The Web Evolution

Technological and Internet Advancements

Nowadays, people can hardly conceive life without the internet, and that is what the world wide web is all about, the innovation of internet technology over the years. The Internet was present to make sharing information more accessible, but over time it has become a natural extension of the way we communicate with each other. 

Now, let’s get deeper into the world wide web. The world wide web is considered the world's dominant software platform and the largest global information space through which all resources can be accessed using a web browser and web-based applications, and in which users can write, read, and share data freely. 

Web technology has evolved throughout the years, and each evolution has brought out new, different, and smarter tools, applications, and technologies that have indulged in our lives. Therefore, the world wide web embraces three stages of internet growth: Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0. 

Web 1.0 - First Stage of Web Evolution

Web 1.0 was the first generation of the world wide web that started in 1989 and stayed until 2005. It is a techno-social system of cognition and a presentation-oriented content viewing service supporting static web pages, mainly hard-coded HTML pages. It is referred to as the read-only web, and it began as a space for businesses to display their data without interaction, and allowed users to only search for information and read it. 

It was a new idea for people to have something called a web, where they can search for information. The way people would search online wasn’t entirely easy at the beginning of web 1.0, in which they should know the specific link they are searching for to view the information.

Web 2.0 - Development of Web Evolution

Web 2.0 also known as the social web and referred to as the read-write web, started in 2004 and its concern was to connect people and facilitate interaction through several online tools and platforms to share opinions, thoughts, and experiences. This is the stage of the web that most of us are familiar with. 

Web 2.0 is a term that emphasizes user-generated content, ease of use, participatory culture and interoperability for end users, secure information sharing, increased collaboration, and the improvement of the functionality of the Web. The exciting part of web 2.0 is that it allows people to engage with each other and tag via social media platforms, and create websites, blogs, and podcasts.

Social Media Progress in Web 2.0

Social media is a significant innovation of Web 2.0 that fits right under this stage, thus shifting the world away from static web pages created for information presentation toward interactive and user-created content. What makes social media unique among Web 2.0 innovations is the introduction of web-based sharing. 

Who doesn’t remember how social media was before all these technological advancements? We still remember in the 90s when mobile phones and laptops were not that famous, and people used to gather in one place to search the web, or even chat with their family and friends through MSN. Then the internet started to evolve and grow more in which the majority of people began to know more about social media and how to use it. Now, it has reached a peak point and priority in human lives and the business world. Businesses depend a lot nowadays on social media to grow, attract an audience and be present worldwide.

A Glimpse into Web 3.0

Web 3.0 is the third generation of internet services that focuses on using a machine-based understanding of data to provide a data-driven and semantic web to provide a more productive and intuitive user experience. It is the intelligent future of the internet, which is all about secure, connected, and personalized interactions with machines and websites, that are not heavily applied yet but are in the process of becoming widely used.

Web 3.0 is indulging in all the technological aspects from social media to the blockchain, metaverse, digital marketing, virtual assistance, browsing, natural language search, data mining, machine learning, artificial intelligence, etc. 

Main Features of Web 3.0

 

Semantic Web: it enhances the functionality and accessibility of websites, and allows users to be more precise and effective when searching for data based on exact meaning rather than keywords or page numbers.

Decentralization: it is when data is decentralized thus enabling users to own their data. This will give users the opportunity to trade their data without losing ownership, risking privacy, or getting tracked.

Connectivity & Ubiquity: it is when information and content are more connected and ubiquitous, thus accessed by multiple applications and devices with an increasing number of everyday devices connected to the web. A great example of it is the Internet of Things.

Artificial Intelligence: it is when computers understand information through technologies based upon machine learning, natural language processing, and algorithms to imitate how humans learn, to gradually improve its accuracy.

Blockchain: it is the foundation of web 3.0 that incorporates secured concepts such as decentralization and token-based economics. It redefines the data structures in the backend of the semantic web that creates intelligent contracts across the web. 

 

Metaverse: it is a concept in which the internet or virtual worlds merge and integrate into our lives that we will interact with.

 

Are you excited about Web 3.0? What do you think it will bring to the table in the near future and how would it affect our lifestyle?

Published on 2022-06-01
by Aya