WTF is Web3?

So you’ve heard of Web3, but you’re having trouble making heads or tails of it, right? Ponder no more. I’ve managed to conjure up something just north of a middle school book report on what Web3 is in hopes to begin to unravel some questions for you.

Web3 is a new idea for how the internet could work in the not-too-distant future. To understand Web3, we first need to talk about the internet as it exists today, which is sometimes called Web 2.0.

In Web 2.0, the internet is made up of big companies that control most of the information and services that we use online. These companies have a lot of power and influence, and they can sometimes use our data in ways that we don't like or agree with. For example, they might sell our information to advertisers, or use algorithms to show us content that we might not actually want to see.

Web3 is a different vision for the internet, one that puts more power back in the hands of individuals. The basic idea of Web3 is that instead of relying on big companies to provide services like social media, messaging, or e-commerce, we could use a decentralized network of computers to create these services ourselves.

This network is called a blockchain, and it's made up of lots of different computers that are all connected to each other. Instead of having a central authority that controls everything, like we do in Web 2.0, the blockchain is maintained by all the computers that are part of it.

One of the big advantages of this decentralized approach is that it can be more secure and private. Because there isn't one big company that controls everything, it's harder for hackers or other bad actors to break into the system and steal our data. And because we're in control of our own data, we can choose who we want to share it with and what we want to do with it.

Another important part of Web3 is the idea of smart contracts. These are like computer programs that run on the blockchain and can be used to automatically execute transactions or other actions. For example, you could use a smart contract to buy a product online, and the contract would automatically release the payment to the seller once the product had been delivered.

Overall, the goal of Web3 is to create a more decentralized and democratic internet, where individuals have more control over their data and can use it in ways that benefit them. While it's still a new and evolving idea, Web3 has the potential to revolutionize the way we use the internet and interact with each other online.