From Web 1.0 to Web 3.0: Evolution of the World Wide Web

The Internet does not stand still. Like any other technology, it goes through many evolution stages, constantly improving its possibilities for users. If a modern teenager sees the way the Internet looked like at its early stage of development, one will probably get lost trying to figure out what's in front of him. Let’s briefly run through the stages of the Internet evolution, starting with Web 1.0 and ending with what we have today.

Web 1.0 is the early stage of the Internet since its emergence, characterized by a one-way connection between a user and content. That is, the early Internet users could only consume the information (read, listen, watch, etc.) but not participate and not interact. There was an author on the one hand and a consumer - on the other, and no feedback options. 

This new period is characterized by social networks that completely changed how people interact on the Internet. Web 2.0 is the space where users can not only consume information but also share it. That was when emails, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Google, and smartphone applications emerged and entered our lives and became pretty permanent and usual things. In Web 2.0, anyone could become an author and make a contribution to the content online. It led to massive information posting, and thus, the Internet became overloaded with information, which led to data breaches and cybercrime.

With increasing demand and consumer expectations, Web 2.0 started to evolve, and at some point in time, its capabilities appeared to be insufficient for the massive information influx and exchange. That was the time for the transition to decentralization, the third generation of the Internet, where all the processes were based on consensus protocols.

Decentralization means switching from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0, where there is no space for central bodies regulating what information and where should be placed. There was no place for data control and restrictions in posting this or that information anymore. Instead, anyone can create content and broadcast it in different apps without asking for permission.

Web 3.0 means you don't need to have many accounts on social networks; instead, you have access to the entire decentralized Internet via one digital signature.

Web 3.0 is the space for content makers and influencers to fully realize their potential. If Web 2.0 allowed them to make money from posting their content, then with Web 3.0, creators do not depend on the platforms they are posting on. That means they don't ask permission and don't need to adhere to any rules or restrictions when broadcasting their content online. 

Web 3.0 users receive the opportunity to create blended content. That is, creators and fans (followers) receive the opportunity to cooperate and co-create while mixing different types of media. The future is collaborative media. But there are some peculiarities:

How to make it easy for anyone to create collaborative media?

How to understand who owns what if the content was created jointly with other creators?

In Web 3.0, the interaction between creators and their audience is crucial, and it is the base for building content and monetization. Co-creating allows artists to create new content, and on the other hand, their fans can also make a profit by supporting authors and cooperating with them in creating new content. This interconnection is the core of co-monetizing, where every Internet participant receives income from work done.

Web 3.0 is only at its early stage of development. However, some platforms are driving this new Internet era, and one of them is Sagaverse. Sagaverse is a protocol for collaborative creation, allowing content creators and their fans to cooperate and create content jointly as well as share revenue. Thus, both creators and fans participate in content creation and monetise it. For example, a creator posts some video content, and other users can modify it, adding reactions, creating remixes, or building related content based on the original one. In this case, the initial creator receives royalties.

On the Sagaverse platform, users can, for example, co-create and co-own media NFTs or make compositions on NFTs, 2D, and 3D content, audio, video, graphics, etc. 

Summarizing the transition from the early-stage Internet to the present-day possibilities that creators and followers have, we can say groundbreaking technologies and innovations are now happening much faster than before, and the future with a full-scale Web 3 Internet is just around the corner.