Web 2.0 refers to a perceived second generation of the World Wide Web that emphasizes user-generated content, usability, and interoperability. This term was coined by Darcy DiNucci in 1999 and later popularized by Tim O'Reilly and Dale Dougherty in 2004 at the O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 Conference.
Here are some key characteristics of Web 2.0:
User Participation: Web 2.0 emphasizes user-generated content. Users are not just passive consumers of content but active contributors, creating blogs, posts, comments, and reviews.
Social Networking: Social media platforms became central to Web 2.0. They allow users to connect, communicate, and share content with each other. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are all examples of social media platforms that emerged with Web 2.0.
Interactivity: Web 2.0 is characterized by increased interactivity. Users interact with web pages through likes, shares, comments, and other forms of feedback.
Collaborative Systems: Web 2.0 brought about online collaboration tools such as Google Docs and Wikipedia, where multiple users can contribute and work together on the same document or project.
Rich User Interface: Web 2.0 websites often feature dynamic content that can be manipulated by the user, such as dragging widgets on a dashboard or sliding a bar to adjust a value.
Cloud-Based Applications and Storage: Many Web 2.0 applications run in the cloud, meaning that they can be accessed from any device with an internet connection, and data can be stored and retrieved from the cloud.
It's important to note that "Web 2.0" is more of a concept than a technical update to the Web. It's a change in how we use the internet, with an emphasis on user-generated content, collaboration, and information sharing, as opposed to the more static, read-only websites of the earlier "Web 1.0" era.