The term Web3 gets thrown around a bit and some people love to use it as a buzzword but it is important to at least understand the basics of what Web3 is so you can be prepared for the future. To understand Web3 we first need to cover off the basic fundamentals of Web1 & Web2 so back in time we go…
Web1: The early days
The first website was launched in 1991 and for the rest of that decade websites were pretty basic to say the least. We were still improving the connection speeds to the internet and most of the web was extremely static with the exception of a few companies that had e-commerce platforms or news websites. The staticness of the web meant that most websites were created by a web developer and left to be there online until another web developer came along and updated the content on the site. Every website was hosted on a physical server that someone had to maintain. Web1 was for most accounts a read only form of the internet. As people were spending more and more time online it was clear that businesses would need some sort of presence online and a basic website would do well for most SMBs.
Web2: Interactive
As connection speeds to the internet increase so did its demand from users and the demand for content. Web2 brought interaction to the web where you not only have access to read content of websites but contribute and upload your own content, previously this was a web developers job but websites now allow users to create accounts and participate online. Of course the content we are talking about is things like Bebo, Facebook, Instagram, TradeMe ect any website that allows you to login or allows the owner of the site to update content without touching code can be considered Web2. What made Web2 possible is databases that are connected to the internet where a logged in user could modify small parts of it. The majority of Web2 sites also sit on servers but more recently there has been a push to host these servers on the cloud but the management and reliability of these services still sits with 1 company. As the convenience of doing things online became apparent a basic website for a business started to grow out of favour away from a static page to a more advanced Web2 system for businesses that want to scale.
Web3: Ownership
One of the key features of Web3 is the use of decentralised technologies to enable greater interoperability and communication between different systems and devices. In a decentralised system, there is no central authority or server that controls the flow of data. Instead, data is distributed across a network of computers, and every participant in the network has a copy of the data (like the cloud but not run or owned by Amazon, Microsoft or Google). This decentralised model has the potential to disrupt traditional centralised systems because why would I need to access data or computing power from a big data centre when it might be just down the road at a fraction of the cost.
Another great core focus is on empowering individual users. Rather than the big companies holding the keys to the kingdom, more control is back in your hands. Data is worth money and in the Web2 world you don’t own it but with Web3 you can leverage it and decide who gets access to your data. This has the ability to start cutting the fat and could lead to a more open and transparent web. Web3 heightens the use of machine-readable data and artificial intelligence. With the increasing prevalence of smart devices and the IoT (Internet of Things), augmented reality & other cutting edge tech there is a growing need for machines to be able to understand and interpret data in a meaningful way.
For businesses going from Web2 to Web3 a lot of the benefits show up more as efficiencies, data redundancies, compliance & security. Now AI is interacting directly with your customers bringing them deeper into the funnel, automatically responding to emails, scheduling appointments and feiling 90% of all the customer service enquiries. From a data standpoint there is much less to worry about including a cataclysmic reduction in possible data leaks or ransom attacks that often bury companies in costs.
So how quick is the migration to Web3 going to be?
It will be faster than the transition from Web1 to Web2. I predict the adoption is going to see a catastrophic surge when hackers start using AI to target companies. Web3 programmed with security first principles and with decentralisation it’s difficult for hackers to take down a Web3 system. The adoption of government issued digital ID’s and CBDC’s (Central Bank Digital Currency) is going to remove all the hurdles to adoption so for the time being you get to be a trendsetter and enjoy the added security.
