Web 3.0 is a new concept of the Internet, which will be based on decentralization, the absence of a single body of control and censorship. This is the main difference between the current version of the Internet (Web 2.0) and Web 3.0. So far, the era of the “new Internet” has not yet arrived and, I think, it will take several more years before it comes. And when it does, it will be a completely different story.

Web 1.0 - the first Internet, "global library" and "remote news"

The first version of the Internet - Web 1.0 - was essentially just a set of static sites with information. They could download books, read articles, watch the news and download your favorite music and movies. All these sites and resources were created by one specific people - resource owners and webmasters. Moreover, the content on them has always been managed centrally, that is, what the webmaster has posted on the site is there. Did not post something - users did not see it. In other words, you could say that Web 1.0 was just a big repository of data that someone put in there. If the content did not get into the network due to an oversight / unwillingness of the administrator to post data, it will not be available to users.

Web 1.0 can also be compared to a global library or one big newspaper. When we come to the library, we cannot read everything, and our choice is limited to only those books that the library has. Or, when buying a newspaper, we can only read what journalists have written in it. And they may not write everything, or they may not want to write something.

Web 2.0 - Internet for users

Since 2003, the Internet has moved to a qualitatively different level - to Web 2.0. Its difference from Web 1.0 was, first of all, in the appearance of social networks. Social networks allowed posting content not only to webmasters and resource owners, but also to ordinary network users. People have the opportunity to speak. And then it seemed to many that here it is, the true face of the network. However, later it turned out that people did not receive absolute freedom, because one way or another we now have to interact with servers, i.e. there is a "client-server" architecture, when the client accesses the server, the server issues a response or records the data entered by the user. Servers also belong to someone - companies and individuals. Companies have their own content placement policy, and very often it does not correspond to the desires and motivation of users who post their content on centralized sites. So, in the case of YouTube, for example, a user can easily run into a ban due to impartial statements about sexual minorities or a Covid vaccination. In other words, Web 2.0 retains centralization, which limits the freedom of expression of users, and this does not have the best effect on the quality of content in general.

When we talk about the shortcomings of Web 2.0, you should understand that these shortcomings are inherent not only in social networks, but also in other areas of the Internet - online commerce (Amazon, Alibaba), search engines (Google, Yandex), browsers and even operating systems (Windows, Android, iOS). Centralization has a negative impact in these areas too, and not just in social networks. So, search engines can have their own search algorithms that can not skip “wrong” information and move “correct” information, and can also “promote” advertising in their own interests - the kind of advertising that many of us are already pretty tired of. And marketplaces can also introduce their own usage policies and regulate the admission of companies and private users to their sites.

Another disadvantage of Web 2.0 is the transfer of sensitive user data to services. In many of them, users must provide their personal data and leave it on the site. In fact, personal data is stored on content sites, and this data can be hacked, hacked, etc. This is not the case with decentralized networks.

Thus, there are obvious shortcomings in Web 2.0 that have to be dealt with and which are very annoying for users. Among these:

• relatively low speed of services (even taking into account the development of mobile networks);

• monopolization of the market, and, as a result, censorship and security holes;

– violation of privacy and provision of personal data of users to third parties;

• a large number of points of failure due to centralization;

— duplication and non-uniqueness of content.

Web 3.0 is a new but not yet realized concept

Web 2.0 may be replaced by Web 3.0. Why "may"? Because, firstly, no one really knows yet what Web 3.0 will become, and what will be its difference from Web 2.0 (by the way, even the term Web 1.0 appeared and received a clear definition only with the advent of 2.0). Secondly, now there is a lot of talk about decentralization and the use of blockchain , however, how it will actually be, and whether ordinary users will want to switch to an incomprehensible blockchain and everything connected with it, is still unknown.

In short and understandable language, Web 3.0 is such an Internet that will “live” not on separate servers that stand in a certain place and belong to specific people or companies, but in separate nodes - nodes, and on the devices of the users themselves. At the same time, modern blockchains allow anyone to deploy nodes and manage them. Thus, Web 3.0, in contrast to the centralized Web 2.0, in theory will allow you to use services that are located everywhere and nowhere at the same time. To better understand this idea, let's look at the concept of decentralized applications (DApps).

DApps are the cornerstone of the Internet 3.0

To understand the difference between centralized and decentralized applications, let's look at an example. Let's take Instagram. When a user opens the Instagram app on their phone, they see the user interface; this is the client side. The client part is needed so that the user can enter his data and send it to the server. And the server, in turn, processes client data according to its algorithms. The server is located on a separate computer (also called a server) somewhere in a certain place. This means that there is centralization and complete dictatorship of the server owner in the operation of the application.

In a decentralized application, the server part is located not on some separate computer, but on the blockchain, and is stored on nodes, which can be arbitrarily many, and they can be located in different parts of the world and belong to completely different people. Each time a user enters data, this data is copied in all nodes to all copies of the blockchain. Thus, there is no possibility for anyone to manipulate data, make their own data processing policies and manipulate them. This is a manifestation of decentralization in all its glory.

Such an implementation of the network already exists; The Theta network , a service for creating, publishing and sharing video content, can be mentioned as an example . In this network, content is stored in nodes, and users can even share part of the power of their device, receiving native network tokens in return.

There is also the IPFS project - InterPlanetary File System - an open source decentralized file sharing network. The network is a peer-to-peer communication protocol, i.e. communication protocol without any central authority (server).

Benefits of Web 3.0

Speaking about the new Internet, we should note the innovations that it brings with it. So, of course, the idea of ​​decentralization comes to the fore. But this is not the only plus of the new Web 3.0. In addition to the lack of central regulation, blockchain solutions have many other advantages. For example, all interaction and all data on the network can be tokenized. This allows:

• mark content so as to assign it a unique attribute. This will allow you to deal with multiple copies of the same information, it will be easier to find the original source and save time searching for original content;

• take advantage of new opportunities to earn money online. This applies both to the receipt of royalties by the authors of articles, videos, etc., and to rewarding users only for viewing and reading content.

The idea of ​​decentralization opens the way for many content creators and bloggers without requiring personal data in return. And this, in turn, allows you to maintain anonymity and privacy on the network.

A distributed network can also allow you to share the power of your devices with other users, which increases the overall speed of the network.

In summary, we can name the following advantages of Web 3.0:

• lack of central regulation in applications;

• accordingly, less censorship and more freedom in the statements of users;

• higher fault tolerance, since applications are hosted in decentralized nodes - they are almost impossible to hack and do not depend on the operation of any one physical server;

• opportunities to monetize their presence on the network, both for application operators and for the users themselves.