Key difference between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0

Web 2.0 & Web 3.0? It’s a general question that can puzzle every mind.?

The arguments over the unmatched differences b/w Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 spiked with the constant evolution of the internet. Both terms are the descendants of web 1.0, which is the original version of the world wide web & also referred to as WWW.?

Web 1.0 used to exist in the early 1990s & 2000s, while Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 are its successive iterations for the current & upcoming time. The journey of the internet era from a basic & static website in Web 1.0 to a full-fledged website with more interactive pages searched on the current web 2.0 version, is gradually framing a transition to the next phase, representing the onset of Web 3.0.???

While the internet world is currently in the Web 2.0 phase, the predicted advent of Web 3.0 is a hot topic of discussion among industry experts.?

Why are debaters so obsessed with Web 2.0 & Web 3.0? The disruption of web 2.0 has diffused the charisma of digitalization across the diverse horizons of the web world. And Web 3.0 is all set to revolutionize its existing space with more tech innovations coming on the way.?

Introduction & evolution of Web 1.0 with respect to Web 2.0 & Web 3.0

Web means World Wide Web (WWW), the biggest ever network of the internet's information retrieval system in history.

The WWW was previously used with a? (and often still does) preface a web address and remained the first character typed into a web browser while searching for a specific term or resource online. Tim Berners-Lee, the pioneer of the internet was recognized for coining the term World Wide Web as www as a source of the global web of information that can be interconnected through hypertext links.1

What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 arose in the era when the web defined itself as a new medium. It was separate and distinct from every other that preceded it, including traditional print and video. Instead of just static websites that pushed information to users, Web 2.0 introduced new forms of interactivity.?

Featured web add-ons such as blogging were introduced that became popular while social networks began to prolific with the technologies that redefined the web from its origins to the Web 2.0 era.?

Among them is a technology approach known as Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML). Ajax was first popularized by Google Maps, which completely changed the way the web worked. Instead of just a flat, static map, Ajax-enabled Google Maps to zoom, scroll and manipulate the map image.

The use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is one more definitive attribute of Web 2.0. In the initial times of the web, developers had to format pages with tables, which restricts them for much control. By the early 2000s, CSS became more usual and powerful, allowing complex design layouts that transformed the way the web seemed to be.

What is Web 3.0?

There is a lack of clarity around the term Web 3.0, also sometimes called Web3, as it's still an emerging space that is very loosely defined. There are even debates as to when the term was coined. Berners-Lee used the term Web 3.0 to describe what he referred to as a Semantic Web in 2006, while Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood first used the term Web3 in 2014 in the context of cryptocurrency.

Over the years, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has attempted to create standards around the concept of the Semantic Web, which aims to provide new approaches to linking data and content together. Instead of just linking content together based on keywords, a semantic layer can be informed by AI to help connect data and websites.

The term Web 3.0 goes far beyond the Semantic Web concepts espoused by the W3C and is more often used in reference to higher-level concepts such as decentralization. Rather than the same centralized approaches to connectivity and data that are the basis of both Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, Web 3.0 is built on peer-to-peer and consensus algorithms as the foundation. A key part of the distributed consensus for Web 3.0 comes in the form of blockchain technology.

Part of the push for decentralization with Web 3.0 also integrates cryptocurrency, which provides another option for payments and wealth transfer. Moreover, the concept of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) provides another way to create, manage and own assets using blockchain technology.

The use of AI technology to automate workflows & boost overall user experience is another key hallmark of the emerging world of Web 3.0. AI helps to render scalability and better performance to the web itself, as well as embracing new forms of smart & intelligent search & interactions.

Web 2.0 vs. Web 3.0

The world of Web 1.0 was truly static and just about sharing information. With Web 2.0, the web became more interactive, dynamic, and social. And with Web 3.0, web 2.0 is foreseen to turn smarter, expansive, & more distributed than ever.?

Let’s compare the core features of Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 to differentiate between these two web versions.?

Key Web 2.0 Features

Here are some of the peculiar traits of web 2.0 that worth noticing to settle this debate:

• Web 2.0 allows free information sorting that further enables visitors to collectively retrieve and categorize the desired data or information they’re searching for.??
• It’s the second genre of internet facilities that emphasizes delivering dynamic & highly responsive content to ensure user engagement.
• Web 2.0 also prioritizes the analysis of online reviews & comments to channel the flow of information between site users and site owners.?
• Web 2.0 renders direct access to web content from televisions, mobile devices, multimedia gadgets, or any internet-enabled device.?
• Being also referred to as a collaborative social web, Web 2.0 encourages users to participate in creating & sharing informative content besides considering favorable aspects for collaboration. In this way, Web 2.0 is identified as a key growth factor for virtual communities.

Web 2.0 applications have initiated an unavoidable frontend revolution with more opportunities for interaction with the end-users. Users can explore a wide range of app categories in web 2.0, majorly from social media, social bookmarking, blogging, podcasting, tagging, gaming, & more.??

We can say that with such a wide array of distinct features, you can probably learn the strengths of web 2.0 over its previous version i.e Web 1.0. Now to get the final verdict for web 2.0 vs web 3.0, you have to get familiar with the features of web 3.0 so that you can make a clear comparison and compare them with web 2.0 features.?

Key Web 3.0 features

You can get a clear understanding of “What is the difference b/w Web 2.0 & Web 3.0?” by comparing the following features of Web 3.0 with Web 2.0 features as discussed in the last section.?

• Web 3.0 shall embrace artificial intelligence technology to present correct search results along with real-time insights at a faster pace.?
• Web 3.0 will enable users to capture the potential of 3D visuals & graphics.?
• One critical feature of Web 3.0 is related to the Semantic Web functionality. It indicates that Web 3.0 could understand the meaning of words. As a result, machines & humans could easily search, share, and analyze data in web 3.0.
• There will be improved privacy & security in Web 3.0 which is a prominent trait to note.?
• The web 2.0 and web 3.0 differences would also focus on the safeguards for user data and identity. Web 3.0 employs advanced authorization mechanisms through distributed ledger technologies and encryption for securing user identity and data.?

Final Verdict

If we take an example from the movies, if Web 1.0 represented the era of black-and-white movies & it evolved in a form of Web 2.0, which is the age of color/basic 3D & animated movies that will transform into Web 3.0, expected to immerse viewers in the world of the metaverse.?

The rise of web 2.0 was observed in the 2010s, a? decade when Web 2.0 ruled the global business & cultural landscape. Whereas the 2020s continue to witness the gradual emergence of Web 3.0s. Even? Facebook got its new name Meta last year.?

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