Here it comes. The future of the internet, Web 3.0 is coming.
Probably.
As it looks right now, the idea known as Web 3.0 is a sure enough bet that tech pioneers, business CIOs, and others who spend their time considering the metaverse (or creating it), are all talking about it. As Patrick Parker wrote for Entrepreneur, “What everyone seems to have in common, however, is that they all “want in.” And yet, very few understand what’s really unfolding or where to start.”
As Parker says in the very title of his article, “Web 3.0 is coming.” So we’d all better be thinking about it. Let’s start by clarifying what Web 3.0 is, then we’ll look at some of the main features of Web 3.0.
What is Web 3.0?
Getting a firm grasp on what this new innovation, commonly called Web 3.0 or internet 3.0, will actually be is quite tricky. According to NPR, Web 3.0 is “an iteration of the internet where new social networks, search engines, and marketplaces crop up that have no company overlords. Instead, they are decentralized, built upon a system known as the blockchain, which already undergirds Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.”
NPR continues, providing some Web 3.0 examples, “people control their own data and bounce around from social media to email to shopping using a single personalized account, creating a public record on the blockchain of all of that activity.”
Web 3.0, if fully realized, will (in the words of Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web) be “a smarter internet that is more autonomous and open.”
What Will Be The Main Features of Web 3.0?
Assuming that it comes to life in the way it’s currently imagined, there are several Web 3.0 advantages and disadvantages to prepare for.
Decentralization
Newsweek tells us that “in Web 3.0, data will be connected in a decentralized way, unlike generation 2.0 of the internet in which data is primarily stored in centralized storage locations.” In theory, internet 3.0 will be owned by all of us, devoid of centralized power structures or authority. Forbes says: “in sum, Web 3.0 will bring us a fairer internet by enabling the individual to be a sovereign. True sovereignty implies owning and being able to control who profits from one’s time and information.”
AI and Other Tech
Web 3.0 will heavily utilize artificial intelligence and other machine learning. This will give Web 3.0 advantages (and disadvantages, as the technology works itself out) over our current internet systems. Newsweek explains, “the use of AI will allow data to be provided to users faster, and the data that is provided will be more relevant to each user.”
Are Parts of Web 3.0 Already Here?
There are some early elements of Web 3.0 already here. Newsweek reminds us that we are already seeing AI play into our search results and algorithms. And blockchain technologies are driving cryptocurrencies and NFTs. Patrick Parker, in Entrepreneur, suggests that we all need to start now to get our businesses ready for the future. You don’t want to be caught unprepared once the tools and services of web 3.0 are fully realized.
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