Web 3.0

Web 3.0 is the next evolution of the Internet.

To understand Web 3.0, we have to go back in time and look at Web 1.0, while also observing what the Internet offers us today as Web 2.0.

Web 1.0 describes the Internet of the 1990s and early 2000s. HTML was the primary language of web design.

Websites looked awful and blocky. Sites were text-heavy but included links to… other text-heavy websites.

Frames and tables were an enhanced feature, but still awful to look at!

Dialup Internet speeds were the only option for most people and the connections, running over POTS (plain old telephone system) lines were sooooo slooooooow.

You were happy just to get connected to AOL to check your email or chat with friends on AIM.

Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer ruled the web browser wars, and there was very little social media.

Geocities was a collection of read-only web pages. Research and reading are what brought most users online at the time.

Web 2.0 saw the explosion of more rich user experiences and the creation of social networks, blogs, wikis, and sharing of media, mainly images at the beginning.

Friendster, one of the original social networks, started in 2002, and revolutionized uploading and creating your own profile page and personal content. Myspace and Orkut came in 2003 and 2004, and Facebook followed shortly, launching to the Harvard University student body.

Social media, search engines, smartphones, and user-generated content (UGC) pushed us into what we’re experiencing now, Web 2.0.

There’s a focus on the user interface experience, whether that be on your desktop, tablet, or smartphone.

Many websites now offer platform experiences, with many applications offered by a single company.

Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Netflix are fighting for more users and pageviews.

Self-publishing and contribution have exploded, with the likes of Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, WordPress, Pinterest, and Tiktok offering rich user experiences and user collaboration and communication.

Web 2.0 is about influencers and brands working to reach larger audiences on mobile and desktop devices, clawing for more advertising dollars and sales profits.

Web 3.0 is in the works as we speak, described as a phase of evolution that includes even more user interaction, information sharing, decentralized connectivity, and blockchain technology at its core.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence will play a larger part in the apps and services that we’re already using. Everything (cars, homes, Internet of Things devices, Christmas lights, dog feeder) will be connected to the Internet, and there will be a huge focus on decentralization, enhanced connectivity, and more user control and personal data ownership.

Centralized authorities, like governments and gigantic, multinational companies will take a backseat to self-governing and self-ownership of various parts of this new Web 3.0 world, and the individual will take a larger role in operating on a blockchain network, while also making decisions about the blockchain’s future evolution

The Internet will be everywhere, connecting everything and everyone, in a decentralized and permissionless way.

Many blockchains and crypto businesses say their blockchain technology will be at the center of the Web 3.0 evolution, but that’s still to be seen.

Crypto play-to-earn (P2E) games like Axie Infinity, Decentraland, and Sandbox may have the leg up on the competition, but many non-gaming blockchains and cryptocurrencies are said to be building out the infrastructure of the Web 3.0 of the future.

Related Terms

Metaverse

The Metaverse should give you the opportunity to do virtually anything you can do in the “real” world, but online…virtually. Some common characteristics of the metaverse that are discussed today include the use of virtual reality (VR) interfaces (goggles, headsets, etc.), augmented personal avatars that represent you in the digital world, and ownership of digital goods.

Dark Web

A collection of several thousand hidden websites that are “online”, where someone can buy drugs, guns, stolen identities, social security numbers, hacked website credentials, and all matters of other illegal items using cryptocurrencies like bitcoin (BTC). Silk Road is the most famous Dark Web online marketplace that gained notoriety after being shut down by the FBI in 2013.

Blockchain

Blockchain networks are at the heart of cryptocurrencies. A blockchain is a database, or digital ledger, made up of a series of interconnected blocks containing transaction data created on the network over some period of time. Each block in a blockchain also contains a unique identifier unlike any other block in the chain called a hash. Think of the hash as a fingerprint identifying that block for all other blocks. Distributed ledger technology (DLT) is another name frequently used in relation to blockchains.

Pseudonymity

In blockchain security, the pseudonymous nature of certain blockchains keeps a network user’s identity hidden from other network users while still linking all of the transactions made by that person to a pseudonymous identity that CAN be tracked by almost anyone.

Polkadot (DOT)

Polkadot (DOT) is an open-source blockchain protocol for cryptocurrencies, dubbed the “blockchain of blockchains”, that allows different, incompatible networks to communicate with each other and share data, using a multichain design.