You are a participant in the contemporary web if you are reading this. The web of today is very different from the web of just ten years ago. How has the internet changed over time, and more importantly, where is it headed? Why are any of these things important, too?
Development of the Web
The uses of the web now are hardly recognisable from those of the web’s first days due to the web’s rapid evolution over time. Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0 are the three distinct phases that make up the web’s evolution.
Describe Web 1.0
The original version of the web was called Web 1.0. The majority of participants were content consumers, and the makers were largely web designers who created websites with material that was primarily offered up in text or image format. Web 1.0 existed from roughly 1991 until 2004.
Instead of supplying dynamic HTML, Web 1.0 sites served static material. Sites had very little interaction, and data and content were supplied from a static file system rather than a database.
Web 1.0 is often referred to as the read-only web.
Describe Web 2.0
The majority of us have mostly only used web2, or the latest version of the web. Web2 is often referred to as the social and interactive web.
You don’t have to be a developer to take part in the creation process in the web2 universe. Many apps are made so that anyone may easily create them.
You have the ability to create an idea and spread it throughout the planet. You may post a video and make it available for millions of people to view, interact with, and comment on.
Web2 is actually quite simple, and as a result, more and more people all over the world are starting to create.
Although the web is fantastic in many ways as it is, there are several areas where we can improve significantly.
Web 2.0 Security and Monetization
Many well-known apps in the web2 industry follow a typical pattern throughout their lives. Consider a few of the apps you use frequently and consider how the examples that follow may relate to those apps.
Apps’ monetization
Consider how popular apps like Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or YouTube were in their early years compared to how they are now. Typically, the procedure looks somewhat like this:
- A business releases an app
- It accepts as many people as it can
- The user base is thus made profitable.
When a company or developer releases a well-liked app, the user interface is frequently highly smooth as the app’s popularity grows. They are initially able to get traction quickly because of this.
Many software businesses initially give monetization little thought. They just pay attention to user retention and growth, but eventually they must start making a profit.
They must also take outside investors’ contributions into account. The limitations of accepting things like venture money frequently have a detrimental impact on the lifespan and ultimately the user experience of many applications that we use today.
Investors in a company that is developing an application frequently anticipate a return on investment in the range of tens or hundreds of times what they invested.
This means that the business is frequently pressured to follow one of two paths: selling personal data or running adverts, rather than pursuing some sustainable strategy of growth that they can support fairly organically.
A lot of web2 firms, including Google, Facebook, Twitter, and others, use more data to create more individualised advertisements. More clicks result from this, which raises ad revenue.
The essential functionality of the web as we know and use it today is built around the exploitation and centralization of user data.
Privacy and security
Web2 apps routinely experience data breaches. Even websites that track these breaches and notify users when their data has been compromised exist.
You have no control over your data in web2 or how it is stored. In actuality, businesses frequently collect and store user data without the users’ permission. The businesses in charge of these platforms then become the owners and controllers of all of this data.
Users who reside in nations where the negative effects of free expression must be considered are also at danger.
If a government believes a person is expressing an opinion that contradicts their propaganda, they frequently shut down servers or seize bank accounts. Governments may easily intervene, control, or shut down programmes as necessary thanks to centralised servers.
Governments frequently get involved in banking since it is also computerised and centralised. When there is turbulence, high inflation, or other political instability, they can block access to bank accounts or restrict access to money.
By completely reimagining how we construct and interact with applications from the ground up, Web3 seeks to address many of these issues.
Describe Web 3.0
Between web2 and web3, there are a few key distinctions, but decentralisation is at their core.
With a few extra features, Web3 improves the internet as we currently know it. web3 is:
- Verifiable
- Trustless
- Self-governing
- Permissionless
- Distributed and robust
- Stateful
- Native built-in payments
Developers rarely employ a single server or database for web3 apps (usually hosted on and managed by a single cloud provider).
Web3 applications, on the other hand, either run on blockchains, decentralised networks of several peer-to-peer nodes (servers), or a combination of the two that creates a crypto economic protocol. The word “dapps” (decentralised apps), which is frequently used in the web3 environment, is frequently used to describe these applications. Additionally, Web3 Development Firm can be able to create for you distinctive metaverse worlds or games relying on your tastes and personality.
Network participants (developers) are motivating and compete to offer the greatest calibre services to everybody using the service in order to create a stable and secure decentralised network.
For everyone who wishes to take part in developing, running, contributing to, or enhancing one of the projects itself, it offers money rewards (tokens).
These protocols may provide compute, storage, bandwidth, identification, hosting, and other cloud services.
People can make a living by engaging in the protocol in numerous ways, in both technical and non-technical levels.
Similar to how they would already pay a cloud provider like AWS, users of the service typically pay to use the protocol. With the exception of web3, money is sent directly to network users.
You’ll notice that in this, as in many other cases of decentralisation, intermediates that are pointless and frequently ineffective are eliminated.
Native payments
Additionally, tokens enable a seamless, entirely borderless native payment system. By allowing electronic payments, businesses like Stripe and Paypal have generated billions of dollars in value.
These solutions are extremely complicated and yet do not allow for true participant interoperability on an international scale. Additionally, in order to use them, you must provide your private information and sensitive information.
You can include quick, anonymous, and secure international payments and transactions into web3 applications using crypto wallets like MetaMask and Torus.
Users don’t have to go through various friction-filled procedures to use the network, unlike the current banking system.
All they have to do to begin sending and receiving funds without any gatekeeping is download or install a wallet.
A novel approach to forming businesses
The concept of tokenization and the establishment of a token economy are also brought about by tokens.
Take the development of a software firm as an illustration. Someone has an idea, but before they can begin to create, they need money to feed themselves.
They solicit venture financing and sell a portion of the business to obtain the funding. This investment right away provides incentives that aren’t aligning with what will ultimately make for the optimal user experience.
Even if the business is successful, it will take a long time for anybody involved to earn value, resulting in years of work with little payback.
Imagine a fresh, engaging endeavour addressing a vital issue. Anyone can start investing or developing it.
The corporation issues a predetermined number of tokens, gives 10% to early donors, and keeps the balance for future dividends and project finance.
Helpers can sell tokens to generate money when the project is public, and stakeholders can use tokens to vote on changes.
People can buy and own a project if they believe in it, or they can sell if they think it’s going in the wrong path.
The entirety of the blockchain’s data is public and accessible, giving buyers complete visibility into what is happening.
This contrasts with investing in private or centralising enterprises, where many decisions are frequently made in the dark.
The web3 space is already experiencing this.
How Web3 Handles Identity
Identity also functions quite differently in web3 than it does today.
Most frequently, IDs in web3 apps are connecting to the wallet address of the user using the app.
The user’s identity is seamlessly transferable between apps if they wish to use the same wallet across various dapps, allowing them to gradually establish their reputation.
Developers may already include self-sovereign identification into their apps in place of conventional authentication and identity layers thanks to protocols and technologies like Ceramic and IDX.
A working RFP for developing a specification for “Sign in with Ethereum” is also available from the Ethereum foundation; if accepted, it would assist in giving a better organised and documented method of doing this moving forward.
This discussion is also good because it describes various ways that it would improve conventional authentication processes.
