Tech News - Token & Crypto Economy, How The Web3 Reinvents The Internet
Web3 is the newest buzzword taking over the tech and venture capital world. And if you've found yourself wondering what it means, you're not alone. Web3 is seen as the third generation of the internet, a decentralized online ecosystem based on the blockchain. Some tech experts are unconvinced that Web3 could scale globally. As experts debate whether or not this new version of the web can become a reality, here are some of the underlying principles behind the vision for Web 3.0. To better understand Web 3.0 and what sets it apart from the web we use today, you have to go back to the early days of the internet, what experts now refer to as Web 1.0.
Then came Web 2.0, which started in 2004 and is the modern, centralized verse of the web. This is the stage of the internet we're living through now. The web has evolved a lot in that time, but one of the biggest changes is the interactivity of the Internet. Web technologies like JavaScript and HTML5 made the internet more interactive, allowing startups to build platforms like Facebook, Google, Amazon, and many others. For the first time, anyone could publish content online even if they couldn't code. These companies own and manage the data collected from their users, and they frequently track and save this data and use it for targeted ads. This means that not only do you get information from these sites, but these websites also start getting your information when you look at Facebook or YouTube or do a Google search. These centralized companies have started collecting data about us so that they can provide better content. This meant more money for them, but eventually, they realized that all the data they collected about us could be aggregated and sold to advertisers. Web 2.0 is the age of targeted advertising and the lack of privacy for its users. To be fair, we've happily given up that privacy for cool apps like Facebook and Twitter. In Web 2.0 we all view facebook.com and see very different news feeds because the page depends on who is viewing it. The content on your feed is the company sorting data by information that you gave them with your likes and how much you watched a video. And if you look at the ads that they show you are actually the information you didn't know you give them.
As just mentioned, Facebook, Google, and other companies own and manage the data collected from their users, and they frequently track and save this data and use it for targeted ads. At the core of their business model is data. Here's where the vision for Web 3.0 comes in. The term Web3 was first coined by one of the creators of the Ethereum blockchain, Gavin Wood. Wood envisioned Web3 as an open and decentralized version of the internet. Web 3.0 is the next evolution of the internet. It utilizes blockchain technology and the tools of decentralization. In Web 2.0 you were the product as you were browsing social networks, but in Web 3.0, some believe that you will be the owner of your content - the stuff that you post online. For example, Odyssey is a blockchain alternative to YouTube where videos can be posted and creators can earn library tokens which are basically a reward for enticing viewers to watch their videos. Odyssey can't really stop a video from being posted if someone uploads it. If someone else in the network wants to share it, they download that video and then let others watch that video and download it as well.
Similarly, if you add a post in Web 3.0, your post couldn't get taken down because your post wouldn't just be on one of Facebook servers it would theoretically be on thousands of computers around the world, ensuring that the blockchain social network you're on is not attacked or censored theoretically. In web 3.0, experts say that we will reach the point of the internet where every company is run by a decentralized group called a DAO, which stands for Decentralized Autonomous Organization. In web 3.0 there will be no censorship of social networks like Facebook or Twitter. So, one controlling authority cannot shut it down.
One more important thing about Web 3.0 is that your digital identity is not connected to your real-world identity. What this means is that you can view pages, download things, make purchases and perform any other activity on the internet without being traced with your real identity. These may be long-term ideas of those who think about Web 3.0. What Web 3.0 really means for us is that in the next decade you might be able to buy Amazon gift cards using MetaMask and pay with Ethers or that you could anonymously leave a like on one of your friend's posts using one of your hidden wallets.
Theoretically, in Web 3.0 users would be able to exchange money and information on the web without the need for a middleman, like a bank or a tech company. In this vision for a Web3 world, people would have more control over their data and be able to sell it if they choose. And it would all be operated on a decentralized, distributed ledger technology. The most common version of this is known as the blockchain. While still considered relatively new and unproven, it could offer more transparency and autonomy for users. In this system, people would be given virtual tokens, or cryptocurrencies, to incentivize them to participate in the operation of Web3. A central element of the system is so-called DEFI, or decentralized finance. Still, it's unclear how this decentralized token system would be regulated, how it could operate on a large scale, or even how well it would distribute control of the internet.
Although it is uncertain whether Web3 will materialize, the underlying theory is inspiring billions of dollars in venture capital investments, supporting a massive ecosystem of decentralized internet services. Because of this, even if the idea behind Web3 proves to be unworkable, we'll continue to hear about it for a very long time.
