Introduction to the Next-Gen Web: Exploring Web 3.0

The World Wide Web (WWW) is a crucial tool used by billions of people worldwide for distributing information, reading, creating, and interacting with others on the internet. Over time, the web has evolved significantly, and its modern uses are incredibly diverse compared to its inception.

Centralization has helped onboard billions of people to the World Wide Web, creating a stable, robust infrastructure on which it stands today. Currently, a handful of central institutions tightly control major parts of the World Wide Web, unilaterally deciding what users should or should not be allowed to do. Web 3 addresses this dilemma. Instead of a web dominated by the monopolies of big tech companies, Web 3 introduces decentralization, built and operated by users, with ownership resting with the users. Web 3 places power in the hands of individuals rather than corporations. Before we discuss Web 3 further, let’s see how we got here.

1.1 – The Early Web

Most people consider the web a constant pillar of modern life. However, the web we know today is vastly different from the original concept. To understand this better, breaking down the web’s brief history into different eras (such as Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, etc.) can be helpful.

1.1.1 – Web 1.0 (1990-2004): The early stage of the World Wide Web’s evolution is known as Web 1.0. In 1989, at CERN, Geneva, Tim Berners-Lee developed the protocols that would become the World Wide Web. The first phase of Berners-Lee’s creation was between approximately 1990 and 2004. Web 1.0 primarily consisted of static websites owned by companies with almost no interaction with users. At that time, individuals could rarely create content, leading to Web 1.0 being called read-only. Examples of Web 1.0 include MySpace and LiveJournal, which were mostly personal in nature and did not include corporate presence like today’s websites.

1.1.2 – Web 2.0 (2004-now): Web 2.0, known as the second phase of the internet, is described as a wisdom, people-centric, participatory, and dynamic web. Unlike Web 1.0, Web 2.0 gives users more control and includes the development of social media as a significant type of internet communication. Web 2.0 led us to a social web where we are not just reading information from websites but are also “creating” it. A prime example is Facebook, which epitomizes most features of Web 2.0, revolving around social connections and interactivity, where users can enhance their creative skills by posting pictures and writings on their Facebook accounts. The era of Web 2.0 began in 2004 with the emergence of social media platforms. Now, instead of being read-only, the web was developed for read-write. Companies started providing platforms not only to deliver content to users but also to share user-generated content and engage in user-to-user interactions. As more people came online, a handful of top companies began to control a disproportionate amount of traffic and value generated on the web. Web 2.0 also gave birth to an advertising-driven revenue model. Although users can create content, they do not own it.

1.1.3 – Web 3.0 (Read-Write-Own): The foundation of Web 3.0 was laid by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood shortly after Ethereum’s launch in 2014. Gavin presented a solution in words that many early crypto adopters felt was necessary, meaning that the web requires a lot of trust. That is, most of the World Wide Web that people know and use today relies on a handful of private companies. Web 3.0 is a term used for a new and improved vision of the internet. Primarily, Web 3.0 uses blockchains, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) to give users power back in the form of ownership.

Core Ideas of Web 3

What exactly is Web 3.0? Although providing a comprehensive definition is challenging, a few core principles guide its creation.

• Web 3.0 is decentralized: This means that instead of the internet being under the control and ownership of central institutions, ownership is distributed among its creators and users.
• Web 3.0 is permissionless: This implies that everyone will have equal access to participate in Web 3.0, and no one will be excluded.
• Web 3.0 includes native payments: This means that Web 3.0 uses cryptocurrency to spend and send money online, instead of relying on the outdated infrastructure of banks and payment methods.

Web 3.0 is trustless: This means it operates using incentives and economic mechanisms instead of relying on trusted third parties.

How Does Web 3.0 Work?

In Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 technologies, HyperText Markup Language (HTML) defines the arrangement and delivery of web pages. HTML will continue to serve as a foundational layer with Web 3.0 but how it connects to data sources and where those data sources could be significantly different from previous generations of the web. During the era of Web 2.0, many websites and almost all applications rely on some form of central data for maintaining data delivery and functionality. With Web 3.0, applications and services use a decentralized blockchain instead of a central database. The fundamental concept of blockchain is that there will be no discretionary central authority but a difficult consensus of distributed agreement.

An emerging governance ideal within the blockchain and Web 3.0 community is the concept of a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). With a DAO, instead of having a central authority controlling the operations of a platform, Web 3.0 technologies and communities provide a form of self-governance in a decentralized manner.

Web 3.0 fundamentally also works with cryptocurrency. The importance of making payments in a decentralized form for finance, goods, and services is enabled by the use of cryptocurrencies on Web 3.0, all of which are built on and function on blockchain technology. Both Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 were primarily built with the IPv4 addressing space. With the massive expansion of the web over decades, Web 3.0 requires more internet addresses, which IPv6 provides.

Key Features of Web 3.0

Web 3.0 can be developed with Artificial Intelligence (AI), the semantic web, and other features in mind. The concept at play in using artificial intelligence is to provide end-users with faster and more relevant data. A website utilizing artificial intelligence should be capable of filtering and delivering data it deems appropriate for a specific user. Social bookmarking as a search engine could provide better results than Google because its results are websites voted on by users. However, these results can also be manipulated by humans. Artificial intelligence can also be used to distinguish correct results from incorrect ones, thus producing results similar to social bookmarking and social media but without bad feedback.

Artificially intelligent web will also introduce virtual assistants, an element already being used in devices or third-party apps in today’s era.

The concept behind the semantic web is that information is categorized and stored in a way that helps the system learn what specific data means. In other words, a website should be capable of understanding words put into search queries in the same way a human does, making it capable of producing and sharing better content. This system will also use artificial intelligence. The semantic web will teach the computer what data means; then artificial intelligence will take that information and use it. Web 3.0 has several key features that help explain what the third generation of the web might potentially look like, including the following features:

• Decentralized: Unlike the first two generations of the web, where governance and applications were mostly centralized, Web 3.0 will be decentralized. Applications and services will be enabled using a distributed approach where no central authority exists.
• Blockchain-based: Blockchain enables the creation of decentralized applications and services. With blockchain, data and connections in all services are distributed in a manner different from the infrastructure in central data. Blockchain can also enable an immutable ledger of transactions and activities, helping provide verifiable authenticity in a decentralized world.
• Cryptocurrency-enabled: The use of cryptocurrency is a key feature of Web 3.0 services and can largely replace the use of fiat currency.
• Autonomous and artificially intelligent: Overall, more automation is a key feature of Web 3.0, and this automation will largely be driven through artificial intelligence.

Why Is Web 3.0 Important?

Below, we have tried to separate the features of Web 3.0 to make them easier to understand.

• Ownership: Web 3.0 provides you with ownership of your digital assets in an unprecedented way. For example, suppose you are playing a game based on Web 2. If you purchase an in-game item, it is directly linked to your account. If the game creators delete your account, you would lose those items. Or if you stop playing the game, you lose the value you had invested in your in-game assets.

Web 3.0 provides direct ownership through Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). This way, no one, not even the game creators, would have the authority to take away your ownership, and if you stop playing the game, you can sell or trade your in-game items in open markets and regain their value.

• Resistance Against Censorship: In today’s age, the balance of power between platforms and content creators is largely imbalanced. For example, OnlyFans is a site for user-generated adult content with over a million creators, many of whom use this platform as their primary source of income. In August 2021, the site announced plans to ban certain types of content. This announcement sparked outrage among the creators on this platform. The creators felt that their income was being taken away on a platform they helped create. After feedback from creators, this decision was quickly reversed. Although the creators won this battle, it highlights an issue faced by Web 2.0 creators, i.e., in Web 2.0, if you leave a platform, your established reputation and followers disappear. In contrast, on Web 3.0, your data remains on the blockchain. When you decide to leave a platform, you can take your reputation with you and plug it into another interface that aligns more clearly with your values. Content creators for Web 2.0 need to trust that platforms will not change the rules, but resistance against censorship is an intrinsic feature of Web 3.0 platforms.
• Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs): In Web 3.0, in addition to owning your data, you can collectively own the platform, using tokens that function like shares in a company. DAOs allow you to integrate decentralized ownership of the platform and make decisions about its future. DAOs are technically defined as smart contracts that automate the decision-making process of a pool of resources (tokens). Users with tokens vote on how resources will be spent, and the code autonomously executes the results of the voting.

However, many Web 3.0 communities are described as DAOs. All these communities have different levels of decentralization and automation in terms of code.

• Identity: Traditionally, you create an account for every platform you use. For example, you might have a Twitter account, a YouTube account, and a Reddit account. Now, if you want to change your display name or profile picture, you would have to change it on each account. You might use social sign-ins in some cases, but this could present a well-known problem of censorship. With a single click, these platforms could lock you out of your entire online life. Worse, many platforms require you to trust them with personally identifiable information to create an account.

Web 3.0 solves these problems by allowing you to control your digital identity with an Ethereum address and an ENS profile. Using an Ethereum address provides a single login across all platforms, which is secure, resistant to censorship, and anonymous.

• Native Payments: The primary infrastructure for payments in Web 2.0 relies on banks and payment processors, excluding those without bank accounts or those living within the wrong national borders. Web 3.0 uses tokens like ETH for sending money directly in the browser without needing a trusted third party.

Applications of Web 3.0

With the foundations of blockchain, Web 3.0 enables a growing number of new applications and services, including:

• NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens): NFTs are tokens that are stored in a blockchain with a cryptographic hash, making the token units unique.
• DeFi (Decentralized Finance): Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is an emerging use case for Web 3.0 where financial services are enabled using decentralized blockchains instead of traditional central banking infrastructure.
• Cryptocurrency: Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are Web 3.0 applications that create a new world of currency intended to be separate from the historical world of fiat currency.
• dApps (Decentralized Applications): Decentralized applications (dApps) are applications built on a blockchain and use smart contracts to enable service delivery in a programmatic approach, logged in an immutable ledger.
• Cross-chain Bridges: In the world of Web 3.0, there are multiple blockchains, and enabling a degree of interoperability among them is the domain of cross-chain bridges.

DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations): DAOs are potentially organizational entities for Web 3.0 services, providing structure and governance in a decentralized manner.

Unlock the Future: Embrace the Power and Potential of Web 3.0: In conclusion, the evolution from Web 1.0 to Web 3.0 marks a transformative journey in the landscape of the internet. While Web 1.0 introduced us to the concept of static websites and Web 2.0 revolutionized user interaction and content creation, it is Web 3.0 that promises to redefine ownership, decentralization, and autonomy on the internet. By leveraging blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs, Web 3.0 empowers individuals with true ownership of their digital assets, resists censorship, enables decentralized autonomous organizations, and revolutionizes identity management and native payments. With its innovative applications such as NFTs, DeFi, cryptocurrency, dApps, and DAOs, Web 3.0 heralds a new era of possibilities, shaping the future of the internet as we know it. As we embrace the dawn of Web 3.0, we embark on a journey towards a more decentralized, inclusive, and empowered digital world.