Difference between Web2 and Web3

Let’s go back in time to 1989. Some of us reading this article probably weren’t even born yet by that time (I certainly wasn’t) but something revolutionary happened that year that would change the course of history. The invention of the World Wide Web by Sir Tim-Berners Lee. The web pages that characterized this first iteration of the internet were much simpler than what we are used to today. Basically, they were mostly static HTML files with a few simple styles embedded in the HTML markup. Not very interesting.

However, as we got more technologically advanced both in terms of hardware and software, so did the internet. Over time, servers were upgraded, average connection speeds increased and software developers learned and developed new skills and techniques. This led to the development of interactive websites and enhanced what could be accomplished over the Internet. This led to the coining of the term Web 2.0 by Darci DiNucci. In fact, the term Web 1.0 wasn’t coined until Darci DiNucci coined the term Web 2.0.

Now let’s be clear. Web 2.0 doesn’t represent a second version of the web or refer to a technical update to the web. The term Web 2.0 was coined simply to differentiate between the simple static websites that first characterized the web and the new web apps being developed at the time. The web was originally invented by Berners Lee as “a collaborative medium, a place where we can all meet and read and write.” What is termed Web 1.0 and Web 2.0, Berners-Lee sees as the gradual growth in technology that has always supported this single central vision.

In any case, Web2 was mainly characterized by:

• User-generated content: Visitors to a website could contribute to the content of the website. This led to the growth of the creator economy.

• Emphasis on user experience (UI/UX): This is a central theme in all website design today be it mobile or on the web with features that are responsive to user input and focus on personalization on enhancement of the user experience.

• Improved interoperability: This was mainly led by the development of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that allow for dynamic exchange of information between websites and servers.

Most of the platforms we use today fall into this category, for example, Facebook, Uber, and Snapchat just to mention a few. Technologists sometimes refer to this as the platform economy.

But that’s not all! We now have a new iteration of the web based on blockchain technology now referred to as Web3. This term was coined by Ethereum co-founder Dr. Gavin Wood in 2014. Web 3 is based on the fundamental principles of blockchain technology in that it’s decentralized, trustless, and based on tokenomics. Web 3 is strongly contrasted against Web 2 where the proponents argue that the great powers of the internet lie only in the hand of a few, commonly referred to as ‘Big Tech’. We are still in the early days of Web3 but already there is a lot of innovation in the space across the world, especially on the blockchain platform known as Ethereum. Many of the decentralized applications or dApps are built on Ethereum.

In conclusion, the jury is still out on the utility of Web3 applications as compared to Web 2 with as many pessimists as there are optimists.

This article was written for the Blockgames program, a partnership between The Zuri team and Nestcoin