Each of the above concepts is most concerned with the creation of a platform for effectively storing content. In some cases there are provisions for the creation of shareable URIs. What is left less defined, in the above and in the IBOC model, is how other services are to use the URIs. We have real-world experience showing that systems like PubSubHubbub can effectively distribute notifications of content changes, and there is nothing in the protocol which requires full content be used.

This means, therefore, that the next big step is enabling and encouraging more effective use of content by reference: by URI.

It is perhaps ironic that both Twitter and Facebook have made some inroads into using content by reference. Both are used as systems for annotating URIs and both, where possible, use oEmbed to display the content "behind" those URIs by reference.

The technical roadblocks to a presentation service, which just a few years ago would have seemed quite large, now seem quite small. The advent of technologies such as oEmbed, OAuth, UUIDs, WebFinger, PubSubHubbub, CORS and Activity Streams bring the development of full presentation services and applications, using content from multiple banks, within reach.

That leaves the social and economic roadblocks. As the Federated Social Web charter states, "In order for there to be massive uptake, the federated social web should offer a compelling experience for users." For Internet Banks of Content and similar services, this means creating a compelling experience at the level of the presentation service. The services must be convinced of the value of using content by reference. Users of the web have been enjoying the benefits of content by reference for years: it's time to invert the web and for services to start doing the same.