You knew it was coming. A blog entry about Web 1.0, 2.0 and the future of Web 3.0. How could we avoid it? But we’re gonna do it a little differently, and you might actually understand it this time.
So let’s start off a little history of the world wide web:
Web 1.0
Remember 10 years ago when you first started using the Internet. You would connect your 32k modem, visit a website, read a few of the paragraphs and click around a couple of the pages, looking at the swanky animated gifs.
This was Web 1.0. And it was okay for a while. It was an easy way to push information out to consumers without having to do much work. Every company and their mom was jumping on the web bandwagon because it was the cool thing to do.
And then the bubble burst. Consumers were tired of half-assed, design-heavy sites pushing mediocre information. And poorly run dotcoms, with fresh investor cash, were overcharging clients for web destinations. Web 1.0 had lost its groove.
So along came…
Web 2.0
….to save the Internet.
Web users wanted more than just the one-sided information that Web 1.0 offered. They wanted dialog and personal involvement. They wanted relationships and a sense of one-on-one engagement. They wanted Web 2.0.
Insanely popular destinations (MySpace, YouTube and Wikipedia) and technologies (blogs, RSS, wiki) have come to define this second wave of the web. They’ve given users the ability to create and automatically share their own content with the world. And they’re the driving force behind all that is happening with Internet innovation.
People absolutely live and die by Web 2.0. If Facebook suddenly decided to shut its doors, there’s a good possibility that WWIII would break out. The reason behind this is simple – people have invested their lives on Web 2.0, creating and rekindling relationships, building e-reputations, sharing thoughts/feelings, learning, etc.
The stakes have been raised, and the world has opened their eyes to the power and possibilities of the Internet. Whereas 1.0 was a trial run, people believe in the Web now and their dedication to the tools of Web 2.0 have proven their confidence.
So what comes after Web 2.0? We’ll have to wait until next time to find out. Stay tuned.
