What is Web 3.0 and why it is being called next generation internet?s

The current version of the world wide web or Web 2.0 is characterised by social media platforms, which allow greater proliferation of user-generated content. This is a far cry from Web 1.0, which was all static and non-interactive -- an entirely top-down approach towards information dissemination. Right now, five big tech companies, namely, Twitter, Facebook (now Meta), Google, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, control how our data will be used and where it will be stored and processed. Their algorithms decide the information that we consume, which has left alarm bells ringing. Now, Web 3.0, with its crypto, blockchain and metaverse use cases, is being touted as a movement that will wrest back the control of the internet from the five big tech companies. Instead of our data residing with centralised organisations today, Web 3.0 would see it residing on blockchain networks and thus, being owned by users themselves. It could be as simple as a user based in India and another based in the US, having a business meeting inside a virtual reality metaverse such as Decentraland, which is built on the Ethereum blockchain. They could then complete their planned business deal using their crypto wallets linked to their metaverse accounts. And thats that. Facebook realises that this is the future of the internet, hence its rebranding to Meta. Such is the craze around metaverse that people and organisations are spending millions of dollars to buy land that only exists inside these virtual worlds. But it makes business sense. Because in a future when people are going to wear their VR headsets and meet inside these virtual worlds for social gatherings, music concerts and art auctions, you need land here for advertising and events. However, as there are proponents, so there are sceptics as well.

Twitter cofounder and former CEO Jack Dorsey has denounced the much-hyped decentralised feature of Web 3.0.

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