I agree with @anon36056958 that separating your data from services/apps is one of the fundamentals, not just making your data semantic.
You need a cross service data standard in order to shift from service specific data formats, and create opportunities for switching from one service to another, and choosing RDF/Semantic Web brings additional benefits (as well as difficulties).
So it would have been possible I would say to do the app separation with something other than RDF (Breaker Browser/DAT are attempting this I think).
Which to use in SAFE Network remains open for example. The end may be to support interoperability rather than either this or that. As we see, there’s a barrier to RDF so there’s incentive to provide an easier route for developers in order to increase adoption.