A new term web3 is a new buzzword that tech, crypto, and venture capital all talking about. Let me first clarify that doesn’t go into FOMO about this new terminology web3 or web 3.0. Web3 is a new age internet technology which is not coming in at least 4-5 years. The recent buzz is a result of big tech giant CEOs Elon Musk(Tesla) & Jack Dorosy(former Twitter) are tweeting something that is related to web3.
Yes, Bitcoin will
— jack⚡️ (@jack) December 21, 2021
Has anyone seen web3? I can’t find it.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2021
Web3 is an umbrella term for all decentralized web and applications on the Internet. So this technology points out in the direction of eliminating the big middlemen on the internet. In this new era, navigating the web no longer means logging onto the likes of Facebook, Google, or Twitter. This third-generation actually allows you to interact and communicate in your own way without being controlled by any central body. To understand this technology we have to first understand the evolution of the Internet.
The evolution of the Web
The internet, as we know it, has evolved over the decades through various technologies and formats. Tim Berners-Lee in Switzerland started the first webpage back in the 90s and since then Internet has evolved and spread its claws in different dimensions. So this evolution has been divided into 3 stages.
Web 1.0 – The Static Web
Web 1.0 introduced information and data in a static manner, being described by low user interaction. For instance: leaving comments, manipulating or creating content of a website. This technology is still widely used today to display static contents such as manuals, terms & conditions pages.
Web 1.0 had very few content creators and mostly the developers created content on the web. Since the creators were very few this model was basically information for many, Likewise, the broadcasting model is widely used in the media industry by TV, radio, newspapers, and magazines.
Web 2.0
Web2 refers to the version of the internet most of us know today. It is the second stage of the evolution of the web, also called the read-write web which came into existence almost a decade after web1. This era of the internet is basically driven by user Interaction such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc. These companies allowed users to create their own profiles, share files and interact with each other on a larger scale. Wikipedia serves as one of the best examples which enabled the net community to develop the most comprehensive encyclopedia ever created.
In this era of web 2.0 tech developers have taken back seats and more users created content has taken over the Internet. Anyone can create an article through WordPress, create video and share on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, anyone can share their opinions and get other users’ points of view from all over the world.
Thus, Web 2.0 brought a fundamental shift where people are allowed to share their perspectives, opinions, thoughts, and experiences via a number of online tools and platforms. Web 2.0 is built around the users, producers just need to build a way to enable and engage them.
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Web 3.0
Web 3.0 is the next generation of web, also termed as the executable web or read- write-execute web. It has also been referred to by another term as Semantic Web to describe a web in which machines with the help of AI & machine learning would process content in a humanlike way.
Currently, all data are owned by big tech giants like Google, Facebook, etc which can influence your behavior according to their preference. Now in this new concept, everything is supposed to be decentralized which will work on blockchain technology(a term popularized by crypto). Which helps to intelligently generate and distribute useful content tailored to a particular need of a user.
- What if the internet can understand the meaning behind our search terms
- What if they can learn “what we are interested in”
- What if they can recommend the content which we really think to pursue
- It can recognize People, Places, Events, Companies, Products, Movies, etc.,
- It can understand the relationship between things, read our needs, understand the behavior
We have slowly advanced into web 3.0 ad some of the real-life examples are Apple’s Siri, Google’s Cloud API, Wolfram Alpha, Google assistant, Alexa.
Web3 benefits
A web dominated by organizations that offer types of assistance in return for your own data. Web3, with regards to Ethereum, refers to decentralized applications that can run on blockchain technology. These are applications that permit anybody to use their own information.
Many Web3 developers have chosen to build dapps because of Ethereum’s inherent decentralization:
- No permission is required: Anyone who is on the network has permission to use the service
- No one can block you or deny you access to any specific service.
- Decentralized payments are built-in via the native token, ether (ETH).
- Ethereum is Turing-complete, meaning you can pretty much program anything.
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Practical comparisons
| Web2 | Web3 |
|---|---|
| Twitter can censor any account or tweet under influence of govt or any central body | Web3 tweets would be uncensorable because control is decentralized so everything will remain unmodified |
| Many payment services don’t allow payment without collecting some specific data | Web3 payment apps require no personal data and can’t prevent payments in any case |
| All the services run on a centralized server which may go down anytime and this can affect all users around the globe | Web3 servers can’t go down – they use Ethereum, a decentralized network of 1000s of computers as their backend, So basically all computers can’t go down at the same time because they are placed at |
These all are illustrative examples to show that how web3 will be different from web2. This doesn’t mean that all apps will be converted to dapps.
Web3 Limitations
Web3 has currently has some kind of limitations right now
- The payment system in web3 is slow compared to web2 this is because it is being verified by miners So, it has to go through multiple computer verification which makes the process slow.
- Interacting with web3 applications can require extra steps, software, and education. This can be a hurdle to adoption.
- The current integration of Web3 with modern web browsers is limited and this makes it difficult for end-users to interact with web3 apps.
- most successful dapps put very small portions of their code on the blockchain as it’s expensive.
- Since everything is decentralized so putting and distributing opinions and misleading the people would be very easy.
Well, this is all speculation and things might go in this direction. But there is nothing that is completely decentralized or completely centralized.
Final Words
Well, that’s all for this article. The internet has radically altered the world we live in today and the ability to be more productive and stay in touch with others through various means is just the tip of the iceberg. Let’s see what more Web 3.0 has more to offer for us in the coming future. But remember one thing,
You affect the world by what you browse.
so, the internet which you want to leave for future generation is solely your responsibility. Do let me know if this was insightful or even slightly helpful, any feedback is welcome. Want to connect with me, find me here:
