Rom? :)
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By Ernst-Jan Pfauth on Dec 11, 2007
:)
lay-out isn’t very slick (yet), but I have the feeling that that is also part of me the making it accessible part.
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By Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten on Dec 11, 2007
You should probably see it moving to appreciate it. Second Life screenshots also look extremely dull. The power is in the 3D movement and live experience….
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By Jasper on Dec 11, 2007
Well, that was an easy joke and I’m sure you’re right on the user experience, Boris.
But I was also referring to the fact that back in the ancient history of Internet, e-commerce had to look like a real shopping mall.A couple of years/months later we all agreed that wasn’t the way to go.
And now they’re translating an online structure into (virtual) brick and mortar. Seems like history is repeating. But that’s not an Internet thing…
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By Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten on Dec 11, 2007
Hi Jasper, you do have a point. I never got into the whole Second Life thing but some people seem to really like it. I wonder how this service will work…
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By Stef on Jan 29, 2009
Hi
Jasper got one point right. Nevertheless, I would say that, as part of Yoowalk’s team, we considered the attraction of internet users for social places in 3D. See Habbo Hotel for instance. Ok, this might attract only teens, ie the next generation. But they are the future. And they will not refer to the internet in 1998, since they do not know it. They will consider Yoowalk as it is, ie as a social and virtual world, which they already prooved, attracts them.
We also believe that adult people will be considering positively the way to stroll down on the web, instead of typing key words in search engines. This new way of browsing the web, offered by Yoowalk, might attract people that want to spend time on the internet without knowing exactly what to look for. Exactly the same way people spend time on Youtube because they have nothing in particular to do. Yoowalkers might want only to fool around, hang about in different places of Yoowalk. Thus the web gets a physical and geographical representation, to which internet users can refer.
I’d also recommand you to go to Yoowalk.com: the GUI has evolved, we hope, positively to you.
See you in Yoowalk ;-)
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