Did you know that the only thing users could do online when the web (or World Wide Web) became available back in 1994 was read? It took 10 years for it to be interactive in Web 2.0. Then in 2013, Web 3.0 was introduced as the next stage of the internet. Also known as Web3, this “new iteration of the World Wide Web… incorporates concepts such as decentralization, blockchain technologies, and token-based economics,” according to Wikipedia.

The current phase of the web is lauded by its proponents for a myriad of things, including the increase in control users have. But there are also others who doubt that it’s really a significant version of the internet – including Elon Musk, owner of brands like X (formerly Twitter) and Tesla, Inc. Let’s explore a few more things about Web 3.0. 

• Web 2.0 versus Web 3.0. Just how are they different? Developments like JavaScript (programming language of the Web) and HTML5 (Hypertext Markup Language 5, a standard markup language for the web) made the Web 2.0 interactive. In turn, platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and more allowed users to create and share content online through social media, blogs, streaming, and more. But while Web 2.0 stored data in fixed locations through single servers, Web 3.0 stores data in several locations – effectively making it decentralized. It can do this using blockchain, cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens, according to Dr. Peter Bentley’s article “What is Web3?” in the BBC’s sciencefocus.com. 
  
   
• ‘Private and encrypted.’ Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood is credited for being the first to write about Web 3.0 in a blog in 2014. He shared his vision of having an internet that enables sensitive data to be private and encrypted – something Web 3.0 did. Simplilearn.com explains that because Web 3.0 “allows information to be retrieved based on its content, data can be kept in several locations” at the same time by using blockchain to decentralize data storage. Blockchain is defined by Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary as a “digital database containing information (such as records of financial transactions) that can be simultaneously used and shared within a large decentralized, publicly accessible network.”
   
  Another change Web 3.0 made possible is not needing third-party service providers for individuals to make transactions. There is a “trustful bond,” according to the site, that removes the need for permission, like not being required to accept cookies when conducting research on a site. Simplilearn.com adds two more features of Web 3.0 that make it different. First, artificial intelligence and machine learning allows “computers to understand information in the same way that people do.” And second, that access to the internet is now for everyone, anywhere, and anytime because of the Internet of Things (IoT) or the networking capability that allows information to be sent to and received from objects and devices (such as fixtures and kitchen appliances) using the internet. 
  
   
• Crypto. Digital currency or cryptocurrency is a good example of the trust-based concept behind Web 3.0, says Bernard Marr of forbes.com in an article about Web 3.0. It became possible to send Bitcoin to another person directly instead of an online channel on a centralized storage. “The entire process of making the transaction is controlled by the blockchain algorithm and encryption, he writes, “and there is close to zero chance that anyone can step in and disrupt it.”
  
  According to Kaspersky.com, “cryptocurrency payments exist purely as digital entries to an online database describing specific transactions.” Transferred cryptocurrency funds are recorded in a public ledger and stored in digital wallets. The company says that cryptocurrency was named as such because it utilized encryption in verifying transactions to make these secure and safe. Advanced coding is required to store and transmit cryptocurrency data between wallets and to public ledgers. 
  
   
• Why does Elon dislike it? “I’m not suggesting Web3 is real,” Musk posted in a tweet in 2021, “(It) seems more like a marketing buzzword than reality right now.” A day after, he posted a related message: “Has anyone seen Web3? I can’t find it.” The CEO is not the only skeptic of Web 3.0. Bentley says that one concern is having a centralized system controlled by big tech companies again since there are limited players currently in crypto and cryptocurrency solutions. He adds that some critics question the dominance of these companies who collect private data from the free services they give and profit from it (by selling browser cookies, for example). 
  
   
• Is Web 4.0 coming? In fact, even Web 5.0 is being discussed online. Entrepreneur Middle East featured investor and entrepreneur Bundeep Singh Rangar just last April described Web 4.0 as a platform that “advances this (Web.3) set-up via artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and seamless human-computer interactions." Spotflock CEO Sridhar Seshadri wrote in an article for The Times of India that “machines will be capable of learning from human interactions and providing insights that can assist in decision-making in Web 4.0, which he described as a “symbiotic web.”