The Evolution of the Web: Web1 → Web2 → Web3

Welcome to the very first post of the Blockchain Fundamentals series! To understand why blockchain matters, we first need to look at how the web itself has evolved.

🌐 Web 1.0 – The “Read-Only” Web (1991–2004)

• Static pages with very little interactivity.
• Mostly used for browsing and searching information.
• Looked like digital books or research papers.
• Advertisements were actually banned in the early web days.

👉 In short: Web1 was all about consuming information, not creating it.

Photo courtesy of Chris Messina

🌍 Web 2.0 – The “Read & Write” Web (2004–Present)

• Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube rise.
• User-generated content and communities thrive.
• Dynamic websites powered by JavaScript and AJAX.
• Focus on UI/UX – smooth interfaces, animations, interactions.
• Data controlled by intermediaries (Google, Twitter, Facebook, etc.).

👉 Web2 unlocked massive interactivity but centralized power. Your data belongs to companies, not you.

Photo by pickpik.com

🌐 Web 3.0 – The “Read, Write & Own” Web (Future & Emerging)

• Powered by blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and decentralization.
• Focus shifts to back-end systems, data storage, and ledgers rather than just shiny UIs.
• No central authority owns your data – ownership is distributed across the network.
• Immersion > interaction (think metaverse instead of just browsing a site).
• Incorporates AI, blockchain, and decentralized finance (DeFi).

👉 Web3 is about ownership and control, not just access. You own your content, your identity, and your digital assets.

Photo by easy-peasy.ai

Web2 vs Web3 in Action

Let’s make this practical with a few examples:

1. Tweets (Content Ownership)

   • Web2: Twitter owns your tweets. They can censor or delete them.
   • Web3: Your post lives on a decentralized platform. Once published, it cannot be altered or deleted.

2. Payments (Financial Control)

   • Web2: Platforms like PayPal require personal details and can freeze your account anytime.
   • Web3: Crypto wallets allow you to send and receive money freely, with no need for permission or personal data.

3. Internet Providers (Single Point of Failure)

   • Web2: A single telecom outage can knock a country offline.
   • Web3: Networks are distributed globally across thousands of nodes, making it nearly impossible to shut down.

Quick Introduction to Blockchain

Now that you see why Web3 matters, let’s touch on the core technology behind it: blockchain.

At its core, a blockchain is a digital ledger of transactions that is:

• Immutable – nearly impossible to change, hack, or cheat.
• Distributed – duplicated across thousands of machines.
• Decentralized – no single entity owns it; the entire network maintains it.

Think of blockchain like a public logbook where everyone keeps a copy. If one copy is lost or tampered with, the network’s majority still preserves the truth.

Photo by wikimedia.org

Key Takeaways

• Web1 = Read-only (consume information).
• Web2 = Read & write (interact, but centralized).
• Web3 = Read, write & own (decentralized and user-controlled).
• Blockchain is the backbone of Web3, ensuring security, transparency, and decentralization.

👉 Read next: Centralized vs Decentralized: Understanding the Core Difference