What Is Web 3.0?

Without doubts, the initiation of every new technology at any phase has always come with lots of anxiety followed by anticipations on what it has in store for the people, this applies to the Internet as well. The Internet era has emerged from one generation to another, which has triggered anticipation and enthusiasm from the public as many are eager to enjoy the upgraded standards of the previous era while also curious about what the downsides could be. The latest generation is Web 3.0. This web era brings the decentralized, community-governed features of Web 1.0 together with the improved, modern features of Web 2.0.

Thus, it is important to understand the potential of web3.0, the challenges that come with it, and the issues it solves, all of which are explored in this guide.

Web 3.0 Definition

Web3.0 is an advanced version of Web 2.0, built on blockchain technology and the key concepts of decentralization, openness, and optimum user satisfaction.

Basically, Web 3.0 is the third generation of Internet services for websites and applications that would enable users and machines to interact with data, featuring more intelligent and ubiquitous toolkits.

It is a web era that brings the decentralized, community-governed features of Web 1.0 together with the improved, modern features of Web 2.0. It is aimed at creating more intelligent, connected, and open websites.

Web 1.0, Web 2.0, Web 3.0: History of Development

Since its inception, the Internet has emerged from the original web which started with Web 1.0 in the 1990s and early 2000s. The next iteration of the web which succeeded Web 1.0 was Web 2.0 which is recognized as the current version of the web at the time of writing. This web era paved the way for interactivity, social connectivity, and user-generated content, remediating the social issues of Web 1.0.

Tracing the iteration trend from its early generation, Web 1.0 is a static information provider where people read websites but rarely have the opportunity to interact with them. This era was succeeded by Web 2.0 which is an interactive and social web that solves the problems of Web 1.0 as it enables collaboration between users. This predicts that the emerging Web 3.0 will change how websites are made and how people interact with them.

More precisely, Web 1.0 can be defined as the first generation of the worldwide web which is also dubbed the read-only web. Web 1.0 makes it possible to showcase the piece of information on the websites. It basically functions as an information place for businesses to broadcast their information and only allows users to search for information and read it. The tech tools adopted by the web include IP, HTTP, URI, and HTML.

Meanwhile, Web 2.0 as the name implies is the second generation of the worldwide web which describes the 21st-century internet. It is an interactive and social web that solves the problems of Web 1.0 as it focuses on interactions amongst users. Web 2.0 enabled the use of applications like WhatsApp, Facebook, and the likes to enable users from different ends to interact together.

Finally, Web 3.0 as said earlier is the third generation of internet services for websites and applications that are built on blockchain technology. This era of the internet has not yet been fully implemented, however, it possesses exclusive promising functionalities which tend to enable users and machines to interact with data, while also featuring more intelligent and ubiquitous toolkits. Web3.0 is hell-bent on building on the concepts of decentralization, openness, and optimum user satisfaction.

Web 3.0 and the Metaverse

Web 3.0 and the metaverse are both on the top list of trending technologies as they have become the most talked about in recent years. While Web 3.0 is the next iteration of the Internet that features a network that provides a decentralized, distributed, and global control of information, allowing users and machines to interact with data, the metaverse is an immersive, 3D virtual world where users can interact with others in real-time.

The word “metaverse” is a combination of the words “meta” and “universe.” It basically represents an interconnected set of virtual reality worlds. The metaverse and Web 3.0 work hand in hand as they literally feature the concept of decentralization while providing optimal user satisfaction.

Web 3.0 Advantages

Since Web 3.0 is an expanded shift of Web 2.0, it promises the same positive potential as Web 2.0 and even more as it explores and remediates certain lapses found with Web 2.0. It poses the world with exclusive advantages, some of which include:

• fair and equal ability to hold value among businesses. The underlying concept behind Web 3.0 shares equal ability to build businesses that hold value among users. Hence, startups and small enterprises will be able to extend their services to offering finance, insurance, and banking solutions, unlike Web 2.0 which limits such privileges to large corporations only;
• guarantee of strong consumer privacy. Moreso, the elementary change proposed to the web/internet by Web 3.0 has the potential of strongly enabling consumer privacy. Cases of data breaches have surged greatly over the years with many companies reporting issues of hacks and manipulations leading to massive loss of data. With Web 2.0 exploring the internet as a centralized platform for building applications, it only provided the space with very little security for data protection. However, Web 3.0 will be exploring the internet and web on the blockchain technology, hence predicting stronger protection for consumer data. When the consumer data is stored on the blockchain, the data becomes decentralized, hence data used by companies will become transparent and apparently protected from breaches.

Other advantages include:

• no interruption in service;
• interoperability;
• secure network;
• facilitates efficiency in marketing;
• encourages efficient search process and web browsing;
• enables effective communication.

Challenges of Web 3.0

Since Web 3.0 is yet to be fully implemented, it is quite difficult to describe the challenges that come with it. However, here are a few challenges poised to affect the web era.

Firstly, it requires the need to deal with vast amounts of data. Secondly, there are issues of uncertainty as the internet deals with scores of uncertain values. Besides, it may not support less advanced devices.

Examples for Web 3.0 Applications

Some of the applications built on the standards of Web 3.0 include DeFi apps, NFTs, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs).

Other apps built on web 3.0 include:

• Sapien
• Steemit
• onG.Social
• PROPS Project
• e-Chat
• EOSFinex

The Future of Web 3.0

Despite the edgy initiation of Web 2.0 that got the vast majority of people anxious, it became immensely adopted in the long run as the technology became a very important part of many lives and businesses, getting virtually all businesses depending on it.

However, this suggests a promising future for the third generation of the internet, Web 3.0 which has already started seeing massive adoption from people and companies who already seem freaked over the idea of Web 3.0.

The success of Web 2.0 is apparently making headway for Web 3.0, hence suggesting a better advancement worthy of embrace by the public since Web 3.0 combines the exclusive features of previous generations with more exclusive and innovative features.

Web 3.0 promises users a fairer internet by enabling sovereignty for individuals. True sovereignty implies owning and being able to control who profits from one’s time and information.

The Bottom Line

Although Web 3.0 is yet to be fully implemented, it has triggered lots of enthusiasm from the public and certain companies are already making innovations on it.

Web 3.0 reflects the potential to feature more improved and upgraded infrastructures capable of facilitating more efficiency for businesses and individuals.