What is Web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 and How They Compare
The digital age comes with its lexicon, a bewildering array of buzz phrases, words, and acronyms designed to confuse as much as they are to inform. Many of these new terms have found their way into our everyday vocabularies, although the meanings often get confused and blurred.
Web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0
For instance, many people use "the Web" and "the Internet" interchangeably when they are, in fact, two different things. Furthermore, there's more than one version of the Web. Are you intrigued yet?
This article will help you differentiate between Web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0. It provides a Web 1.0 definition, Web 2.0 definition, Web 3.0 definition, Web 1.0 2.0 3.0 examples, and comparisons such as Web 1.0 vs Web 2.0.
So, let's look at three different versions of this crucial online resource.
Oh, and incidentally, here's the difference between the Web and the Internet. The Web, formerly referred to as the World Wide Web, is the pages/sites you see when you log online. The Internet is a series of interconnected computer systems the Web functions on, plus the medium allows files and e-mails to travel along.
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Or put another way, the Internet is the highway system that connects many cities, and the Web is the collection of rest stops, gas stations, convenience stores, and other stops. All Web versions have used and continue to use the Internet to connect users with websites and each other. That characteristic remains a constant.
Also, as an aside, no one uses the term "World Wide Web" anymore. We still have a remnant of the phrase because most URLs begin with the letters "www," which unsurprisingly stand for "World Wide Web." It's an indelible part of our Internet culture!
Okay, on with the different Web versions. What are the differences between Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0, and their similarities?
What Is Web 1.0?
This first version of the Web consisted of a few people creating web pages and content and web pages for a large group of readers, allowing them to access facts, information, and content from the sources.
Or you can sum up Web 1.0 like this: it was designed to help people better find information. This web version dealt was dedicated to users searching for data. This web version is sometimes called "the read-only Web" because it lacks the necessary forms, visuals, controls, and interactivity we enjoy on today's Internet.
People use the term "Web 1.0" to describe the earliest form of the Internet. Users saw the first example of a worldwide network that hinted at future digital communication and information-sharing potential.
Here are a few characteristics found in Web 1.0:
- It's made up of static pages connected to a system via hyperlinks
- It has HTML 3.2 elements like frames and tables
- HTML forms get sent through e-mail
- The content comes from the server's filesystem, not a relational database management system
- It features GIF buttons and graphics
Take a real-world dictionary, digitize everything in it, and make it accessible to people online to look at (but not be able to react to it). Boom. That's Web 1.0.
What Is Web 2.0?
If Web 1.0 was made up of a small number of people generating content for a larger audience, then Web 2.0 is many people creating even more content for a growing audience. Web 1.0 focused on reading; Web 2.0 focused on participating and contributing.
This Internet form emphasizes User-Generated Content (UGC), ease of use, interactivity, and improved compatibility with other systems and devices. Web 2.0 is all about the end user's experience. Consequently, this Web form was responsible for creating communities, collaborations, dialogue, and social media. As a result, Web 2.0 is considered the primary form of web interaction for most of today's users.
If Web 1.0 was called "the read-only Web," Web 2.0 is known as "the participative social Web." Web 2.0 is a better, more enhanced version of its predecessor, incorporating web browser technologies such as JavaScript frameworks.
Here's a breakdown of typical Web 2.0 characteristics:
- It offers free information sorting, allowing users to retrieve and classify data collectively
- It contains dynamic content that responds to the user's input
- It employs Developed Application Programming Interfaces (API)
- It encourages self-usage and allows forms of interaction like:
- Podcasting
- Social media
- Tagging
- Blogging
- Commenting
- Curating with RSS
- Social networking
- Web content voting
- It's used by society at large and not limited to specific communities.
Mobile Internet access and the rise of social networks have contributed to a dramatic upturn in Web 2.0's growth. This explosion is also fueled by the rampant popularity of mobile devices such as Android-powered devices and iPhones. In addition, Web 2.0's growth made it possible for apps such as TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube to expand and dominate the online landscape.
You're using Web 2.0 at this exact moment, you know.
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What Is Web 3.0?
And finally, we come to the latest Web iteration.
When trying to figure out the definitive web 3.0 meaning, we need to look into the future. Although there are elements of Web 3.0 currently available today, it still has a way to go before it reaches full realization.
Web 3.0, also referred to as Web3, is built on a foundation consisting of the core ideas of decentralization, openness, and more excellent user utility. Web 1.0 is the "read-only Web," Web 2.0 is the "participative social Web," and Web 3.0 is the "read, write, execute Web."
This Web interaction and utilization stage move users away from centralized platforms like Facebook, Google, or Twitter and towards decentralized, nearly anonymous platforms. World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee initially called Web 3.0 the Semantic Web and envisioned an intelligent, autonomous, and open Internet that used Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to act as a "global brain" and process content conceptually and contextually.
This idealized version didn't quite pan out due to technological limitations, like how expensive and complicated it is to convert human language into something readily understood by computers.
Here's a list of typical Web 3.0 characteristics:
- It's a semantic web, where the web technology evolves into a tool that lets users create, share, and connect content via search and analysis. It is based on comprehension of words instead of numbers and keywords.
- It incorporates Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. If these concepts are combined with Natural Language Processing (NLP), a computer uses Web 3.0 to become more competent and responsive to user needs.
- It presents the connectivity of multiple devices and applications through the Internet of Things (IoT). Semantic metadata makes this process possible, allowing all available information to be effectively leveraged. In addition, people can connect to the Internet anytime, anywhere, without needing a computer or smart device.
- It offers users the freedom to interact publicly or privately without having an intermediary expose them to risks, offering people "trustless" data.
- It uses 3-D graphics. We already see this in computer games, virtual tours, and e-commerce.
- It facilitates participation without needing authorization from a governing body. It's permissionless.
- It can be used for Metaverses: A 3D-rendered, boundless, virtual world.
- Blockchain games: They allow users to have actual ownership of in-game resources, following the principles of NFTs
- Privacy and digital infrastructure: This use includes zero-knowledge proofs and more secure personal information
- Decentralized finance. This use includes payment Blockchains, peer-to-peer digital financial transactions, smart contracts, and cryptocurrency.
- Decentralized autonomous organizations. Community members own online communities.
Web 3.0 ultimately lets users interact, exchange information, and securely conduct financial transactions without a centralized authority or coordinator. As a result, each user becomes a content owner instead of just a content user.
Remember that Web 3.0 isn't entirely in place. However, we are already seeing elements of Web 3.0 working their way into our Internet experiences, such as NFTs, Blockchain, Distributed ledgers, and the AR cloud. Additionally, Siri is Web 3.0 technology, as is the Internet of Things. However, if and when the full implementation happens, it will be closer to Berners-Lee's initial vision of Web 3.0. As he puts it, it will be a place with "no permission is needed from a central authority to post anything … there is no central controlling node, and so no single point of failure … and no "kill switch."
Unfortunately, there is still much work, especially in speech recognition; human speech has a staggering variety of nuances and terms that technology can't fully comprehend. There have been advances, but the process hasn't yet been perfected.
What Are the Differences Between the Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0?
Let's break down and examine the differences between the three Webs using this handy table.
Web 1.0
Web 2.0
Web 3.0
Typically read-only
Strongly read-write
Read-write-interact
Owned content
Shared content
Consolidated content
Visual/interactive Web
Programmable Web
Linked Data Web
Home pages
Wikis and blogs
Waves and live streams
Web page
Web service endpoint
Dataspace
HTML/HTTP/URL/Portals
XML/RSS
RDF/RDFS/OWL
Pageviews
Cost per click
User engagement
File/web servers, search engines, e-mail, P2P file sharing, content and enterprise portals
Instant messaging, Ajax and JavaScript frameworks, Adobe Flex
Personal intelligent data assistants, ontologies, knowledge bases, semantic search functions
Directories
Tagging the user
User behaviour
Focus on the company
Focus on the community
Focus on the individual
Encyclopedia Britannica online
Wikipedia
The Semantic Web
Banner advertising
Interactive advertising
Behavioural advertising
Active 1989-2005
Active 1999-2012
Active 2006-ongoing
Incidentally, just as the age range of various generations differs depending on whom you get the information from (things like boomers, Generation X, and millennials), there's also variance in Web version activity. For example, some sources classify Web 1.0 as 1990-2000, Web 2.0 as 2000-2010, and Web 3.0 as 2010-onward.
We can also say that Web 1.0 helped people find things online better, Web 2.0 enabled people to experience things better, and Web 3.0 helped people create things online better.
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What Are the Similarities Between the Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0?
If you look at all three different web versions, you notice that they only have a few fundamental traits in common. They are:
- They all deal with the relationship between end-users and information
- They all provide users with an iteration of the "read" function
- They all rely on the Internet to expedite their tasks
What Are the Features of the Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0?
Here's a breakdown of each web version's salient features.
Web 1.0
- No user-to-server communication
- Static websites
- Content browsing only
- Hyper-linking and bookmarking pages
- Read-only Web
Web 2.0
- Improved user interaction over Web 1.0
- Web applications introduced
- Functions such as online documents, video streaming, Etc.
- Everything moves online; information and apps are stored on servers
- Interactive advertising and pay-per-click
- Cloud computing operations
- Centralized data
- Read and Write Web
Web 3.0
- Intelligent, web-based functionalities and applications
- Decentralized processes
- A fusion of Web technology and Knowledge Representation
- Behavioural advertising and engagement
- Edge computing
- Live videos
- The Internet of Things (IoT)
- Semantic searches
- Read, Write, and Control Web
Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0: A Closer Comparison
Let's take a closer look at these two versions of the Web, especially since they are the iterations that most users are most familiar with, Long-standing Internet users are undoubtedly familiar with the "old" Internet (Web 1.0), and Web 2.0 is the default standard today, so everyone has experienced it in one way or another. We have elements of Web 3.0 here and there, but it hasn't been rolled out as a complete entity yet.
The best way to compare Web 1.0 vs Web 2.0 is by analogy. Let's say someone hands you a book to read. You read it, but you can't change any of its words. That's what Web 1.0 was like this. On the other hand, if someone offered you a different book and a red editor's pencil and told you that you could read the book and use the pencil to make changes or add it, that's Web 2.0.
So, Web 1.0 information can't be modified, while Web 2.0 information can. Web 1.0 is a static Web with linear information, and Web 2.0 is a dynamic Web that contains non-linear information. Linear information is a text that must be read in the traditional straight-line format from beginning to end. Non-linear, on the other hand, has no such restrictions and can be read in any order the reader wishes.
Web 1.0 is a static Webform, while Web 2.0 is a dynamic entity. Then we add Web 3.0 back into the mix and see how it takes the user experience to the next level.
Looking Beyond Web 3.0
Yes, there is already talk of a Web 4.0! Speculation is rampant, with people theorizing that it will be more cerebral and address the decentralization issues raised by Web 3.0. Decentralization isn't perfect and will require extensive fine-tuning if adopted on a large scale.
Some pundits speculate that Web 4.0 will be the ultimate step in Web evolution, with users accessing the Web via physical implants! That is either a very excellent idea or an absolute dystopian nightmare depending on your sensibilities!
And for anyone who thinks that idea is too much in science fiction, remember that we have wearable tech in the present, things like FitBits, or heart monitors that send information to the patient's Primary Care Provider. It's not too big of a move to a device implanted in the user that allows Web access at will and bypasses the need for a hand-held mobile device.
But no matter what Web 4.0 will look like, it's still decades away. So, for now, the IT world is busy trying to implement Web 3.0 fully.
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