WHAT IS WEB 3.0?

What in the Metaverse is Web 3.0?

Everybody’s talking about Web 3.0 being the future of the internet and freeing us from the data-hoarding shackles of Big Tech like Facebook and Google. But, what is Web 3.0? Is it just another buzzword, or an inevitable progression?

Web 3.0 – What is It and How Does it Work?

Web 3.0 is the third significant evolution of the internet that aims to deliver more personalised experiences through a decentralised data delivery platform.
Various platforms supporting the growth of Web 3.0 include artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and blockchain technology.

How is Web 3.0 Different From Web 1.0 – and 2.0?

To a large degree, Web 1.0 was read-only. Information was distributed digitally via websites, but user interaction was pretty limited.
Web surfing became the buzzword of the era, with internet users able to skip from site to site by riding the hyperlinks embedded in the web pages. It didn’t take long for commercialism to see the potential, and the internet soon started to fill with ads.
Web 2.0 gave people a voice, and interactive websites and online forums made online bulletin boards obsolete. The uptake of smartphones quickly leads to a ubiquitous internet. Social sites like Squidoo and MySpace attract huge followings and traffic for a time, and social media comes to stay.
Commercialism continued to dominate the web with increasingly advanced analytical software able to track consumers’ every click of the mouse. Online privacy issues became hotly debated topics by world governments and disgruntled users. User data and analytics are now commodities for sale and are worth billions to mega-corporations like Google and Facebook.

Main Features of Web 3.0

Advances in technology will enable a web that is more secure, more ubiquitous, and more intelligent at understanding user intents. Here are just a few of the features that will become commonplace in the future web.
Powerful Artificial Intelligence
John Markoff of the New York Times first coined the term Web 3.0 in 2006 when he referred to a future internet as an intelligent web, which is filled with connected devices that can all communicate.
Web 3.0, or the semantic web, is powered by artificial intelligence. Machine learning enables information to present itself according to the user’s needs. Content posted by users can be mixed, matched, and reformatted by machines and presented in its most helpful format. For example, smart speakers allow users to use natural language to engage with machines.
Artificial intelligence will make it more difficult for nefarious operators to manipulate consumers. For example, it’s common to pay for fake reviews that make a product appear better than it is. AI can sift through thousands of reviews using a complex algorithm to detect fake ones and remove them from the site.
A recent example of AI doing this was seen when Robin hood, a popular investment platform, was targeted by negative reviewers for its involvement in the Gamestop debacle. Google’s AI managed to locate and delete almost 100,000 fake reviews in much less time than it would take an army of humans.

Decentralised Network Using Blockchain Technology

Blockchain technology provides a decentralised network protocol running a governance layer over the existing infrastructure. The governance layer allows two people who don’t know or trust each other to conduct transactions over the internet without an intermediary.
A new blockchain-based social protocol referred to as Follow delivers users complete control over their social identities. They will be able to freely interact with any connected person or machine without their data passing through profit-motivated middlemen.
People’s data and historical interactions will follow them wherever they go, rather than be locked behind a ‘walled garden’ where they have little control over what happens to it or how it is used.

Open Source

The current iteration of the web centralises influence and power to a few key players who essentially own everything. Users who interact with these companies contribute to their success but receive no compensation.
Web 3.0 will be built using an open-source architecture that anyone can use, modify, and expand without restriction. We should all look forward to new social networks, marketplaces, and search engines with no corporate overseer profiting from our personal data and historical activity.
Web 3.0 technologies will continue to develop at a rapid pace. While they are unlikely to push Google or Facebook from their thrones any time soon, we can all look forward to a future internet that gives us more options and control.