Web 2.0… What really is it? There are many answers, and also still many questions left to be sorted out. According to Wiki, Web 2.0 is all about social media and establishing networks between people to increase interaction. This is the process of forming and strengthening connections to people in a much wider scope than was previously possible. This is a very crucial and extremely important step to further the web’s evolution.
The next inevitable step in the process however, we can call Web 3.0, which will be all about building stronger standard tools across these newly formed networks, and making the content easier for the user to experience, in order to increase the value and efficiency of web use.
The Web is itself, a tool, of many sorts. However because there are so many different applications for web use, there are even more different kinds of tools, each that offer something different, and this is especially true when it comes to social networks. Right now, if a user wanted to use all of these tools in an integrated way with the content, for example, with Twitter and all of their various 3rd party tools, they might be out of luck because they will most likely be forced to launch a new application for each new tool.
There needs to eventually be some sense of universal organization, as one web community, in order for different websites to work together to integrate their content and their tools, so that the experience is made that much better for the users. Web 3.0 is all about building better filters and organizations in order to stretch the reach of content, while making it more enjoyable and less overwhelming.
My Favorite Discovery Engines:
Reddit
Alltop
PostRank
Twitter
Digg
Tumblr Wire
Stumbleupon
Would I benefit from seeing and accessing all of these tools from one place? You betcha.
The process of Web 2.0 is not fully complete yet of course. We are still working out which kinds of connections are the best, most relevant, and most valuable to us; but my estimate is that the transition between 2.0 and 3.0 will be complete in the next 8-10 years. I’d say we’re at 2.4 right now.
And it’s even already begun. Browsers like Explorer, Safari and now Chrome are featuring quick navigation to the user’s favorite sites at launch, by utilizing easy to use graphical interfaces to display the different websites.
I’d expect innovations in this field to continue to come from web browsers, considering they can be classified as much more web universal than a website could really be. The start of this kind of technology is one more small step for the web, and truly one giant leap for mankind.
– UPDATE –
Hey guys, this post has gotten a lot of views lately and it’s a little over a year old now. Just wanted to offer some additional thoughts about Web 3.0. I mentioned here how web 3.0 will be all about creating better tools, better filters, better access to media and information. I really want to stress the better filters and access for information part.
There are solutions that are possible now that will enable us to finally take advantage of all of the information floating around in our lives. The most important thing for people to remember to really enable the shift from web 2.0 to web 3.0, is to not be scared of giving out information to online services, as long as you trust them. It is the responsibility of all online services, especially in the quickly emerging web 3.0 environment, to make their actions and intentions as transparent as possible to it’s users. Trust is the key to making a healthy transition. If we can get past all of this talk about privacy breach online, and think about the benefits that completely out-weigh the bad, we can legitimately transform our societies, and our lives, for the better.
Imagine you’re about to go to the bank or the ATM. It’d be helpful to tell the computer this information via an online service so that it can let you know that there’s traffic along the main road, or that it could quite possibly start to rain, or that there has been 3 robberies at your local ATM in the last 2 months. It would be helpful to tell the computer that you are looking to buy a new TV, so it can let you know that your good friend just bought one last month, and it can show you the deal he got, where he got it, and what he said about it after a month. Then maybe it could compare several of your friend’s TVs, retailers, deals, etc.
Web 3.0 is going to be all about access and ease. Access to information that eases everything we do. It will require a system of sensors and controllers. Sensors to “sense” what you want (or you can tell it), and controllers to give it to you. This, my friends, will be an amazing age – the information revolution – the era of access – web 3.0 and beyond. Whatever you want to call it – it’s very possible right now, and we need to open ourselves up to the opportunities and make it happen. I hope you guys are excited as I am about it. If you are, go do something about it!!
Written by: Dante Cullari – Founder & President Beat-Play, LLC
The Beat-Play Experiment 