How Will Web 3.0 Affect My Existing Web 2.0 Site?

By: Gary Klingsheim

How Will Web 3.0 Affect My Existing Web 2.0 Site?

It is not at all certain that putting version numbers on "the Web" has helped people understand the technology. Fact is, some well-known pundits contend that Web development is so fluid, so ongoing and often so transparent that terms like "Web 1.0" and "Web 2.0" really do not mean much by themselves. However, there certainly are particular capabilities and concentrations associated with the Web at certain times, and the version numbers provide an abbreviated way of putting them in context.

That said, the transition from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0 in terms of usefulness and value is going to be quite dramatic. It has the potential to affect how businesses operate, communicate and serve their customers. You needn't worry that your current Web site will become inoperable, as if someone is going to throw a switch on June 7, 2010 and enforce an entirely new set of standards. Backward compatibility is pretty much a given with this technology, although many individuals and companies will certainly want to add new functionalities if they improve the sites in some way.

What is Web 2.0?

Remembering the caveat that version numbers can be misleading, we can still say that Web 3.0 is the "next stage" of the Internet's GUI (Graphical User Interface). Before we can understand progress, we must understand the present. So, if the recent (and still current) "stage" of the Web is at 2.0, what does that mean? What defines Web 2.0?

The definition of Web 2.0 was shaped in large part by user preferences, and the preference in the last few years has been to create "communities of interest." These can be narrow or wide, shallow or deep, serious or fun, and social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and Digg led the way. Instead of being passive readers and one-way content consumers -- remember when it was all about "downloading"? -- as they were during the hard-to-pinpoint Web 1.0 era, consumers wanted to join in, participate and have "virtual" visits with each other.

The new aspects of Web 2.0 were not just built on new capabilities, but new consumer needs. The additional speed of the Web experience traceable to faster CPUs, broadband connections and hard drives could have been used for ever-quicker downloads, and there certainly were people who focused on that. However, "value added" thinkers saw the new speed and power as blazing a trail toward interactivity, two-way content creation (mashups and remixes, for instance) and more dependable security through tougher encryption.

Web connections

So, putting it in simple terms, the new feature of Web 2.0 was users' ability to join, partner, co-create, share and cooperate, rather than just look at content. People were now able to create content, see others' work, modify it (with permission) and voice their opinions. Along with the Web's new version number, which is very difficult to date with any precision, came some new terminology, such as "rich media." Web sites created with JavaScript, AJAX, Flash and other technologies have invited site visitors into the experience, allowing actions, interactions and a growing sense of connectedness. With people's home videos and photos showing up all over the Web, users began to feel a sense of ownership, as well.

Web 3.0, which isn't going to "debut" the way a new car does -- on a specified date, with a handy list of features and options on the window -- is the next step after Web 2.0, at least in terms of distinguishing the new capabilities. There is ongoing evolution of important Web components, like HTML 5 that is on the way, that will have far more impact on how sites are built and how they operate. The major change, once again, will be conceptual, and the technologies to institute and maintain that concept will follow. So, what's the Web 3.0 "concept," anyway?

Overview of Web 3.0

Standing on the shoulders of the social networking advances in Web 2.0, 3.0 will be defined by the myriad connections being made throughout the Web. As existing Web sites are drawn into these connections, at some point a "seamless Web" will result, meaning that small, separate, discrete Web sites, there will be huge networks of sites providing almost a limitless array of features. These connections will take place in many ways that are already beginning to show up.

OpenID provides a single identity that people can use across the entire Web. Although OpenID isn’t yet accepted at all sites, it is an example of Web 3.0 seamlessness and will continue to spread. Some sites, like Mixx.com, allow users to login with names and passwords from other sites and services, like Facebook, AOL and Yahoo! All of these trends are leading to the seamless Web of the future, in one possible version of which you will have a single identity for all your Web travels.

Naturally, there will be some Web sites that do not mesh well with the seamless concept, but it won't be because of underlying technologies. It will be due to deliberate choices to use or ignore new capabilities and connections. The majority of Web 2.0 sites will transition quite nicely into Web 3.0, thank you very much. After that, of course, we can start talking about Web 4.0!

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