Web3 and the transition to true digital ownership.

Internet users over the last three to five decades have evolved rapidly as a species on the technology front, right from when we thought Web 1.0 (reading-enabled) was the biggest thing that happened, Web 2.0(writing-enabled) came with its share of rich connectivity, e-commerce and web-native content sharing. Meanwhile, Centralization was the core mode for operations and service delivery in Web 2.0, and this gradually opened up many huge concerns, including internet neutrality, data privacy, anonymity and service monopoly.

In Web2, for example, content creators are frequently at the mercy of the social media platforms via which they distribute their work, which has led to various agitations, ranging from unreasonable content censorship, to content demonetization, and even deplatforming.

For instance, during the current web2 internet era, when you buy an eBook, you read it and then what? Do you really have ownership over the book if you can’t choose what to do with it afterwards? The answer is NO. Your eBook provider owns the book and you access it via your account.

In web3 however, you own your digital assets. Instead of copying the file, you are transferring ownership of the file. You can access any digital asset you own via a decentralized identifier and it will be stored on your decentralized storage system. When you’ve read your eBook, you can choose to keep it, pass it on to a friend, or sell it to recoup some of the cost – just like you can in the physical world with paperbacks or hardbacks.

In short, the creative economy will benefit greatly from this ongoing shift with respect to the redesigned social media paradigm.

The overview of digital ownership.

Without jumping guns, we need to understand why we don't own any assets online and to do this, there has to be a sequential summary of the internet evolution; especially with how we came about the business model that dominated the current internet iteration.

In the 1990s,the internet was majorly a content delivery network consisting of simple static websites showcasing information; it was the decade of desktop computers and dial-up connections. In short, what we refer to today as Web1 was slow, cached and not organized.

Next came the platforms, such as Facebook (now Meta) and Google in the mid 2000s, driven by wireless connectivity and the development of handheld devices like laptops, smartphones, and tablets, which gave us free-to-use services that enabled us to edit, interact with and generate content. These platforms centralized the web, putting in place an authorized structure that saw users reliant on their systems and services.

In this digital space, users are both participants and products that have to exchange their data with signing up on the platforms, which are eventually sold to advertisers. Moreover, creators create content that generates value and fuels engagement for these platforms and with no right to claim ownership for anything online.

Sometimes, users not only suffer profile removal from the platforms but our access to email accounts or messenger apps may also be suspended. We are far from owning any of the digital assets we purchase and have no autonomy over our data. Also, the businesses we build online are often platform dependent and therefore vulnerable to algorithms, data breaches, and shadow restrictions.

Undoubtedly, the deck is stacked against us, since the option of not getting involved, when so much commerce and communication in the world is online, isn’t really an option. The fear of missing out on opportunities on the online space is such an unaffordable risk for every business. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can point to and call ours; nothing over which we have any valid right.

And, it is this paradigm that Web3 is determined to tweak in favour of the users.

Web3 and the “Internet of Value”

Web3 is set to change the narratives of the current digital experience, which is solely corporate and centralized. The blockchain technology in Web3 will offer the dynamic, app-driven user experience of the current mobile web in a decentralized model, shifting power and right of ownership back to users from the current big technology platforms. It will do so by spreading the data outwards towards users who are then free to use, share and monetize it as they see fit.

Underlying that extension, access will be reasonably guaranteed, for anyone to use any service without permission from a central authority that can block, restrict or remove user access.

The core idea about Web3 is that the technology will not only be more unbiased and decentralized but it will also create an “Internet of Value” as the value generated by the Web will be shared more equitably among users, companies and services with better interoperability. Users will have full ownership, rights and control over both the content they create and their data.

But how will it help us transition towards true digital ownership? Immutability of Blockchain Technology!

Blockchain technology being a decentralized, distributed ledger, it stores the record of ownership of digital assets, where data details are recorded, cryptographic keys are generated and everything is managed by the token’s unique ID and metadata.

The Digital Ownership in Web3 Era.

Web3 is an extremely important advancement to the functionality of the Internet, allowing users to participate in it beyond reading and writing, but by also owning their personal content to reduce dependency on large technology companies through the use of decentralized protocols. This gives the individual users power over their data, identity, digital assets, security and transactions.

With this iteration of the internet, the digital assets that represent Web3 are characterized by open, autonomous and decentralized technologies within internet ecosystems that enable trustless infrastructure and remove intermediaries as well as central monopolies. This gives individual users power and ownership over their data, identity, digital assets, security and transactions. Web3 technologies can run autonomously with no need for a centralized organization to maintain their operation; this frees up creative resources to build out a universe of decentralized financial tools and applications (dapps).

Final Thoughts.

Without any ado, the rewards of diving into the Web3 world are immeasurable and can never be overemphasized. The return of data ownership to the consumer as a result of decentralization, which enables users to be put in control of their data and can choose who has access to it.

Whether you want to improve your creative brand as a content creator or take advantage of the newly emerging opportunities as a business owner, Web3 offers a new way to monetize that benefits both you and your consumers.