Web 2.0 vs 3.0
Nearly every man and his dog has heard of ‘Web 2.0′ recently, but you may not have heard of the term ‘Web 3.0′. It is being thrown about more and more in an effort to describe the new direction the web is taking, but what does it actually mean? Is it just another marketing buzzword which means very little, or is the web evolving yet again?
Proponents of Web 3.0 point out the growth of cross-service mash-ups, social media sites with more of an emphasis on the user than before and steps towards ubiquitous internet access with devices like the iPhone and Google’s Android platform. They say that now more and more people have access to their favourite social media sites from wherever they are, the usage of these services will change: Google Maps will no longer just be used to find a way to get from A to B, but a way of finding where you are in an unfamiliar location and finding the nearest bar or restaurant – replacing the need for dedicated GPS devices.
Opponents claim this is nothing new, it is just the usage of web services which are changing – users finding new and more ingenious ways to make the web fit them rather than the other way round. They show that since most of the new ‘Web 3.0′ content is in essence just a combination of that which has gone before, that it is no different, and that a massive paradigm shift on the net like the one social media caused will not happen for a few more years yet.
In reality it is a bit of both. The idea that the web evolves in fits and starts, from 1.0 to 2.0 and now 3.0, is a particularly misplaced one. We have seen the internet change from its initial general purpose of a glorified encyclopedia in its early days, through a new platform for shopping to its current status as a social tool, but none of these changes happened overnight.
For instance, people talking to other people and arranging social events over the net has existed since the beginning and evolved steadily as a wide-spread tool: e-mails became chat rooms which became instant messaging programs, and then all of a sudden we ended up with MySpace and Facebook. They were the massive leap, but they were not the first sites based around users.
So what is the upshot of all of this? The way people use the net is changing unmistakably, but I think it is more of a slow mutation rather than a rapid shift taking place. We are bound to see more and more sites like http://www.searchme.com/ popping up, and more mash-ups taking hold as successful ideas and concepts. I prefer to think of this as Web 2.1 – leaner, fitter and better for purpose.
This all means that no longer will the driving force on the web be big business trying to make a quick buck, but it will be these startups and businesses creating unique services or combinations of existing services which serve the user’s needs much better. The huge leap in mobile internet access quality and availability will undoubtedly have a big impact and as users get more web-savvy, we will hopefully see a whole new generation of sites to steal our time. Here’s hoping!
Geoff Adams
Programmer, Research and Development
