The internet can not seem to agree about what web3 or Web 3.0 are. There does not seem to be a consensus as to whether they are the same or different, how they are the same or different, or even what they mean (different or not). Excuse me while I lose my mind….

Because there are different predictions, ideas, and visions for what Web 2.0 will look like after “a sea of change” finally transforms it, there are of course many different ideas about what will even raise the tide. Fortunately, there are people out there that can at least give us an idea of what it all is and means, one of them being the original creator of the internet, Tim Berners-Lee. His vision for the next iteration of the internet was The Semantic Web, a web that is organized into data models that are simultaneously more human and machine-readable, and he called it “Web 3.0”.

However, things change and Web 3.0 has since often been conflated with the idea of blockchain as it gained popularity, muddying the waters of what the future of the internet would actually become. Nowadays, AI is taking the world by storm and we are entering a new age of AR, further complecting the matter. Blockchain eventually flamed out, but it’s embers still burn and many think it still has a big role to play in bringing “web3” to fruition.

“The pillars of web3 are decentralization, monetization through infrastructure ownership, and trustlessness.”

Tyler Platt, InfoTrust

So what exactly is web3 then? Is it not the same thing as Web 3.0? In short answer, no, but they are connected. Tyler Blatt of InfoTrust, stands by Berners-Lee idea of The Semantic Web as the defining feature of what Web 3.0 will be, while differentiating web3 as being “better defined by the tenets it holds than the technology it has been written with.” Explaining that “The pillars of web3 are decentralization, monetization through infrastructure ownership, and trustlessness.” This essentially means that web3 is all about users taking back ownership of both their data and the internet itself from the clutches of big business. This is where blockchain potentially makes it’s comeback and real impact by revolutionizing how the internet is owned and operated.

web3 exists in a bit of an ideological vacuum that is about where we should go. Web 3.0 is about improving the experience for users and the harmony between users, machines, and the data connections between them. This is where in only a matter of time we will go .

Either way, both ideas are shaping the path towards the future and at some point the ideas will coexist, but at that point will it just be called something else?