There are some very powerful benefits that accrue from the use of HTTP based Hypermedia. 7 that come to mind immediately include:

  1. Structured & Platform Independent Enterprise Data Virtualization -- concrete conceptual level access and provisioning of abstract domain entities such as Customers, Orders, Employees, Products, Countries, Competitors etc.
  2. Distributed Application State (REST) -- application state transitions via links
  3. Structured Data Representation (Linked Data) -- whole data data representation via links
  4. Structured Identity (WebID) -- verifiable distributed identity
  5. Structured Profiles (FOAF) -- platform independent profiles for people and organizations
  6. Articulation of Structured Value Propositions (GoodRelations) -- Product & Service Offers, Business Entities, Locations, Business Hours, etc.
  7. Structured Collaboration Spaces (SIOC) -- Blogs, Wikis, File Sharing, Discussion Forums, Aggregated Feeds, Statuses, Photo Galleries, Polls etc.