Major difference between Web 2 and Web 3
It’s no new news that the evolution of the world wide web is in its 3rd phase which is also known as web 3. Web 1.0 dates back to 1989 when web pages were only static -meant for viewing information shared between scientists. In the 2000’s, the need arose for interactivity within web pages. The web became dynamic, people could interact with sites to communicate with one another, retrieve information and many more. This brings us to the latest phase of the web, “the semantic web” as described by Tim Berners-Lee. It’s an open version of the web that is also trustless and permissionless, it eradicates the need of giving up data and information to centralized companies.
While there are many differences between web 2 and 3, the most important one is power -Centralization and decentralization. We experienced centralization in web 2 which involved our data being recycled and managed by bigger authorities -big companies like Google, Facebook etc. In web 2, users faced some limitations like censoring of activities by the authorized companies or delay due to down server. These are problems web 3 is here to solve. Centralization of the web however has it own benefits far beyond its limitations.
Decentralization is here to give power to individuals, no more censored posts or delays -its servers will never be down. There are no gatekeepers or authorities controlling do’s and don’t’s in web 3, power is given to those who seek it. The transitioning into the phase has sparked interests in a lot of people due to its exiting promises and you shouldn’t miss out on the fun.
It is worthy to note that decentralization can be costly and coordination can be difficult but it’s still forming and getting figured out. Despite being the major difference between web 2 and web 3, something that’s always baffled me in relation to blockchain in web 3.0 -is the semantic web really decentralized?