Web 3

Web 1 was the original Internet, with independent websites linked to each other. This period was characterised by one-way traffic; information flowed only from the website to the user.

Web 2 encompasses the period in which users no longer simply consumed content, but also began to produce it themselves. It is also called the 'social Internet', where people can contribute in person. During this period, several powerful social media platforms emerged, many of which still dominate the social media landscape today.

The power of these platforms lies in the huge amount of information that users leave on them. This is not only substantive contributions, but also personal data and derived patterns and behaviours. Together, all this information serves as a major source of revenue and influence, for example, in order to get users to participate intensively in the social network.

For users, these underlying dynamics are usually completely unclear. Without realising it, they are handing over their personal information, transferring valuable content to a third party, and thus being directly or indirectly guided in their behaviour.

With the rise of Web3 came the ambition to change this. Web3 is often summarized as 'read, write and own'. Every time someone contributes, value is created. Instead of that value flowing to a tech giant, Web3 envisions an internet in which users can own and manage that value themselves, for example through blockchain technology and digital tokens.

This principle was already described by Jaron Lanier in his 2014 book Who Owns the Future? Supporters of Web3 believe this development could lead to a new era of the internet, in which control over data and digital assets largely returns to users.

Although several Web3 technologies have now matured, large-scale adoption is still at a relatively early stage. Web3 relies on a range of technologies, each with its own level of maturity. The necessary building blocks are being developed by a variety of organizations. Major technology companies, blockchain projects, and startups are working on areas including digital identity, blockchain networks, smart contracts, and decentralized data storage.