Continuing from where the past decade and a half of technological development has left us, it is apt to begin this blog by talking a little about web 3.0 - the next big development, and one of the most exciting things happening right now. There is a lot of both, hype and criticism going parallel to the progress of web3.0 as the future of the internet and in this article we’re going to try and wrap our heads around the entire scenario.
What was web 1.0 and web 2.0?
Web 1 was the first generation of internet services, with the primary focus being on getting people to use the internet itself. Most activity on web 1.0 involved open protocols that were decentralized and governed by the internet community. The people who benefited most were the builders, creating and hosting various services for people to engage with.
Web 1 was followed by web 2.0, which changed the way people looked at connectivity. Big players like Facebook, Google and Amazon spent billions of dollars worth of effort in making true connectivity possible and economically feasible for everyone. Web 2.0 was when most of the world's population arrived on the internet and got familiar with it, a phenomenon that led to most of the value being accrued by big companies.
And what is web 3.0?
Web 3.0 is the next and third big development in the ecosystem of internet services. In web 3.0, websites and applications will focus on creating a more open and decentralized internet, changing the way people currently interact and experience connectivity. In web 3.0, data is not owned but shared and newer services will come up with different ways of looking at the existing data. Some key elements of web 3.0 will be artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, and blockchain along with its numerous use cases (cryptocurrencies, NFTs etc.)
Some important features that are synonymous with web 3.0 are -
- Semantic web - One of the most important features of web 3.0, semantics will help machines analyze words better. Most of the current dominant search engines follow the method of identifying and interlinking keywords - whereas web 3 will take this ahead by teaching machines ways to understand the meaning of these words, and show better results.
- Artificial intelligence - Training machines to think like humans, by using the above technology of semantics will help provide better and faster processing.
- 3-D presence - AR and VR will lead the visual transformation to web 3.0. Just like we moved from text to more interactive mediums like images and videos in the previous transition from web 1.0 to web 2.0, we will soon see online interactions happening in AR and VR.
- Connectivity - Web 3.0 will be about making the internet further accessible to everyone, and building a stronger and closer global community. Active attempts to have all data accessible on all devices at all times, have been a significant characteristic of the web 3.0 development.
Web 3.0 certainly carries a lot of promise into the future. With Facebook recently changing its name to Meta, announcing its total interest in leading the charge into web 3.0, we will see developments happening at a higher pace than ever before, and it will be extremely interesting to see how it works out.
