The term Web 3.0 has been gaining popularity. Web 3.0 is a strong antithesis to the paradigm Web 2.0, centered on GAFAM (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft). Web 3.0 was proposed by Gavin Wood, a British computer scientist, also known as the founder of Polkadot and Kusama. In this article we explain the background behind the spotlights on Web 3.0.
Web3.0 is a re-branding of crypto
Although there are many definitions of Web 3.0, it is appropriate to think of it as a rebranding of the term "crypto" to describe the world view of cryptoassets and blockchain. In general, many people view cryptoassets and blockchain speculative or a viral trend, and the term crypto is often associated with a negative image. This is why rebranding crypto as Web 3.0 has started.
Web 3.0 is expected to be the next generation Internet, but rather than trying to understand Web 3.0 out of the blue, we first need to understand the paradigms of Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 and reveal in what context Web 3.0 was born. For this reason, in the next chapter we will discuss Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 and explain why Web 3.0 has become popular recently.
Web3.0 aims to evacuate the GAFAM-centric Web2.0 society
Web 1.0 refers to the era when the birth of the World Wide Web (WWW) enabled individuals to freely create websites and spread information. The time period was from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s.
During that time, programming languages such as CSS and JavaScript were premature, and the contents were mainly static HTML, allowing information to be read (in one direction). The main players were companies and organizations who spent budgets to create websites to spread information.
In Web 2.0, social networking services (SNS) emerged as a service that could solve the directional nature of information transmission in Web 1.0. This made it possible for everyone, who until then were just information recipients, to post information on SNS such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. This has made the Web interactive.
However, we can’t say Internet has achieved true freedom with the invention of SNS. It has rather created various constraints. This is because the companies that control SNS and other platforms are a small group of companies called Big Tech, led by GAFAM. Individuals are the generators of information, but Big Tech monopolizes that information.
Information on social networking sites has a huge impact on people's lives, including politics and economics. There is also the spread of fake news and hate speech, and overwhelming censorship is also an issue. Some think it is a social issue that the use of social networking services for political purposes as seen in the U.S. presidential election, and allegations that repeating acquisitions of emerging services by Big Tech may violate antitrust laws.
This is where the concept of Web 3.0, also known as the distributed Web, emerged. We will explain this in more detail later, but the birth of NFT has made it possible for users to own their own information (data). If Web1.0 is the "Reading" era, Web 2.0 is the "Read-Write" era, and Web 3.0 is the "Read-Write-Own" era.
In Web3.0, there is a possibility that metaverse will be the red ocean replacing the social networking service. This will give birth to the concept of "virtual first," and the amount of information generated will be significantly greater than that of Web 2.0.
The Internet, which became centralized and dominated by a small number of companies in Web 2.0, is about to enter an era of decentralization and autonomous expansion through Web 3.0.
Web3.0 is beneficial to individuals, not entities
Web 3.0 will allow people to manage their own data (personal information) on their own. Until now, you are not compensated for providing your own data, but the emerge of marketplaces such as information banks for data will change this trend dramatically.
Until now, institutional investors and venture capitalists were the main recipients of returns on successful projects. In Web 3.0, however, those who contribute to the ecosystem will receive tokens, making it easier for them to achieve financial returns when their projects success. Thus, instead of wealth being concentrated in small number of people, we can expect wealth to be distributed throughout the society.
What kind of people are the leaders in Web 3.0? They are the artist and architects in various fields, who create "zero to one". Web 3.0 will foretell the maturation of the artist economy.
NFT and Metaverse, the tech trend for Web 3.0
Here we discuss the two tech trends, NFT and Metaverse, which is essential when understanding Web 3.0. Many people may feel barriers to these ideas for their newness and complexity, but they are necessary knowledge to survive in the coming era.
Digital assets, such as game items and digital art, have had little monetarize opportunities because they can be copy and pasted into an unlimited supply. However, NFT can change this by embedding a cap for supply, and from now on digital assets will have monetary value.
This makes it possible to play-to-earn (P2E) within the metaverse by securing the value of various digital assets in the metaverse with NFTs. In short, you will be able to work and live in the virtual world without having to work in the real world. In fact, people who earn their daily living through blockchain games such as Axie Infinity are emerging, especially in the developing countries.
Metaverse does not necessarily require blockchain technology, but the intersection of the two can create a major paradigm shift. Metaverse is the next generation of social networking, where people can make money, and as the virtual native generation becomes adults, we can expect to see major changes in working and life habits.
Web3.0 from today
We investigated Web3.0 in this article. Considering the time people’s habit will change, it may take at least three to five years for its size of impact to become recognized. Also, since Web 3.0 went viral you might have thought it is transitory, but now you understood that it is an essential movement that will change people's lives. If you are interested in Web 3.0, give it a try on NFT and Metaverse, etc. Value your own intuition about what you think, rather than the opinions of others.