Web3 - Will The Decentralised Web Make The Internet FREE Again?

The buzzword of tech, crypto and venture-capital types lately is Web3. They are fascinated with it, and now you've got to add it to your Twitter bio if you want to be taken seriously as a futurist. Web3 is an umbrella term for disparate ideas pointing towards eliminating the big middlemen on the Internet. The future of the web will not be about logging onto Facebook or Twitter but creating one's own digital world on decentralized platforms.

With the emergence of the World Wide Web or Web 1.0 in the 1990s, we witnessed a revolutionary movement. In those early days, navigating the Internet was like walking through a sea of information with minimal direction. It was disorganized and overwhelming, with limited access to information.

Then came the development of Web 2.0 in the mid-2000s. New platforms like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Twitter emerged to make it easier for businesses to connect and transact online. However, today, critics say those companies have too much power. In the new age of Web3, consumers will take back some of that power.

The current Internet is the most valuable public resource in our modern world. However, a few companies control it and make billions of dollars off its success even though the users who have contributed to that success have very little to show for it.

According to the Web3 movement, the answer is to improve the Internet by removing the company overlords. New social networks, search engines, and marketplaces that have no control from big companies could appear, shifting the Internet and social media onto a new path built from different rules and structures.

New Web3 platforms will be decentralized and work off a system known as the blockchain, which already underpins Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Many computers will power it to be easily searched for data by anyone. Platforms will be operated collectively and not by a single corporation. Users would be rewarded with tokens for participating in the platforms and for making decisions. Those tokens could even be used to buy or trade things from other people.

In the Web3 world, people will control their own data and transact across multiple services like email, social media, shopping and utilities using a singular identity, creating a public record of that activity.

It might seem remote or far-off, but the idea of a reinvention of the Internet is already happening. In fact, crypto investors are directly funding some of the key changes that are happening in crypto-related technologies. It's all part of the Web3 movement, which has led to new conversations and generated lots of new money. Many tech companies are already taking note and jumping on the Web3 bandwagon to reinvent the online experience. While many non-tech businesses still haven't heard of this emerging technology

The crypto community has contributed significantly to the advent of Web3 with the rise of non-fungible tokens or NFTs. NFTs are digital collectibles and other online files that can be bought and sold with cryptocurrency. For example, a group of crypto enthusiasts recently banded together to attempt to purchase a copy of the U.S. Constitution with cryptocurrency. They organized in a group called the ConstitutionDAO. A DAO stands for decentralized autonomous organization and is an online collective governed by blockchains and tokens.

Cryptographers and technologists have theorized about Web3 for years. But it's only now that blockchain-powered web projects are gaining traction among tech companies. This is partially because of the rapid growth of cryptocurrency and the need for solutions to resolve problems such as high transaction fees, slow transaction times, and lack of privacy.

In this new era, users hope that instead of relying on Big Tech companies like Google and Facebook to facilitate online communication, they could use a multitude of blockchain-based services. For example, imagine posting a photo on your favourite media platform and earning a token for your contribution. You would simultaneously own the platform and one day be able to cash in those tokens.

Major tech platforms are also jumping on the idea. But it's a bit of a catch-22. In theory, this also means avoiding fees, rules, and tech companies' strictures. Nonetheless, they are also jumping on the idea and marketing it as a way to share value with more people rather than just their investors, employees and owners.

Twitter is studying features that could be added to the platform in the future. One example is the possibility of logging in to Twitter and tweeting from an account associated with a cryptocurrency, not a Twitter account. This would still be a standard Twitter experience, not a crypto version of Twitter replacing Twitter.

Experts say that blockchain-based social networks, transactions and businesses will continue to gain traction in the future as Web3 technology operates alongside or on top of Web2.0 technologies. However, experts say the technology is not likely to supplant the current Web 2.0 technology entirely, nor will it displace large tech giants like Google, Facebook, or Twitter. Large Web 2.0 based tech companies will fold Web3 ideas into their services to stay relevant. Many people want to take their data and history of interactions with them in this new era. They are tired of being trapped in the walled gardens of big tech companies. The experience is fundamentally different from what we're used to today.

Sceptics of Web3 have called it vaporware - meaning a product that's announced but never delivered. Suppose part of the impetus of Web3 is meant to be an internet where all of your personal data is kept private and secured. In that case, many speculate that an internet built on blockchain-based technology wouldn't work as blockchain will make even more data public. Companies today have different apps that store various information in databases stored in different data warehouses. But because Web3 in its purest form is an all-blockchain world, everything is stored and retrieved from one place.

To many critics, Web3 represents an idealized version of the early days of the Internet, where technologists envisioned an open and accessible world where people could freely use the Internet and information. Today, it is clear that this dream has become a reality for technology companies but not for consumers - one can't help but hope that Web3 can change all that.