Web 3.0 - The Future Is Now!

Is Web 3.0 nothing more than a marketing gimmick, or is it really setting the course for the future of the internet? Where does the term come from, and can Web 3.0 mean added value for all of us? What do we have to expect, and what exactly is Web 3.0 anyway? To clarify these and other connections, we are taking you along on a journey back in time to the beginnings of the internet!

Web 1.0 - How It All Began

Tim Berners-Lee is quietly regarded as the inventor of the internet. His invention and his research in that virtual space are quietly referred to as Web 1.0. Another common term for it is: "the static internet".

Web 1.0 consisted of three essential technologies:

• HTML (Hypertext Markup Language): the formatting language
  
• URL: the unique web address
  
• HTTP protocol: retrieval of information over the web

At that point in time there were accordingly no algorithms, no technologies that could present the internet dynamically and make it usable. The internet was primarily used to retrieve e-mails or to send messages. The exchange of information was very one-sided. Websites and users were practically unable to interact. The flow of information essentially went in one direction only: from the hosting companies to the end consumer.

Strictly speaking it was a read-only internet which made the retrieval of content possible. Search engines such as Altavista were extremely slow. The information was fed from HTML tags and simple logic instead of from algorithms. Web 1.0 consisted primarily of text modules or simple static graphics. Images, or even videos, quite often presented a problem due to the low computing power and internet speed.

The web could not be stopped, however, and so it came about that the first online marketing ad saw the light of day on 26 October 1994: on Hotwired.com a graphic appeared that was accompanied by a simple question: "Have you ever clicked your mouse right HERE?" - "YOU WILL!". The banner was as simple as it was revolutionary and achieved an incredible click-through rate of over 40%. The virtual advertising banner was born!

Web 2.0 - The Virtual Revolution

Web 2.0 turned the way we use the internet on its head. New web technologies such as CSS and HTML5 enabled advances in the interaction between user and provider. The web developed rapidly into an interactive workshop of endless possibilities: with Web 2.0 the age of social media began. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have dominated Web 2.0 to this day and grew big along with it. In parallel there was the development of apps for mobile devices, which, with the invention of the iPhone from 2007 onwards, conquered the new millennium in no time at all.

From today's perspective, however, Web 2.0 was also one thing: a centralised affair. Companies that grew big with Web 2.0 were solely responsible for the collection and the transmission of information. Through algorithms and artificial intelligence, these platforms have helped shape the thinking and the actions of all of us in a unique way. This centralised processing of information is an essential point of criticism. Web 3.0 offers a way out here!

Web 3.0 - The Future Is Now

A definition of Web 3.0 could look like this: Web 3.0 represents the next generation of the internet. It is built on decentralised protocols in which the users can not only create or distribute content, but in which they also receive a share in the administration of the internet itself. Web 3.0 concentrates on the utilisation of machine-based data. Essential functions of Web 3.0 are the blockchain and the semantic web.

▶️ Semantic Internet

The term semantic internet (Semantic Web) comes from Tim Berners-Lee, mentioned at the beginning. With it he describes the linking of the meaning (semantics) of information. The goal is that people should not only distribute information on the internet, but that this information can be understood and utilised by machines. To ensure this, information has to be provided with descriptions. Enabling machines to evaluate situational contexts of meaning would revolutionise the flood of information on the internet and make it more accessible to people.

▶️ Blockchain

A blockchain is a distributed, decentralised database. Decentralised means that the data is not located on a single server, but ideally on a great many different end devices. These end devices are provided by the users, or rather the participants in the blockchain. Information is added in chronological order and the blockchain can be extended continuously. By a blockchain we primarily understand cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum. Bitcoin has existed since 2009 and represents the very first blockchain. That is, among other things, an essential reason why Bitcoin is so popular. A blockchain holds essential advantages:

• Stored data cannot be deleted retroactively.
• Security against censorship, outage and forgery.
• Fast and simple distribution of data

This is what the future holds

Web 3.0 pursues the claim of fundamentally changing usage behaviour as well as ownership on the internet. Since the technologies used are still relatively new, there are still few use cases for the blockchain. In the medium term, however, this will change: in 2022 more than 20,000 cryptocurrencies already give a foretaste of what will be possible in the future.

At the same time, Bitcoin and Ethereum have long been global players which, even without really relevant use cases, already dominate the internet in many respects today. Harbingers of the semantic web are the increase in artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of ever more comprehensive algorithms, which are not only to be found at Google.

Exactly how Web 3.0 will establish itself in the end is still unclear today. This will depend primarily on the development and the deployment of new technologies. One thing is a fact: Web 3.0 favours a machine-driven internet. The need for a machine-driven internet is huge and holds enormous potential.

The demands are at least as great: Web 3.0 is expected to become more decentralised and thereby also fairer. Today's internet is primarily steered by people with good or less good intentions. Data-based evaluation and automated verification within a decentralised framework could make the net fairer and more efficient.