Battle lines are being drawn up as technologies for a Web 3.0 are primed and loaded, Mats Tage Axelsson helps you prepare for a user-owned world.

L ately, there have been many news stories on how the web is evolving into something new. A lot of this news cycle is about Meta, but that’s just one vision of how we can interact with each other online. The paradigm shift that’s coming is irrelevant to the display, which is great for advertising but is no more than a glitzy distraction.

Instead, the most powerful change is decentralisation. This is the idea that your data can be spread on everybody’s computers instead of hoarded inside corporate headquarters (don’t look at us!– Ed). In the mind of the pioneers, users will have full control and everything will be equal. You can think of the third web as a mash-up of regular web pages, peer-to-peer networks and blockchain technologies.

To grasp the power of these technologies, it’s crucial to understand a few key concepts: the basics of blockchains; cryptography on a user level; and how you’re part of the redistribution of all the data involved.

Initially, you’ll get the feeling that all of this will be great and that the “hippie generation” has caught up with modern computing. But as we’ll soon discover, not everything is rosy. People will still need to be vigilant for fairness and to avoid corporate rot. We’ll explain how to take a cautious approach to this new world, avoid investing your money in dangerous schemes, and spot those trying to take advantage of new weaknesses that this new technology could be susceptible to.

Web 1.0

In the first version of the web, sites were just a collection of static documents. The author created them and they stayed the same. For a single user this is a good start and great for presenting yourself to a wider audience. The people whose attention you want to capture don’t require more than this if you have a clear message.

We’ve all seen the rise of social media, which is a significant part of what’s become Web 2.0. The main aspect of the second web experience is that the initial code is just the foundation of the platform. Real value comes from the user content – the regular users! To get paid, we’re being tracked through everything we do, making us the product – something that has been pointed out by many commentators. To counter this trend, centralised computing needs a serious overhaul.

For Web 3.0, this central nature of the digital world will be uprooted and your data will go back to being yours. The first step is to start addressing data by its content, using IPFS and Swarm (more on these later). The next step is to create a system that can enable commerce with as few middle men as possible.