What is Web 3.0 and What is its Impact?

Since you’re reading this, there’s a high possibility that you can’t stay without the internet. Not like you’re addicted, but just that it’s become a part of your life. Your professional life has probably moved into the internet too.

Just like evolution, the internet is developing every single day. What was started as a tool for military operations is now helping people build their careers, get knowledge on almost anything, work from home, monitor health and countless other useful things.

To further understand Web 3.0 and its impact in the entire world, we need to go back to Web 1.0.

Web 1.0: The Beginning

The beginning of the internet was Web 1.0. There weren’t many content creators and advertisements were almost nil. Only a select few people had internet connection and most of the ‘internet stuff’ were static web pages. Content creation was not a thing  those days. Majority of the people were content consumers.

To sum it up, Web 1.0 had ‘read only’ content and most of the people were content consumers. You cannot easily share things with other people.

Web 2.0: A Revolution

With the introduction of Web 2.0 in 1999, everything changed. Well, not immediately, but certainly. The world you see now is the creation of Web 2.0. The social media you use, the advertisement you see across the phone, the gmail account you use, everything online is ‘The Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 gained an enormous leap after the introduction of the iPhone back on June 29, 2007. This was a revolution for the entire world. Now, you can also use the internet on your phone which used to be the stuff of legends available only on bulky (not 1900’s) computers. You could interact with the internet.

Slowly and steadily, social media sites like Facebook– to connect people and YouTube– to watch videos emerged. Advertisements moved online. Blogging gained popularity and became a reliable way to earn money. 

At present, things have certainly changed a lot. There are many social media apps now and you can even work from home! How cool is that? A large number of new jobs and new opportunities opened up and people could even earn money by making videos, audios or in general, content!

We are currently at the stage of Web 2.5– ahead from Web 2.0 but at the budding stage of the unveiling of Web 3.0.

However, there are major concerns over this. One being the privacy issue. Companies collect your data and ‘sell’ them to advertisers. You might have heard the quote “privacy is a myth these days” and indeed it is. If you are online, you are being tracked. Companies pay millions of dollars just to understand your usage patterns.

To sum it up, Web 2.0 is about ‘read and write’ content where people could also interact with the content. Sharing things to people became possible and more people participated in content creation.

Rise of Web 2.0 was largely driven by three core layers of innovation: mobile, social and cloud. The next generation of the internet aims to fix the shortcomings of Web 2.0. 

What is Web 3.0?

Tim Berners Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web originally called Web 3.0 as the Semantic web where the  internet will be more autonomous and open. Just in case ‘Open’ doesn’t mean your data is in the open. It means that the entire databases will be connected to each other.

Web 3.0 is said to be a return to the original concept of the web where one doesn’t need the permission of an authority to post something. 

What Makes Web 3.0 Interesting?

Of course you might be wondering “What’s the use of this to me? Can I still use my social media?” The answer to the latter is yes. The answer to the former is interesting and vast!

The most interesting thing about Web 3.0 is the use of AI or artificial intelligence. Yes, the stuff of the Sci-fi legend.  AI will be used to suggest things that are relevant to you. 

There is good stuff for content creators too! Right now, relevant things suggested to you are the products of keyword optimisation and your data. AI will be able to interact with your content and understand what your content is about without even looking at what keywords you opted for. 

Source: Fabric Ventures

Web 3.0: The Era of Decentralisation

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple or Shiba Inu work on blockchain technology. Yes, if we go to the boring technical term, Blockchain is a digital ledger of transactions distributed across the entire network of computer systems. As the name suggests, information is stored in blocks in a specific pattern and it forms a chain of blocks containing information. Hence, it is much harder to hack into blockchain systems since everything is connected and in order to access one piece of information, every piece of information on the chain has to be decoded.

Sounds cool right? Web 3.0 will be based under this technology. Hence, everything online will become decentralised. Data will be handed back to the owner. Companies won’t have a hold over you. 

The Impact of Web 3.0

The main impact would obviously be the improved data management and privacy structures. But, is it only restricted to that? No, not at all. 

The main impact would be the removal of middlemen. Take your bank for example. If you want to transfer money to someone else, you can only transfer money via your registered bank. Here, your bank is the middleman.

Web 3.0 will enable large scale human and machine interactions ranging from payments, trusted data transfers and so much more. The entire business model will change and the same that works today won’t work that day. The third parties could be completely eradicated and only the transaction of any form will include only you and the company. 

Cryptocurrencies are just the beginning. Web 3.0 far exceeds the initial use case of crypto. 

Does Web 3.0 contribute to the environment? Absolutely yes! The machine algorithms will become more energy efficient and AI will take over complex problems and find solutions in the easiest way. 

It’s even said that these machines could even process information like the human brain. Content distribution will become highly targeted and effective. Machines will be able to interact with other machines. 

With the final foundation for Web 3.0, the internet would truly become the part of our life which couldn’t be parted in the future.

Cryptocurrencies, NFTs and blockchain technology could become intertwined in the future. 

Why Web 3.0 Matters

For a long time corporations have dominated the internet. Individuals no longer have access to their personal data. Right now, you basically trade your data for all the free services you’re using right now. 

Another reason why people are excited is because of the introduction of DeFi or Decentralised Finance. Take the previous example of banks. Banks act as middlemen and every time you transfer money to someone else, your bank deducts some money as ‘transaction fee’. It’s a loss of precious time. Blockchain offers the  solution to this problem through “DeFi”.

Web 3.0 would crush such centralised powers and bring in decentralised services. Data would belong to the respective owners and become more secure. This is a reason to be excited. Web 3.0 is also the original manifestation of the vision of the World Wide Web.

Conclusion

Currently we are at the stage of Web 2.0 and people are excited about Web 3.0 which is the next generation of the internet and promises to fulfill the shortcomings of Web 2.0. The Web 3.0 is also a return to the original vision of the World Wide Web where every computer and user is connected to each other.

Web 1.0 was ‘read only’ content and Web 2.0 was ‘read and write’ content. 

Web 3.0 is a leap towards open, trustless and permissionless networks. Web 3.0 is based on three new layers of technological innovation:  edge computing, decentralised data networks and artificial intelligence. The next generation of the internet is pushing the term ‘data centre’ out of the edge. Data won’t be stored at a single hard place and rather would be uploaded to the cloud.

With artificial intelligence, the system will become more energy efficient than today. Through AI, offline appliances like vehicle bulbs or even your juice maker could come online. Your every single thing would become connected to everything else. Villages will become more internet centric and farmers will find crop solutions from the internet.

Management systems will become effective and middlemen would be completely removed from a business. It would completely be a B2C (business-to-consumer) interaction without any involvement of middlemen.

These are all the exciting things about Web 3.0. What is your take on this? Are you okay with no involvement of middlemen? Do you think the blockchain is safe? After reading this are you able to explain what Web 3.0 is to a friend or a family member?