TL;DR Disclaimer!
Explain like I’m 5
Nowadays we can see the word “Web 3.0” a lot. For the most people its just another buzz word marketers came up with. But it is more than that, believe me. And we are about to find out what it is — if you will continue to read, of course
The advent of Web 3.0 was predicted long ago, but only now the Internet is changing so much that we can already talk about its implementation. Of course, the Internet 3.0 itself is being formed right before our eyes, its concept is changing, and for now we can only guess what it will become in the end. But what is it in general and how does it actually differ from the Internet we are used to?
What is Web 3.0?
In order to answer this question, we first need to understand the concepts of Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.
Web 1.0, Web 2.0…
Web 1.0 is commonly referred to as the “Read Only” Internet. We just go to the website, just read and look at the pictures, that is, we get acquainted with some information. As the development progressed, video, music, as well as their download became available to us. But most importantly — no authorization, logins and passwords, editing information and interaction. All information was created by site owners and stored on their servers. Therefore, users could only get what, for some reason, the site owners decided to publish. As a result, the Internet was a huge number of websites with various content and resembled a large library — a place where you can only get acquainted with the material that is already there.
The emergence of the term Web 2.0 is associated with an article by Tim O’Reilly, where he described some of the principles and features of the development of the Internet at that time. A feature of Web 2.0 is the principle of attracting users to the content and multiple reconciliation of the material. Social networks appeared, we began to use Facebook, YouTube, write posts, share photos and send search queries to Yahoo!, Google and so on. Authorization appeared, it became necessary for us to enter personal data, link bank cards, and the owners of Internet resources began to monitor our behavior on the Internet in order to provide us with the content that is most interesting to us. And then this data began to be sold to advertising companies like Google Ads, and the era of targeted advertising began.
Let’s move on to the shortcomings of Web 2.0, which led to the possibility of Web 3.0. The principle of the Internet has not changed since its inception — the user sends a request to the server, and the server issues a response. Servers belong to specific people and companies. Any content that you post can be blocked and removed for 1000 reasons. In addition, your personal data, including bank card data, is stored on the same servers and can be stolen or sold.
And since every problem requires a solution, then …
Web 3.0
Web 3.0 is at too early a stage to give it a clear definition and designate the mechanisms of interaction. However, there are already clear principles by which it will develop.
Decentralization — Web 3.0 will live on a distributed database, not on servers owned by any particular company or person. At the moment, this is already being implemented through blockchain technologies and various mechanisms like DAO (more on them below).
Applications familiar to us (Apps) are being transformed into decentralized applications (Dapps), which are not controlled by any central office. Simply put, conditional Instagram will no longer be able, for some reason of its own, to restrict access to your page or simply delete all your data. Since in Dapps your data will be located on a large number of information nodes (nodes) and the blockchain, and deleting information from a particular node will cause a conflict and will be rejected by the system.
DAO. But what about spam, scams and obscene content? The concept of Web 3.0 assumes that all companies, services and applications will be a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization). They do not have a boss who alone decides anything, but there are users who have the right to vote. And it is the users who, through DAO voting, will determine the policy of the company, service or resource.
The identity of the user. You will have to create your digital ID and the system will know that there is a real person behind this ID. But further, when interacting with various Dapps, it is not possible to track the real person. Another feature — your ID will become cross-platform, that is, you do not have to register on every site or service. We should also not forget about tokenization — in Web 3.0 you will always have your crypto wallet with you. And all the accumulated things, for example, in games, are tokens, so you can sell them on marketplaces or give them to your friends at any time
Speaking of Web 3.0, one cannot fail to mention the Metaverses. In general, this topic is quite voluminous and requires a separate article. In short, this is a kind of upgrade of social networks. A permanent virtual space where users interact with each other. Your digital ID, linked crypto wallet and all this on a decentralized database managed by DAO. Sounds weird, funny and promising
When?
The transition from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0 is a long one. Concepts are created on the fly and some things are accepted, some things are brushed aside and the final look of the Internet version 3.0 is very vague. However, the process is running and the transition is seen as inevitable. One thing is for sure, we live in interesting times. So stock up on popcorn and live long — you definitely won’t be bored!
