Web3 and why it matters to the world
Tags: Web3, Technology, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Nft

As technological advancements reach further heights and exceed expectations from decades ago, the rest of the world continues to catch on. In an effort to understand our gradual entrance into the revolutionary web3 era, it is key to look back into the Internet’s history and know where the digital world is headed.

The past & the present: Web1 through Web2

THE INTERNET has been around for over three decades now, with a history that dates back from its origin in the 1990s as the web1. This version of the internet was decentralized with community-governed open protocols. At the time, there was a lot of value generated by the network’s users and developers.

If you were around this period, you might remember prominent web1 sites like MySpace and LiveJournal where users enjoyed simple static websites. These were primarily informational to us at work and beyond. It was all about static websites which only displayed information and databases. You could only see web pages having texts, pictures, and an email by which you can find other newer websites. It was only by then that search engines became a feature.

At this point, the world has yet to know of the miles-deep potential of the internet.

Entering web2 began with the goal of global interactivity and information sharing across users, services, and businesses. It was the next generation of the internet, primarily corporate-run and centralized in its services. This took user experience to the next level through the doors it opened up for extensive features and platforms across web applications.

Among the corporations that have taken the most value out of the web2 era are the Big Tech companies including Google, Amazon, and Facebook. At this time, the internet amassed global success in networking a huge block of the world and it took consumer services to the next level, as it gave birth to many newer markets such as social media and e-commerce that took the multiple traditional industries by storm.

However, technology continues to prove its never-ending pursuit for innovation. With a lot of budding ethical issues around user data and centralized services, the future of the Internet finds its way in web3.

Easing into the Web3 and the future

As a sophisticated hybrid of the previous versions of the internet, web3 combines the web1 ethos of a decentralized, community-governed network with the advanced and modern functions of web2. We are currently living it now and it is gaining momentum in its early stages.

Powered by the open-source breakthrough technology, the Blockchain, web3 is all about the decentralization of data and data servers, internet of value, and access inclusivity through permissionless networks run by tokens that may be fungible and non-fungible (NFTs).

Users and developers of the web3 can own parcels of internet services by owning the mentioned tokens as these give individuals various property rights. For instance, NFTs grant owners the ability to own digital objects and assets that may be in the form of art, photos, code, music, game items, access passes, and beyond.

This new tech frontier is brought by Blockchain technology geared at decentralization, where individuals are entitled to a unique code that enables them to share data across multiple special computers which are then encrypted and infallible from manipulation. This is unlike the soiled centralized data servers in web2 which are massively run by specific giant tech companies such as Google.

As a result of the new innovation, the mechanism by which data is stored and exchanged across the world is revolutionized, affording everyone the right to preserve and protect their privacy. Once more users join the network, the deeper problems brought by previous versions of the internet will soon be mended by the prominence of web3.

All that said, Web3 changes the internet digital game. Beyond gaining back full control over our individual personal data through the decentralization of servers, the cyber world it introduces us to is one where inclusive access, goodwill, and security are generated, and new technologies are adopted with an open mind.

Web3 is the internet’s future, and it has already arrived. It does matter and it is here to stay in the long haul.