Welcome to WEB 3.0

Published in

CryptoStars

10 min readJan 12, 2022

Web 3.0, the new buzzword taking over the whole internet after the sudden popularity of Metaverse, thanks to Zuckerberg for its rapid instigation and changing own company’s name to meta overnight. Web 3.0 was in development for last few years and still it is in beta phase and is believed to be the next big internet revolution as big as www(world wide web) in early 90s.

The third version of the internet which is an improvised version of web 2.0, minimizes the outcome of the second version. But nothing is ideal in this world, web 3.0 has also its certain limitations. And we will be finding those later in the following article. To understand the newer versions we have to date back in time, a little as back as late 80s.

WEB 1.0

The first iteration of the web represents the Web 1.0, which, according to Berners-Lee, is the “read-only web.” In other words, the early web allowed us to search for information and read it. There was very little in the way of user interaction or content generation. Businesses always wanted a medium through which they can reach to its consumers. It happened during the period of Radios, TVs and it was time for the internet which would help them to reach the world wide audience. Shopping cart applications, which most ecommerce sites use in some form, fall under web 1.0. The overall goal is to present products to potential customers — much as a catalog or a brochure does — to anyone in the world. The web provides exposure. It removes the geographical restrictions associated with brick-and-mortar businesses.

Characteristics of Web 1.0:

Development of a host of web-based applications, which fostered in online services, such as email.
Content from administrator.
Managed by a central authority.
Read-only, information was “pushed” to users.
Email was the first widely adopted application on the Internet.

Computers and items for connection became necessities. Technology advancements in computers brought on changes, floppy disks became hard drives that stored MB that turned into GB that turned into TB. Internet speeds switched from kilobits to tens of megabits per second, to gigabits per second and RAM grew from hundreds of kilobytes to gigabytes and the dot-com bubble began. Companies appeared attempting to cash in on this new technology, most notable was a company called Netscape which developed the first commercial Web browser.

WEB 2.0

The internet we are using today is the web 2.0 or the dynamic internet. As described by Berners-Lee “read-write” web. It’s the ability to contribute content and interact with other web users. It has dramatically changed the landscape of the web in a short time.

It has much potential. As examples, look at YouTube and Facebook, which rely on user submissions. Web 2.0 is a welcome response to web users who want to participate in the information.

Characteristics of Web 2.0:

User-generated content.
Read-write, individuals can interact with information.
Information became siloed.
Data became a commodity.

Web 2.0 saw emerging marketplaces that brought together unrelated buyers and sellers in a seamless low-cost way. Data became a commodity collected, siloed and sold; we were giving up our information at a frenzied pace. Websites let users generate content, social networks became part of our lives.

WEB 3.0

This leads us to web 3.0 (extending the vague nomenclature). By extrapolating Tim Berners-Lee’s explanations, web 3.0 is “read-write-execute.” This is difficult to envision in its abstract form. To illustrate, consider semantic markup and web services.

Semantic markup refers to the communication gap between humans and computerized applications. One of the biggest challenges of presenting information on the web is that applications cannot provide context to data and, therefore, can’t understand what is relevant. Through the use of some semantic markup (or data interchange formats), data could be put in a form not only accessible to humans via natural language but able to be understood and interpreted by software applications as well.

A web service is a software that supports computer-to-computer interaction over the internet. Web services are not new and usually take the form of an application programming interface. The popular photography-sharing website Flickr provides a web service whereby developers can programmatically interface to search for images.

There are thousands of web services. Combining semantic markup and web services can produce a web 3.0 experience — applications that can speak to each other directly and interpret information for humans.

Some pros of web 3.0:-

it is expected to be more reliable

Web 3.0 will give more freedom to creators and users in general. With the help of decentralised networks, Web 3.0 will ensure its users always remain in control of their online data. The next version of the internet is also expected to be more reliable as its decentralised nature removes the occurrence of a single-point failure.

It will be truly for any and everyone

Web 3.0 does not require a single entity to control it. Bigger corporations may no longer control any aspect of the internet. As a result, decentralised apps or dApps cannot be censored, and neither can their access be restricted.

Increased personalisation of the internet

Since Web 3.0 will be able to understand your preferences, you will be able to extensively personalise your web browsing experience. This will also help you surf the web in a productive way.

Web 3.0 will help sellers to market better

With the help of the artificial intelligence of Web 3.0, sellers can understand your buying needs and show you products and services that you are keen on purchasing. This helps you see better and more relatable advertisements that have a higher chance of being beneficial for you.

Uninterrupted services

The decentralisation will mean every data will be stored on distributed nodes and therefore, users need not worry about suspension of a particular account or service disruptions due to technical or other reasons.

Some cons of web 3.0:-

Ownership concerns

Twitter’s former CEO Jack Dorsey believes that regular users will not be the owners of Web 3.0 projects, as is expected. It will be owned by venture capitalists and investors. This will mean the control could still remain centralised.

Tough to regulate

Some experts also believe that decentralisation could add to difficulties in monitoring and regulating Web 3.0. This could lead to a rise in cybercrimes, online abuse etc.

Surfing Web 3.0 will require better processors

Old devices will not be able to handle Web 3.0. Hence, you would require a device that has above-average specifications to be able to use the next version of the internet.

Existing website owners will be compelled to upgrade

As websites and apps that work on Web 3.0 become popular, existing businesses will be compelled to upgrade their digital offerings to ensure that they do not lose their captured market.

Easier access to one’s personal and public data

Web 3.0 is vast and interconnected. Though this is its strength, the semantic network also makes it easy for anybody to gain access to your public and private information that you share online.

How Does Web 3.0 Work?

The idea behind web 3.0 is to make searches on the Internet much faster, easier and more efficient to process even complex search sentences in no time.

In a web 2.0 application, a user has to interact with its frontend, which communicates to its backend, which further communicates with its database. The entire code is hosted on centralized servers, which are sent to users through an Internet browser.

Web 3.0 has neither centralized databases that store the application state nor a centralized web server where the backend logic resides. Instead, there is a blockchain to build apps on a decentralized state machine and maintained by anonymous nodes on the web.

The logic of your applications is defined in smart contracts, written by the developers, which are deployed onto the decentralized state machine:

Anyone willing to build a blockchain application deploys their code on this shared state machine. The front end remains almost the same as in web 2.0.

Here is a figure depicting the working of a web 3.0 application:

Web 3.0 Architecture

There are primarily four elements in the architecture that make up web 3.0:

Ethereum Blockchain — These are globally accessible state machines maintained by a peer-to-peer network of nodes. Anyone in the world can access the state machine and write to it. Essentially, it is not owned by any single entity but, rather, collectively by everyone in the network. Users can write to the Ethereum Blockchain, but they can never update existing data.
Smart Contracts — These are programs run on the Ethereum Blockchain. These are written by the app developers in high-level languages, such as Solidity or Vyper, to define the logic behind the state changes.
Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) — The purpose of these machines is to execute the logic defined in the smart contracts. They process the state changes taking place on the state machine.
Front End — Like any other application, the front-end defines the UI logic. However, it also connects with smart contracts that define application logic.

Web 3.0 and Metaverse

Metaverse is quite a buzzword since Facebook recently announced its new name ‘Meta’. The idea is to showcase that the company is moving fast towards a Metaverse. However, Metaverse is still not a reality, but soon could be the next evolution of the Internet. Metaverse generally refers to shared virtual world environments or a computer-generated environment, which is accessible to users via the Internet. It is a digital space that is designed as more lifelike by using “extended reality,” the combination of augmented, virtual and mixed reality.

At the moment, people interact with each other through social media platforms or by using messaging applications. In the virtual space, users will have their own “character” that can walk around and interact with other users. They can communicate with one another through avatars, text messages, sounds, music videos, video games, etc.

This means that people will have a 3D experience on the Internet. They can interact, play, work, or join in digital environments as if they are experiencing it in reality rather than just watching the content.

The role of web 3. 0 is vital in making Metaverse a reality, specifically if it uses blockchain technology. In other words, web3 will enable the virtual world to exist online and be accessible through a web browser. Presently, Metaverse is more associated with virtual gaming, but this is not limited to only games. The scope of the web 3.0 Metaverse is much broader that also includes the education industry. For example, in an education Metaverse, users can enter an immersive classroom and interact with their teacher and other students. In the future, web 3.0 and Metaverse will together proliferate in all aspects of society.

NFTs: A real time usage of Web 3.0 in your daily life.

NFTs or Non-Fungible Tokens, Web3 is designed to remove Big Tech from the equation, much of it be free and open-source, and provide transaction information that is unique and authentic.

It brings with it a frenzied hunger for NFTs (non-fungible tokens) — one-of-a-kind digital products, including art.

And there is optimism from some who say that Web3 has the power to transform the internet and society for the better — musicians being able to be paid every time a song is played, cutting down on fraud and instantaneous credentialing, for instance.

However, there are naysayers who believe this is all part of the online world’s latest grift.

This technology under the umbrella of Web3 is NFTs which are used mostly now for digital art and other digital content. The difference between any old JPG image and a JPG that is also an NFT, is that the JPG NFT has a digital token of ownership behind it. You own the JPG NFT unlike any regular JPG you download.

The NFT JPG is created on a blockchain — a public digital database that records unique and irrevocable cryptocurrency transactions and runs across many computers of which no one person or entity has ownership.

Web3 is a Wild West

The new internet is very much a new Wild West, of sorts. There are very few consumer protections right now around blockchain, crypto and NFTs. This creates a situation where there are lots of ways, people can be taking advantage of or scammed. One of the biggest barriers at the moment to much wider spread of crypto and engagement in markets like the NFT market, is that most of the ways of accessing these crypto markets just don’t have anything resembling the protections we’re used to in other sorts of financial services or product markets.