Is web3 the next Google Glass?
“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” — Unknown
Anyone who is associated with the tech industry would’ve heard of “Web3”. They would also have heard about how amazing the technology is (or is going to be). With the amount of noise being generated, it might as well be the next big miracle after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Or will it?
To ascertain that, we’ll have to look at what really, at the very core, is different about this technology. And that calls for a very basic comparison between widely accepted “stages of the web.”
• Web1: The initial internet where a few companies put up their information online. Very few people knew how to code, fewer companies knew how to put up information online, and the most any average internet user could do is, go online, read the stuff on static webpages, and that’s that.
• Web2: Better tech and input devices helped companies create sites/platforms where the average user could go and publish their content. The companies had created interactive sites and you could go post words, pictures, videos, etc. which were all stored on the said company’s servers (and the data/data points sold to advertisers to show ads to users on the same platform in some cases). This is where we are now.
• Web3: There will be no central company storage. The sites or platforms created will be basis open source software and the data generated by users on these sites will be encrypted and stored on a blockchain network hosted by the very same users. No one but you will own the data that you generate.
Also, since all the data, programs, apps, platforms, and money (yes, money. Remember Bitcoin / Ether?) are stored on the shared blockchain, there will be no central entity at every step. No middleman. We will kill all the monopolistic giants and the negatives that come along with them as well.
But how?
The thing is, no one is quite sure about that yet.
No one really knows how one single mode of compensation will be set up for users participating in the blockchain.
No one really knows who is going to pay for associated infrastructure.
No one really knows how one single protocol will be created so that users, who all use different input types, languages, and tech, will be able to interoperate (or “talk to each other using different technologies”)
And honestly, no one knows how the current system, with its entrenched players, will be disrupted to make way for a democratic and honest system.
Why would the market leaders allow that to happen?
I mean, there already is the “Metaverse”
Mark Zuckerberg, flush with Facebook money, actually went ahead and rebranded his multi-billion dollar cash machine to Meta. Ostensibly, he could take ownership of social media on Web3 by launching Metaverse and using the first mover advantage to establish supremacy in the space.
This, in itself, seems like a huge move, but reading between the lines seems to have an extremely strong set of messages, from the expected immersion levels to platform independence.
However, that’s the topic for another piece.
What we can assume for this one is that most industry leaders are currently vying for space in an ecosystem that isn’t very well defined and set up, to begin with. Multiple brands are dipping their toes into the waters of web3 to see how it works for them. And if not that, just to be there and be ready for if and when the opportunity strikes, it could result in momentous returns.
Much like how Web2 eventually did.
But not a lot of people sniffed the opportunity back then. However, this time, they don’t want to miss the bus at any cost.
We don’t know whether Web3 will go the way of Apple Watch or Google Glass, but if it does the former, is your brand ready to be a part of that revolution?
