The invention of the world wide web is one of the greatest inventions in the world. This invention, which made the internet available to all, has become an important part of how we live and interact.
This article summarizes the evolution of the web, what Web 3.0 is, its benefits and opportunities, and how to make money with Web 3.0 today!
Table of content
The evolution of the web
Web 1.0
Web 2.0
Web 2.5
Web 3.0
Features of web 3
Advantages of web 3.0
Opportunities in web 3.0
How to make money from web 3.0 Today
Conclusion
The evolution of the web
The World Wide Web (WWW), also known as "the Web", was invented in the year 1989 by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist born in London. After graduating from Oxford University, Berners-Lee worked as a software developer at CERN, a massive particle physics facility in Geneva, Switzerland, where scientists from all over the world came to the site to use their accelerators. However, Sir Tim noticed that communication was a problem. At that time, different types of information were kept on different computers, but accessing them required logging in to several computers, and sometimes you had to learn a different program on each computer.
In March 1989, Tim outlined his vision for the web in a document called "Information Management: A Proposal." The basic concept was to combine the evolving technologies of computers, data networks, and hypertext into a powerful and easy-to-use global information system.
As a result, the web was originally conceived and then developed to meet this demand for automated information-sharing between scientists in universities and institutes around the world.
By October 1990, Tim built the first web page editor and browser, "WorldWideWeb.app", and the first web server, "httpd," based on three fundamental technologies that have since become the foundation of today's web.
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language): The markup (formatting) language for the web.
URI (Uniform Resource Identifier): A type of "address" that is unique to each online site and is used to identify it. It is also commonly called a URL.
HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol): allows for the retrieval of linked resources from across the internet.
The terms "internet" and "web" are not interchangeable, but two distinct but related concepts. The Internet is basically a network of networks that connects millions of computers throughout the world, allowing any computer to speak with any other computer. The World Wide Web (WWW) is a method of accessing information through the internet by displaying web pages on a browser. Information is linked together by hyperlinks and can include text, images, audio, and video.
Web 1.0
In December 1990, Tim teamed up with another scientist, Robert Cailliau, who rewrote Tim's initial proposal. Their goal was to combine hypertext with the internet in order to create web pages.
On June 8th, 1991, the www project was announced to the world. The project, which started as a means to allow high-energy physicists to share data, news, and documentation, began spreading to other areas and having gateway servers for other data.
On August 6, 1991, the world's first web page was launched.
The first implementation of the web represents web 1.0. Web 1.0, also known as the "Syntactic Web" or the "Read Only Web," was the first generation of the web, running from 1990 to 2000. The role of users was limited to reading only the information provided by the content producer.
It was a one-way communication purely based on a client-pull model (HTTP) that could be initiated by the client only. It was slow and had a chunky nature. There were few writers and a large number of readers, which resulted in user starvation for content and a slow network. Web 1.0 was designed with the assumption that the web was for publishing rather than participation, which meant that only information could be read with no interaction with the web pages. It used software as an application and not as a service. Whenever new information is entered into the web pages, they need to be refreshed every time.
Examples of Web 1.0 are static websites and personal sites, and the core web technologies used are HTML, HTTP, and URI, although other protocols such as XML, XHTML, and CSS are also used.
Web 1.0 makes use of both server-side scripting such as ASP, PHP, JSP, CGI, and PERL, and client-side scripting like JavaScript, VBscript, and Flash.
Web 2.0
The term "Web 2.0" was coined by Darcy DiNucci, an information architecture consultant, in her January 1999 article "Fragmented Future". At the unveiling of Palm Inc.'s first web-capable personal digital assistant (supporting Web access with WAP), DiNucci envisioned the Web "fragmenting" into a future that expanded beyond the browser/PC combo it was associated with. She focused on how the basic information structure and hyper-linking mechanism introduced by HTTP would be used by a variety of devices and platforms. As a result, her "2.0" designation refers to the next version of the Web rather than the term's present meaning.
In 2004, the concept gained momentum when O'Reilly Media and Medialive hosted the first Web 2.0 conference. In their opening remarks, John Battelle and Tim O'Reilly defined the "Web as a Platform," where software applications are built upon the Web as opposed to the desktop. According to them, the unique aspect of this approach is that "customers are building your business for you." They claimed that user-generated material (in the form of ideas, words, videos, or photographs) could be "harnessed" to generate value.
Web 2.0 does not refer to any specific technical upgrades to the internet. It simply refers to a shift in how the internet is used in the 21st century. This new version allows users to actively participate in the experience rather than just acting as passive viewers who take in information.
Web 2.0 which is also referred to as the social web or read-write web, lasted from 2000 to 2010 and continues even now. In this era, every user can be a content producer, and content is distributed and shared between sites.
Instead of merely reading a Web 2.0 site, a user is invited to contribute to the site's content by commenting on published articles or by creating a user account or profile on the site, which may enable increased engagement. By increasing emphasis on these already-extant capabilities, they encourage users to rely more on their browser for user interface, application software ("apps"), and file storage facilities. This type of computing is referred to as "network as a platform".
Key characteristics of Web 2.0 include:
Rich user experience: this refers to the experience that is transported from the desktop to the browser, and the creation of dynamic content that responds to human interaction.
Web Oriented Architecture (WOA): This describes how Web 2.0 applications expose their functionality so that other apps may use and integrate it, resulting in a much richer range of applications. Examples include feeds, RSS feeds, online services, and mashups.
Social Web: This describes how web 2.0 websites tend to connect considerably more with end-users and make them an essential part of the website, either by adding their profile, commenting on content, uploading new content, or providing user-generated content (e.g., personal digital photos).
Some examples of Web 2.0 include social networking websites, self-publishing platforms (e.g., WordPress' easy-to-use blog and website creation tools), "tagging" (which enables users to label websites, videos, or photos in some fashion), "like" buttons (which enable a user to indicate that they are pleased by online content), and social bookmarking.
Web 2.0 technologies include HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript frameworks like ReactJs, AngularJs, VueJs, etc.
Web 2.5
The paradigm shift from web 2.0 to web 3.0 is what we refer to as web 2.5, which is also called the "symbiotic web". Web 2.5 represents the mutual dependence of the end-user and the content creator. The symbiosis is based on a data exchange, in which customers give up data in return for access to services, convenience, and cheaper pricing. This symbiotic data flow is fundamentally benign; it is the driving force behind many recent beneficial improvements in online services, and it has resulted in a significant increase in appealing and productive products and services available on the internet.
Also, Web 2.5 focuses on mobile computing and the evolution of mobile technologies. Mobile computing now plays a critical role in engaging a larger audience through native and mobile web apps. Hence, more and more applications are entering the mobile market to establish a presence by focusing on mobile customers.
The transition from Web 2.0 to Web 2.5 is marked by a reversal of fortune for the once-promising "content supplier". They not only now supply information to customers, but now also extract information from the users in a variety of ways, ranging from monitoring their activities online to persuading them to submit as much personal information as possible. This personal information is in turn used by the content providers to tailor the information they deliver to individuals.
Web 2.5 placed significant doubt on the future of the web and was contrary to the benign vision Tim Berners-Lee had of the web. In Web 2.5, control could be taken from users, choices made for them rather than by them, and not necessarily to their advantage, but rather for the profit of those who wield the control. This doubt is addressed in Web 3.0, which is intended to give the user greater authority, allowing them to locate what they want or need by using "intelligent agents" to scan the internet, thereby expanding on Tim Berners-Less's notion of the semantic web.
The future of the web is bright if the notion of the symbiotic web is grasped. Web 2.5 technologies include Progressive Web Apps (PWA), Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), cookies, etc.
Web 3.0
In 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto purportedly invented Bitcoin, the world's first cryptocurrency. He envisioned his innovation as a peer-to-peer currency system and alternative payment method devoid of any central control or rules. His invention, which was aimed towards decentralization, anonymity, and freedom, became a building block for Web 3.0.
Web 3.0 is developed based on the concepts of decentralization, anonymity, and freedom of influence. It is decentralized in the sense that it operates on a distributed peer-to-peer paradigm, with no one entity having the ability to directly influence or modify the system's direction. Anonymous is based on the fact that users' identities have no bearing on their ability to participate in the system. Free of influence as there are no restrictions or rules.
In this era, networks are peer-to-peer decentralized, developed, operated, and maintained by users, rather than by enterprises. Computers can interpret information like humans via Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, which helps to intelligently generate and distribute useful content tailored to a particular user's needs.
Most significantly, Web 3.0 obscures the long-term power that big technology corporations and governments have had over users. Unlike in Web 2.0 and Web 2.5, where content creators and controllers had a lot of power, the user has more power in Web 3.0.
Some of the examples of Web 3.0 are Apple’s Siri, Google's Cloud API, and Wolfram Alpha.
Key features of web 3.0
Semantic web: Semantic markup refers to the communication gap between humans and computerized applications. One of the biggest challenges of displaying information on the web is that applications cannot provide context to data and, therefore, can’t understand what is relevant. Through the use of some semantic markup (or data interchange formats) in Web 3.0, data could be put in a form not only accessible to humans via natural language but able to be understood and interpreted by machines and software applications as well.
3D Graphics and Virtual Identity: Web 3.0 will transform the internet's future as it evolves from a simple two-dimensional web to a more realistic three-dimensional cyber environment. 3D design is widely used in Web 3.0 websites and services such as online games, e-commerce, the real estate industry, and so on. Also, this feature allows individuals to take on the role of an avatar in a virtual environment and explore, meet other inhabitants, participate in individual and/or group activities, and so on, just as they would in real life. Popular virtual worlds include Second Life, Red Light, etc. All interactions between avatars take place in the virtual world and have no bearing on real-time events.
Artificial Intelligence: This refers to the ability to decrypt natural language and understand intentions. This feature makes it easier to recognize real from fake and provides more reliable data. By combining this capacity with natural language processing, Web 3.0 allows computers to comprehend information in the same way that people do, resulting in quicker and more relevant results. They become more intelligent to satisfy the needs of users.
Advantages of Web 3.0
In simplicity, Web 3.0 improves on the flaws of Web 2.0 and Web 2.5, which we can categorize into the following:
Trust
Anonymity
Control
Rich user experience
Trust
Some may argue that the most significant contribution of the blockchain is automatic trust. By establishing a network of trust, the blockchain can go beyond the protection that digital IDs can provide. Some blockchains allow for the construction of "smart contracts," which are blockchain-attached programs that run when triggered by a specific blockchain event. The main thing to remember about smart contracts is that the contract is the software code.
As a result, smart contracts are significantly more reliable than legal contracts. Legal contracts are enforced by the legal system, which varies in its trustworthiness from one location to the next, but is never flawless. The outcome of a legal contract dispute is never definite. Smart contracts, on the other hand, may be completely trusted. A simple example of a smart contract is given by the movement of goods through a supply chain. Goods are dispatched with an RFID tag that reports their location when read. When the goods reach specific locations, the smart contract can automatically enact payment—for transport, warehousing, or import duties. Payments are thus predictable and can be trusted to occur.
Naturally, smart contracts can be far more complex than that example. They can cover many situations that are currently covered by legal contracts, diminishing the possibility of fraud.
Anonymity and control
Most of the platforms and applications we use daily demand that we provide personal information in order to utilize them. As a result, data leaks occur, and the proprietors of such sites simply sell our data for profit. Web 3.0 app makers can create Dapps that allow users all over the world to utilize them without submitting any sensitive or personal data. This is made possible by blockchain technology.
Also, the proprietors of those platforms can make decisions that may or may not affect you. You have no control over the platform in this situation, and all it takes is a single order to cut you off. Using blockchain, Web 3.0 apps (Dapps) overcome this limitation. Everything is now decentralized, and there is no longer a single "Point of Failure" that could be exploited to take control of the system. Web3 could deliver a future that is truly autonomous and empowers the users to make decisions for themselves using Smart Contracts to keep the system trustless, anonymous, and free from external control.
Rich user and personalized experience
As intrusive as advertisements might be at times, there's no denying the convenience of being able to quickly click over to a unique offer for something you actually need or desire but might otherwise overlook. Web 3.0 promises a considerably more customized surfing experience. Websites will be able to automatically adapt to our device, location, and any accessibility needs we may have, and web apps will become significantly more aware of our usage patterns.
The multidimensional Web 3.0 will help more than just websites; web apps will begin to provide significantly richer experiences for consumers. Consider a mapping service like Google, which is now able to combine the basics of location search with route guidance, hotel recommendations and live traffic updates. This simply wasn’t possible in the Web 2.0 era.
Opportunities in Web 3.0
Human dependence on the web has increased over the years. Many people are unable to imagine their lives without it. As this demand increases, so too will the opportunities available.
Some of the opportunities thanks to Web 3.0 include:
**The New Order:" The Web 2.5 model is used by the majority of applications today, just as the web 1.0 model was used by the majority of apps in the late 1990s. Many Web 2 companies are already transitioning to Web 3.0 models and planning for the future. Also, with Web 3.0, it is now easier to start a company via token systems compared to the traditional method of venture capital.
**Metaverse: ** This is a combination of multiple elements of technology, including virtual reality, augmented reality, and video, where users "live" within a digital universe. It also translates to a digital economy, where users can create, buy, and sell goods. And, in the more idealistic visions of the metaverse, it's interoperable, allowing you to take virtual items like clothes or cars from one platform to another. Decentraland is a well-known example of this concept.
DeFi: DeFi stands for "Decentralized Finance," and as the name implies, it is finance based on a decentralized approach. DeFi has been around for a while and allows individuals to take the capabilities of standard peer-to-peer blockchain transactions to a whole new level, allowing some Dapps to operate as decentralized banks. DeFi enables some Dapps to function as banks, providing services such as lending and borrowing, investments, insurance, trading, and liquidity pools, which are all examples of financial services.
How to make money from web 3.0 today!
Web 3.0 is the next big thing. Hence, understanding how to take advantage of this technology and generate consistent income from it is an added advantage.
If you're a creative who wants to achieve financial independence by doing what you love, web 3.0 can help you achieve this goal. Web 3.0 offers legal ways to earn money online from the comfort of your home. Here are some ways to leverage this power:
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs):
NFTs:
Cryptocurrencies:
Web creator platforms:
Dapps and web 3.0 technology development:
Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)
In the traditional way of building a company, individuals relied on venture capital and gave away a percentage of their company to raise the funds required to scale the idea and company, which comes with lots of uncertainties. In Web 3.0, the process of starting and scaling an idea is easier. The project, which solves a real problem, is announced. Then anyone can participate in building it or investing in it from day one.
The company announces the release of x number of tokens and gives 10% to the early builders, puts another 10% up for sale to the public, and sets the rest aside for future payment of contributors and funding of the project. Stakeholders can use their tokens to vote on changes to the future of the project, and the people who helped build the project can sell some of their holdings to make money after the tokens have been released. People who believe in the project can buy and hold ownership, and people who think the project is headed in the wrong direction can signal this by selling their stake.
Unlike companies we see today, DAOs are organizations owned and managed by their members. DAOs are managed by a set of rules or agreements (smart contracts in the form of code) that are automatically implemented without human intervention depending on specific activities on the blockchain. When starting a DAO, you can earn money by convincing others to invest in your business idea. You can also reach a large number of investors, resulting in a large amount of financing for your business. All you need is a good concept and a team of blockchain developers to get started.
NFTs
Did you know that a Png or gif can be sold for $50,000? If you don't, then it's time for you to start exploring the world of NFTs. NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token. They are art pieces, but instead of being shown in museums, they are digital, similar to the wallpaper on your phone or random photos you download from the Internet.
Trading NFTs right now is one of the most unfair ways to make a profit. You are literally selling a 200kb Png, gif, mp3, or jpeg for millions of dollars. Thanks to the Metaverse concept, NFTs sell at ridiculous prices. NFTs may be used in the metaverse to show that you support a certain project or that you are a member of a particular community within or outside of the virtual world. As a result, like-minded people may establish communities where they can share ideas and work on initiatives.
Cryptocurrencies:
The cryptocurrency industry has grown substantially since Satoshi Nakamoto published the original Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008. More than a decade later, most people are aware of the terms "Bitcoin" and "cryptocurrency". Since 2009, the crypto space has created its fair share of wealth for early adopters and investors. While the early gains in crypto have already been made, the industry remains in the initial stages of development. There are a variety of ways to make money and produce revenue in this space. However, because of the inherent volatility of crypto assets, the majority of them are high-risk, while some require subject knowledge or skill.
Web 3.0 creator platforms:
Unlike Web 2 platforms, where data from users is gathered and sold by those in control, on the Web 3.0 platform, users are paid for their data. They have complete control over their information and censorship.
Some examples of web 3.0 content platforms for earning income are:
Gitcoin.co: Gitcoin allows individuals to earn by contributing to open-source projects.
Mirror.xyz: Mirror is known to be the first decentralized writing platform. Mirror's publishing platform revolutionizes the way we express, share, and monetize our thoughts. Mirror operates not only on a user-owned, decentralized, crypto-based publishing network. Writers on this platform get paid in cryptocurrency (Ethereum). Writers may also sell NFTs on the platform to raise funds for their projects.
Flixxo is a decentralized video distribution platform that runs on a decentralized blockchain network. Unlike YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok, users on this network have complete control over how their videos are distributed and monetized. Creators can receive payments directly from viewers without any intermediary services. The native token of flixxo, FLIXX, may be used to watch videos, share them with others, and be utilized outside of the flixxo ecosystem.
Dapps and DAOs developer:
There are several DAO projects released every day, which means an increase in opportunities for developers to look for projects they love and earn from them by contributing to the project. Also, with the increase in popularity and adoption of Web 3.0, there is an increase in demand for Web 3.0 apps (Dapps) and technologies.
Conclusion
Web 3.0 is a web in which data is shared rather than owned, and where services display diverse versions of the same web and data. These services can be apps (like browsers, virtual worlds, or anything else), devices, or something else entirely, and they must be focused on context and personalization, which will be accessed via vertical search. There are thousands of people passionately working to make this space more accessible for all, and you'll soon be using web3 apps without even knowing it.
Web 3.0 is gaining traction in a variety of industries, including music, video streaming, and even gaming. Soon you will be using web 3.0 apps without even knowing it.
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