What is Web 2.0

One of the most overused, but ironically least understood, terms today is Web 2.0. Many consider it as Version 2.0 of the World Wide Web. But is it? If it is, then what happened to Web 1.0? Was it replaced by new protocols? Or does it continue to exist even today?

Also, what about those sites that were set up in the nineties when Web 2.0 did not exist like Timesofindia.com, Naukri.com or Rediff.com, and which are popular even today? Are they part of Web 1.0 or Web 2.0?

Interestingly, Google generates 33.4 million results for the search term Web 2.0. Yahoo! throws up 26.6 million results. So, what is Web 2.0? And how is it different to Web 1.0?

There are many definitions of Web 2.0 but the simplest and the easiest to understand is the one that defines Web 2.0 as “the web that is constructed on the principle of build, share and participate”.

If you look back to the pre-Web 2.0 era, you will find that the websites were built on the principle of communicating from “one to many”. The website owners or publishers decided what to say and how to say. The end-users had no say in the way content was generated or distributed. They only consumed information that was thrust down on them.

Web 2.0 introduced the principle of “many to many”, empowering users to create, distribute and share content. This did not happen because the Internet infrastructure was reinvented. It happened because of the free tools and applications that the Web 2.0 pioneers developed and deployed on the World Wide Web.

These free tools revolutionized the way we use Internet. Suddenly, there was no need to register personal domains and develop websites. Individuals could develop their own blogs free of cost. What’s more they could share their writings with like-minded bloggers by using RSS feeds. They could even insert Google Ad sense scripts, and make money.

YouTube took content creation and sharing to another height, by allowing users to upload, watch and share videos. Wikipedia was even more dramatic. It empowered users to create content that other users could edit and improve. The result: creation of the world’s largest encyclopedia by not a few editors but millions of editors.

Then came social networking. This was even better, as it gave individuals not only an opportunity to chat and share information but also to showcase their talent. User experience improved and the net became richer in terms of the variety of content that millions of networkers created.

It is these “create, share and grow” sites that are collectively referred to as Web 2.0. They address what has come to be known as “the long tail” – that is the hundreds and millions of small websites and users that form the net.

The central core is still occupied by large, established players but this core is diminishing. The ones who have been hurt most are the newspapers, which for the past several centuries controlled the creation and distribution of content. Also hit are the licensed vendors who jealously guard their creations. They are finding their products eclipsed by applications that are being created through free collaboration.

To conclude, Web 2.0 is not a new platform. It still works on the same protocols that were written for Web 1.0. The only difference is that Web 2.0 is trying to harness the collective intelligence of millions of Internet users to improve user experience. In other words, it is that part of the Internet that is being driven by the “wisdom of the crowds”.