Web3 is likely popping up more and more in your feed, and if you are anything like me a couple of years back, you may not know what it means.
If you are not tech savvy, it’s probably best to start at what the f*ck is web 1.0 and web 2.0.
Web 1.0 is the first stage of the World Wide Web evolution. In its simplest term, this stage was ‘read-only web’. Most participants were content consumers, and the creators were typically developers who built websites containing information.
Web 2.0 is what everyone is familiar with (bar maybe a few boomers) as it’s how you are reading and interacting with this post. Think Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, WordPress, Wikipedia, Linkedin, etc.
Web 2.0 is characterized by greater user interactivity and collaboration, more prevalent network connectivity, and improved communication channels. Think of it as the interactive and social web.
This is where it can be slightly more confusing. When I first started looking into this, I assumed Web 3.0 and Web3 were the same thing as even in Gavin Wood’s older blogs, he uses web 3.0 as the term for Web3, but there are some fundamental differences.
Web 3.0, or ‘the semantic web’, focuses on efficiency and intelligence by reusing and linking data across websites.
Web3, or ‘the decentralized web’, focuses on empowerment and security by giving power over data and identity back to the people.
Web 3.0 and Web3 use different technology to offer a better alternative to the current web, which they consider broken. Web3 is built on the blockchain, and Web 3.0 uses data interchange technologies. As a result, data in Web3 is difficult to change, while data in Web 3.0 is easy to change.
So, to answer the question, Web3 is a decentralized form of the internet built using blockchain technology that gives the user strong and verifiable guarantees about the information they are receiving, what information they are giving away, what they are paying, and what they are receiving in return
Personally, I’m for Web3 as it has the potential to unlock a more valuable internet for everyone.
