What Is Web 3.0 (A Beginner Friendly Overview)

Hilda Warner

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If you haven’t heard the term Web 3.0 before, you’re not alone – it’s a relatively new concept, and many people don’t know what Web 3.0 is exactly or how it will affect us in the future. This blog post on Web 3.0 will give you an introduction to this exciting, cutting-edge new way of doing things online that has the potential to change everything from how we interact with government institutions to how quickly our news spreads online.

Web 1.0 – The Beginning

The first-generation Internet was a text-based system of information exchange, primarily email and USENET. This was largely seen as an academic initiative to share research between universities and institutes, though it did have its roots in ARPANET, which laid much of the technological groundwork for what would become known as The Internet. The original creators of Web 1.0 had no idea that their project would be used for commercial enterprise: instead, it was intended to supplement institutional networks with a World Wide Web that could serve as a public archive linking published documents together in (mostly) interlinear manner.

Web 2.0 – Social Media Websites

With Web 2.0, websites are became more user-friendly and interactive; users can add their own content in addition to what was created by professionals. With social media sites like Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn, there’s less static on your web page and a lot more conversation that your business has a chance to be part of if you’re paying attention – in other words, these sites offer great exposure for any business looking to get noticed online as well as offline. These days, it’s not enough just to have a strong online presence – you have to actively participate or risk being left behind.

Web 3.0 – Blockchain Technology

Why Blockchain?
Credit: Euromoney

Blockchain technology has been called one of today’s most disruptive and valuable emerging technologies, and there’s no question why. Since its introduction in 2008, blockchain has created billions of dollars in value for organizations across a wide range of industries. While there are still many unanswered questions about how exactly blockchain will be used, it’s clear that corporations have caught on to its power—and their eagerness to capitalize on blockchain technology should tell you all you need to know about just how big it could get (even if it might take some time). What follows is an overview of what web 3.0 is and how blockchain fits into that picture. Let’s dig in!

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Why Blockchain?

Web 3.0 has been touted as the web of value or the programmable web, but what exactly does that mean? A big part of it is blockchain technology and its potential to fundamentally change how we do business online, just like Web 2.0 did a decade ago. This time around, instead of merely being a social platform for sharing content, Web 3.0 will be a decentralized peer-to-peer network for exchanging assets and services—think bitcoin meets Uber. That sounds complex, but here’s an analogy: If Web 1.0 was email and Web 2.0 was social media, then Web 3.1 will be (legal) marijuana delivered by drone . It’s complicated and hard to explain in only one sentence—but also exciting!

 

The New Gambling Dapps

In gambling, Ethereum and smart contracts are being used to build new games that offer transparency and real-time results (or lack thereof). The big reason? They can run without a third party as everything is verified on-chain. As it stands, gambling on Ethereum has become so popular that users have created their own betting exchange markets, on which they can wager ETH against one another without an exchange or service provider taking a commission. So what’s next? Decentralized exchanges, of course! The idea behind them doesn’t require much explaining: instead of going through an intermediary to buy/sell digital tokens such as BTC or ETH, trading pairs will be facilitated by smart contracts themselves.

The New Decentralized Ecommerce Platforms

The Blockchain Will Completely Change Ecommerce Platforms: As digital shopping habits increase and become more fluid, ecommerce websites are going to need to be able to keep up with consumer demand. For example, Amazon has turned its back on customers who want to pay in cryptocurrency or use other alternative payment methods — like Apple Pay or Venmo — because it currently can’t handle those transactions in a profitable way for itself. To stay viable in today’s marketplace, ecommerce sites will have to give their customers more choice when it comes to how they buy goods online and how they pay for them. At stake is just how quickly mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies happens — and that could hinge on tech companies such as Amazon making an effort to embrace decentralized technologies as we move into Web 3.0.

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Sell your own blockchain-based token: Creating a unique token that consumers can purchase online with cryptocurrency gives your company instant credibility among tech enthusiasts and opens you up to new revenue streams. Consider creating one of these utility tokens and offer early buyers discounts on your site, exclusive content or access to special events if they hold onto their tokens (as opposed to immediately selling them). Depending on how strong your site becomes as time goes by, utility tokens could also prove lucrative investments for speculators looking to cash in later down the road as your company grows into a successful enterprise. Whatever course you choose to pursue, though, be sure that any transactions taking place on your website are conducted via decentralized applications so as not to compromise user data stored on centralized servers — and set yourself apart from other ecommerce sites already implementing such methods.

New Opportunities for Content Creators

With cryptocurrency platforms like Steemit and Golos, web 3.0 will bring new opportunities for content creators to monetize their work through micropayments. These platforms are already being used by millions of people around the world; that number can only grow as more people hear about them and decide to give them a try. Steemit users alone created nearly 1 million accounts in 2016!

Another benefit of these platforms is that they offer an alternative way for content creators to get compensated for their work. While blogging has provided many people with a platform to share ideas on topics they’re passionate about, it has also meant that most bloggers rely on advertising or sponsored posts (which ultimately makes your readers less likely to trust you).

This isn’t necessarily true in all cases, but it’s one of the biggest challenges faced by bloggers today—and something crypto-based content creation platforms are trying to solve. By using cryptocurrencies rather than fiat currencies or relying on third-party advertisers and marketing teams, you can create meaningful relationships with your readers without compromising your integrity. They might even be interested enough in what you have to say that they want to support you financially—in turn giving you yet another reason to continue providing good content.

Eliminating Third Parties – From Uber to AirBnB and More

While services like Uber and AirBnB have made a big impact on consumer-facing technology, their adoption of blockchain has provided some valuable lessons for developers looking to build blockchain tech into enterprise software – namely, that eliminating third parties from a transaction can significantly streamline business processes and reduce costs by reducing friction.

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The benefits are clear: instead of requesting payment from a central company, customers can pay for services directly to those providing them; and vendors can get paid immediately without waiting for months to receive payments from traditional banks or credit cards companies.

Instead of having to deal with numerous intermediaries such as PayPal or Amazon Payments, service providers can simply accept cryptocurrency payments for their goods and services with lower fees than previously possible. Sure, in an ideal world there would be no need for third party distributors whatsoever, but it’s not feasible to expect customers to handle digital transactions directly with manufacturers and product creators right now due to high costs associated with scaling such efforts globally (hence why Amazon doesn’t sell products direct… yet).

By embracing the power of decentralized ledgers and cryptocurrency wallets in modern applications built around distributed networks, however, you do make it more feasible as supply chains become less fragmented. Why not try creating your own blockchain app?

Is Web 3.0 Is The Future?

The World Wide Web started in 1989, and we’ve been upgrading its backend ever since. The first upgrade was in 1993 when Tim Berners-Lee invented Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), giving each website a unique address that anyone could link to it with hyperlinks—the foundation of SEO today. The second major upgrade came in 1996 when Microsoft released Internet Explorer 1, which rendered websites properly on PCs for the first time. So what will happen next?

Well, there are lots of rumors, but most agree that we’re nearing another huge upgrade to our World Wide Web that will make it easier to browse content and find answers from smart search results rather than wading through endless pages looking for something useful on Google or Bing.

So, I hope our blog has given you a clear overview of what Web 3.0 is, and why it is a better version of the Internet. Now that you have this information, you can start looking at how ICOs, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain technologies can benefit your business.

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