The World Wide Web became public back in 1993 when the CERN announced it would be making it available to everybody.
Those of us who were around and started using it in its early stages are aware of the huge change the internet has experimented with over these 3 decades. But did you know that there is actually terminology to refer to the different stages the internet has gone through and what is coming?
WEB 1.0: THE EARLY DAYS
The first stage of the internet is now known as Web1 and is the one most Millennials and older generations used for the first time. This stage of the internet was known for how static its pages were, how content was served, and the rudimentary infrastructure that supported it.
During this stage, the main target of the internet were companies rather than individuals. While many internet users created their personal pages, most of them went unnoticed when it came to the big picture. Websites were intended for companies to reach new customers by taking advantage of the few creators and the huge number of viewers.
If you want to have an idea of what personal sites looked like back then, projects such as The Geocities Gallery will be of help. You can also take a tour through CERN’s first website or Space Jam’s website. As you will see, web 1.0 was not about interactivity at all!
WEB 2.0: INTERACTIVITY RULES SUPREME
The term web 2.0 was introduced around 2004 and has been used to refer to the current stage of the internet. Web 2.0 is all about interaction, social media, and user-generated content. During this stage, companies like Facebook, Youtube, and Google reign supreme by offering new means to interact with each other.
New technologies like Javascript, cloud computing, CSS, HTML5, Ajax, and many more made it possible for sites to become increasingly dynamic. This was greatly in part because a user’s computer was now able to interact with the content instead of just loading it.
However, for all intent and purposes, web 2.0 was basically just an improved version of web 1.0. While Web 2.0 gave us an idea of how much can be achieved via the internet, most of its improvements came in the terms of dynamism.
WEB3: THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET
It is time for us to take a look into the future now: web3. Media outlets and tech evangelists around the world love to use this term as much as possible... and with good reason! Web3 represents something closer to the original ideals of its inventor.
Tim Berners Lee is considered the creator of the internet by most experts and organizations. He talked about his vision of the internet In an interview with Time Magazine back in 2019:
“I’ve got a vision for an alternative world, in which that data does exist, but it’s at the beck and call of the user themselves. Where the apps are actually separated from the data source. So when you use an app, it asks, where do you want me to store the data? And you have complete control over who gets access to it. It would be a new world. We’re talking about a future in which these programs work for you. They don’t work for Amazon, they don’t work for Apple.”
This is the view of the web3: An internet where all of us have control over our own data. No more wondering if your phone is spying on you to show you ads… No more worrying about Cambridge Analytica-like scandals.
There are many opinions on what web3 requires in order to allow such a vision to be implemented. However, most experts agree that decentralization is paramount to achieving this. By removing data silos and centralized agents, users would have control over who has access to their data at any given time.
This decentralization is the reason why web 3.0 is often associated with blockchain technology and cryptocurrency, as they offer the infrastructure just for that.
If you take a look at the market capitalization of web3-related cryptocurrencies over the past year, you can see an increasing interest in them. This is because projects like Polkadot, Filecoin, and Ocean Protocol have made huge progress in building the technological infrastructure required for web3.
On the other hand, projects like Arianee have not limited ourselves to the technological aspect but also created an association to help brands and organizations adopt web3 more easily. This is possible by facilitating the tokenization, distribution, and leverage of assets that would traditionally be limited to the physical realm.
With community being the heart of web3, developers and advocates are building ways to make community communications more efficient and safe.
Decentralized token-gated communication platforms like SPKZ.io, which is also developed by Arianee, are the result of such efforts. The platform offers a user-friendly and intuitive interface, powerful features built on the principles of web3 and blockchain, and an easy “connect your wallet and start using” approach.
There is still work required in order for web3 to make it here. However, as developers and experts continue to set the stage, we all can be happy to know that the future of the internet is getting closer. Start getting ready for a new era of information sharing, one in which you will have control over your data!
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