Web 3.0 Explained, Plus the History of Web 1.0 and 2.0

What Is Web 3.0?

Web 3.0 or Web3 is the third generation of the World Wide Web (WWW), which involves direct immersion into the digital world. Web 3.0 encompasses individual control of personal data and the use of cryptocurrencies and blockchain. Currently a work in progress, it is a vision of a decentralized and open web with greater utility for its users.

Web 2.0 is the second and current generation, succeeding Web 1.0 of the 1990s and early 2000s. Web 2.0 is the version of the Internet (a term often used interchangeably with the web) with which all of us are familiar.

Web refers to the World Wide Web, the Internet’s core information retrieval system. The WWW initials used to (and often still do) preface a web address and were among the first characters typed into a web browser when searching for a specific resource online.

Internet pioneer Tim Berners-Lee is credited with coining the term World Wide Web to refer to the global web of information and resources interconnected through hypertext links.

Versions of the Web

Web 1.0

Berners-Lee pioneered the early development of the Internet in 1990 when he was a computer scientist at European researcher CERN.

By October 1990, he had written the three fundamental technologies that became the foundation of the web, including the very first webpage editor/browser (WorldWideWeb.app):

• HTML: HyperText Markup Language, the markup or formatting language of the web
• URI or URL: Uniform Resource Identifier or Locator, a unique address used to identify each resource on the web
• HTTP: HyperText Transfer Protocol, which allows for the retrieval of linked resources from across the web

By the mid-1990s, the introduction of web browsers such as Netscape Navigator ushered in the era of Web 1.0. This was the age of static webpages retrieved from servers—a far cry from the slick content that is taken for granted today.

Most Internet users at that time were delighted by the novelty of features such as email and real-time news retrieval. Content creation was still in its infancy, and users had little opportunity for interactive applications. This engagement improved as online banking and trading became increasingly popular.

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 refers to a paradigm shift in how the Internet is used. During the first two decades of the 21st century, the bland webpages of Web 1.0 were replaced by Web 2.0’s interactivity, social connectivity, and user-generated content. Web 2.0 makes it possible for user-generated content to be viewed by millions of people around the world, virtually in an instant. This unparalleled reach has led to an explosion of this type of content.

The exponential growth of Web 2.0 has been driven by key innovations such as mobile Internet access and social networks, as well as the near-ubiquity of powerful mobile devices like iPhones and Android-powered devices.

In the second decade of this millennium, these developments enabled the dominance of apps that greatly expanded online interactivity and utility—Airbnb, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter (now X), Uber, WhatsApp, and YouTube, to name a few.

The phenomenal revenue growth of these dominant platforms has made many of the Web 2.0-centric companies, such as Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta (formerly Facebook), and Netflix, among the world’s biggest companies by market capitalization (there is even an acronym for them: FAANG).

These applications have also spurred the growth of the gig economy by enabling millions of people to earn income on a part-time or full-time basis by driving, renting their homes, delivering food and groceries, or selling goods and services online.

Web 2.0 has also been tremendously disruptive to certain sectors and industries to the point of being an existential threat. They either have failed to adapt to the new web-centric business model or have been slow to do so. Retail, entertainment, media, and advertising have been among the hardest hit.

Web 3.0

Web 3.0 represents the next phase of the evolution of the web/Internet and potentially could be as disruptive and as big a paradigm shift as Web 2.0 was. Web 3.0 is built upon the core concepts of decentralization, openness, and greater user utility.

Berners-Lee expounded upon some of these key concepts back in the 1990s, as outlined below:

• Decentralization: “No permission is needed from a central authority to post anything on the web, there is no central controlling node, and so no single point of failure...and no ‘kill switch’! This also implies freedom from indiscriminate censorship and surveillance.”
• Bottom-up design: “Instead of code being written and controlled by a small group of experts, it was developed in full view of everyone, encouraging maximum participation and experimentation.”
  

In a 2001 paper, Berners-Lee discussed the concept of what he referred to as the Semantic Web. Computers had no reliable way to process the semantics of language (i.e., figure out the actual context in which a word or phrase is used).

Berners-Lee’s vision for the Semantic Web was to bring structure to the meaningful content of webpages and enable software that would carry out sophisticated tasks for users.

Web 3.0 has moved well beyond the original concept of the Semantic Web as conceptualized by Berners-Lee in 2001. This is partly because it is very expensive and monumentally difficult to convert human language, with all its subtle nuances and variations, into a format that can be readily understood by computers, and because Web 2.0 has already evolved substantially over the past two decades.

Defining Features of Web 3.0

Though there is as yet no standard definition of Web 3.0, it does have a few defining features.

Decentralization

This is a core tenet of Web 3.0. In Web 2.0, computers use HTTP in the form of unique web addresses to find information, which is stored at a fixed location, generally on a single server. Web 3.0 information will be found based on its content, and thus can be stored in multiple locations simultaneously.

It becomes decentralized. This would break down the massive databases currently held by Internet giants like Meta and Google and would hand greater control to users.

With Web 3.0, the data generated by disparate and increasingly powerful computing resources, including mobile phones, desktops, appliances, vehicles, and sensors, will be sold by users through decentralized data networks, ensuring that users retain ownership control.

Trustless and Permissionless

As it is based upon open source software, Web 3.0 will also be trustless (i.e., the network will allow participants to interact directly without going through a trusted intermediary) and permissionless (meaning that anyone can participate without authorization from a governing body).

As a result, Web 3.0 applications will run on blockchains or decentralized peer-to-peer networks, or a combination thereof. Such decentralized apps are referred to as dApps.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning

In Web 3.0, computers will be able to understand information similarly to humans, through technologies based upon Semantic Web concepts and natural language processing. Web 3.0 will also use machine learning, which is a branch of artificial intelligence (AI) that uses data and algorithms to imitate how humans learn, gradually improving its accuracy.

These capabilities will enable computers to produce faster and more relevant results in a host of areas like drug development and new materials, as opposed to merely targeted advertising that forms the bulk of current efforts.

Connectivity and Ubiquity

With Web 3.0, information and content will be more connected and ubiquitous, accessed by multiple applications and with an increasing number of everyday devices connected to the web. One example of this is the Internet of Things.

Potential and Pitfalls of Web 3.0

Web 3.0 has the potential to provide users with far greater utility, going well beyond the social media, streaming, and online shopping that comprise the majority of Web 2.0 applications that consumers use.

Capabilities like the Semantic Web, AI, and machine learning, which are at the core of Web 3.0, have the potential to greatly increase application in new areas and vastly improve user interaction.

Core features of Web 3.0, such as decentralization and permissionless systems, will also give users much greater control over their personal data.

This may help limit the practice of data extraction (the collecting of information from web users without their consent or compensation) and curb the network effects that have enabled the technology giants to become near-monopolies through exploitative advertising and marketing practices.

However, decentralization also brings with it significant legal and regulatory risks. Cybercrime, hate speech, and misinformation are already difficult to police and will become even more so in a decentralized structure because of the lack of central control.

A decentralized web would also make regulation and enforcement very difficult. For example, which country’s laws would apply to a specific website whose content is hosted in numerous nations globally?

The Bottom Line

To use a cinematic analogy, if Web 1.0 represented the black-and-white movie era, Web 2.0 is the age of color/basic 3D, while Web 3.0 would be immersive experiences in the metaverse.

Just as the 2010s were the decade when Web 2.0 became the dominant force in the global business and cultural landscape, it might be Web 3.0’s turn in the 2020s. Facebook’s name change to Meta on Oct. 28, 2021, could well turn out to be an early sign that the shift to Web 3.0 is picking up steam.