Control of your brand identity is such a crucial concept in today’s marketing climate. This is arguably the key reason that to businesses, social media has become the new star whose gravity is inescapable to all but the most stalwart luddites. It is also why any company should either be very concerned or very excited about Layers. The concept is vertical web design open to anyone and everyone. You, your kid, my mom, can visit a website through their Layers.com account and post their own content on it. Videos, commentary, unicorns or giant burning pentagrams can grace the website of the mechanic who ripped you off or the university that didn’t accept you.

It’s an opportunity for commentary, very interesting commentary that can support, dispute, refute, or clarify content- whether you’re crazy for cocopuffs and want to let the world know it or are really perplexed about the Vancouver Canucks inability to find a high powered and speedy goal scoring winger. You can now freely express your opinion all over their site, and share it with all your friends and family etc. But it’s more than just fun and games and the venting of your frustrations regarding the frivolties of 21st century life.

I predict Layers will be used extensively in “Web-protesting”. I’m coining it now. Web protesting will offer NGOs, civil rights groups, unions, and disgruntled members of the public, a medium to qualify or discredit information on corporate sites and government sites in particular. Like a brand new kind of “digital graffiti”. (oops, coining that too thank you) It’s a no-brainer, because it’s exactly what I would do- and I have no brain. (I’m cloud based)

Web doppelgangers have been created before (Check out The Yes Men) in which websites nearly identical to those of politicians or corporations where created but with subtle changes that revealed a contradictory version of that company or politician’s actions and ideas. Layers now means that the construct, source code, back end, is all taken care of- the rest is arts and crafts. Scissors and glue. Sparkles and macaroni.

Companies, governments, and communications specialists will either likely be forced to ignore this and hope it goes away-which has been a popular strategy throughout history- or fight fire with fire and embrace layers. This really ramps up the information battle, and the battle to control brands and perceptions. Just another new social media tool for us to play with, but this one I like for its punkish edge. How long until the developers of Layers end up in court? Let’s start the clock ticking now.

I also predict that the most hilarious jokes in the history of web programming will also be brought to us thanks to Layers, possibly obliterating office productivity for several months.

Related posts:

1. 2010 Social Media will be all about augmented reality, bloody revolutions and corporate profiteering- weeeeee
2. US military considers banning all social media for troops : Army VS Web 2.0
3. Why Social Media is the New Search

Tags: Cloud, Layers, Social Media, The Yes Men, Vancouver Canucks

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