Constantly evolving, our web is changing and becoming more and more connected and permissive. Today I have decided to explain in a few lines what Web 3.0 is. What significant changes will it bring to our society and our lives?
Before getting into the heart of the matter, let’s go back to the history of the web as we know it today.
Web 1.0: hyperlinks and web pages (1991-1999)
This is the first version of the so-called public web, called the traditional web is mostly a static web. Its main purpose is the distribution of information. It is used mainly by institutions and other large groups and is characterized by business pages, product presentations, or professional concepts.
Information is dispersed unilaterally, enabling data to be received but not transmitted from behind. The example of newspaper articles is eloquent, you can read the article produced by your favorite newspaper, but you cannot or can hardly create your own means of information distribution.
Web 2.0: The Social Web (2000-2010)
Also called the participatory web, the internet becomes a source of information exchange between users.
This is the form of the web we are most familiar with today, and it is Web 2.0 that enabled the advent of social networks, Facebook, Myspace, Instagram or various services: accounting, photographers’ blog or essay writers service, etc. The list is long. It is the participatory web, the one that allows us to share photos, videos, gifs, forums, wikis, and use our smartphones anywhere there are enough networks.
It is the democratized web, socially accepted by the masses as a source of quality content and, above all, ultra-diversified.
Web 2.0 is an evolution of web 1.0 toward interactivity. The internal complexity of the technology allows a greater simplicity of use, and technical and computer knowledge is no longer essential for users who want to share content on the web.
Web 3.0: Intelligent and Decentralized (2011-Present)
It is a web that increasingly connects the virtual and the real, and it is the “web of data” that examines the data of its users to offer an increasingly personalized service, an experience according to the expectations of each user.
Algorithms are the kings of the web; they constantly analyze all the data. With the help of AI, our internet knows before we do what we would like, what our desires are, and what will be our future needs. An easy-to-understand example is the thumbnails of Netflix videos: Depending on your visual content consumption habits, Netflix algorithms will propose you a different thumbnail for the same program, so if you usually click on “horror” content, you have a good chance of seeing many bloody and macabre thumbnails, even if the series in question is not necessarily so, the algorithms will choose among the available thumbnails the one that most resembles your habits to encourage you to click it!
Another particularity of Web 3.0 is its decentralization so that today thanks to blockchain technology, communication are possible all over the world by not going through any point of centralization of data and thus ensuring maximum security of the information transmitted, whether financial or in the form of data, the various blockchain networks secure this data as never before since the blockchain is a public network that can not be attacked at a central point, are all users of the network (without going into details) who secure it.
Web 3.0 aims to dismantle censorship, direct users to what suits them best according to algorithms, give Internet users back the power over their data, combat the power of large centralized platforms, or at least propose an alternative.
But this is not its only weapon. Web 3.0 has an underlying power. The power is put back in the hands of individuals through decentralized voting so that a project can be managed through a DAO, and users become masters at all points without even knowing or rubbing shoulders. Decisions are voted by those who will change in a perfect democracy applied to the web, and the watchword is transparency!
Web 4.0 A logical continuation of WEB 3.0, or just a murmur? (future)
We could raise the question of the continuation of the web, and we could already see this continuation as an ambient Web. An Internet capable of comprehending and responding to the wants and wishes of each of its users, becoming “a pervasive intelligence that employs AI to link gadgets and services.”
The Internet is so intimately linked to our lives that it becomes invisible and indispensable simultaneously, like running water or electricity.
The web becomes the user’s extension, and applications are created that can interpret information at more complex emotional and logical levels. AI allows computers to communicate like a human, even think, reason, and respond in an (almost) human way.
And finally, in the Metaverse, which represents the most likely evolution of the Internet in the coming years, the boundary between the real and the virtual is increasingly blurred. Users can almost live on the web, buy their food, socialize, and work.