What is Web 3.0?

Web 2.0 is the buzzword in today's technology scene.  Most people don't seem to know what it really means, but the guy that uses the word a lot at work gets promoted often, so it is probably best to play along.

Web 2.0 is the push for collaboration on the internet.  Web 2.0 has spawned things such as the development and evolution of web-based communities and services, such as social networking sites, blogs, wikis, and other collaborations.  Some examples of these sites are Myspace, Facebook, Digg, Youtube, Wikipedia, and many many more.

The web has changed so much in the past decade.  Facebook didn't exist until 2004, but it is worth multiple millions now.  Youtube only goes back to 2005, but it is hard to imagine surfing the web late at night without browsing Youtube videos for at least a little while. 

Ok.. so Web 2.0 is users getting together and sharing information, sharing files, and collaborating. 

What the heck is Web 3.0?

For now, Web 3.0 is an idea... a look into the future.   How will the Internet evolve in the next decade?

Most experts think that Web 3.0 will be the emergence of the "Data Web".  In general, bandwidth and processing power will be greater.  Data will begin to be compartmentalized and fit into neat databases that will be open source and available to many different users.  Web developers will spend time making applications that will run on the front end and pull data from these public databases. 

In the future, we will see much more application software being run on the web, much like Google Documents and other things are doing today. 

Another major point of Web 3.0 is the Semantic Web.  In a nutshell, the Semantic Web is a concept in which the web understands your context and brings you the information you want. 

When you search for anchor, the Semantic Web will know you meant to find a picture of anchorman Ron Burgandy, not a part of the Titanic. 

Finally, many promise that Web 3.0 will have enough bandwidth and processing power to deliver 3d imaging and possible holographic live chat and video.  Imagine playing Second Life in 3d...  The Web3D consortium is heading the developments in 3d imaging and have made some breakthroughs that don't make this vision too far fetched.

The only thing we definetly know is that Web 3.0 will be a big change and will change how people interact with each other and technology.   It doesn't look like we're too far from some major online technology breakthroughs.