Users Will Not Care about Web3 or Web 3.0

Is semantic web, or web 3.0, not the same thing as web3? Apparently not, some argue. But others will argue the terms will ultimately be interchangeable, even if purists will continue to argue the two concepts are quite different.  

Web 3.0 might be defined as a standards effort related to making the reading of machine data universal. That is akin to saying that the “internet” is different from TCP/IP or Ethernet. 

Web3, on the other hand, refers to a decentralized internet based on blockchain. 

Others will argue the semantic web (web 3.0) focuses on efficiency and intelligence by reusing and linking data across websites, while web3 focuses on decentralization, security and end user ownership of data.

As a practical matter, users will not care very much, any more than they care about how data is transported, where it is stored, how their phones or cars work. 

The nomenclature will eventually settle down. “Semantic” is not likely to gain widespread universal usage. For that matter, “web 2.0” never really became popular currency, either. And so it is possible that neither web3 nor web 3.0  ever really become mainstream user terms. 

source: mdpi.com, cointelegraph 

Far more likely is the common understanding that people use “phones” or “computers” or “cars.” So people will simply say they “use the internet.” But as has been the case in the past, applications, features and capabilities will continue to develop, for devices, apps and platforms. 

Most people will still not care how far towards a “next generation internet” we have gotten. They will simply be able to do and experience new things, in new ways, as we have found in the past. 

We have moved from a character-based internet to a visual internet; from “read only” to “read-write;” from content to commerce. Metaverse use cases will eventually develop. But it is possible that much of the shift to blockchain-based security will happen in the background. 

Regular people will not care much about decentralization or machine-readable data, if they care at all. People do not know how electricity works, how cars are made or what software powers their devices, to use them every day.