What would be Web 3.0? That’s the question many seem to ask these days. Before getting to that question, there are some serious doubts about the premise that Web 2.0 ever existed! However, regardless of terms and definitions and looking beyond Search and the market share, some companies have profoundly changed the way we think about the Web in recent years!

Conventional Internet portals like Yahoo, MSN, and AOL (i.e. YMA) have been conventionally the place where people go to read things – and in occasion do some random interactive tasks where there was a strong dependency on what that portal has to offer. In some cases, Web services tried to do the same way of conventional business electronically and some of them ended up being a big catalog where the actual service provider was someone else. It was an interesting concept after all, but not interesting and exciting enough to sustain.

Engineering perspective of Web 1.0 is “There is http, let’s share our contents”!

YMA had anticipated Portals and Internet Access win in the long run because it creates end-user dependency. On the other hand, Google created a platform where people dominantly go to do things. Google redefined the concept of Web Search as a powerful tool for everyone and monetized it handsomely. Successful platforms tend to be something that makes others successful and empowered. For instance Google offers ~75% of the revenue and ISVs like that a lot.

In my opinion, if Web 2.0 ever existed it has been the evolutionary idea of empowering users to create and share contents as well as building communities. The most important change we’re witnessing is that Internet has become a place where people go to read, write, and do things. RSS feeds are perfect example of profound sharing, MySpace is a great tool for building community and making personal web-sites, and Wiki based platforms are where users can add contents on the fly. For these reasons, some normal users miscategorize Web 2.0 as disruptive!

Engineering perspective of Web 2.0 is “There is http and SOAP/ REST/ APIs, let’s share our contents and functions”!

Just like other highlights of internet era, Web 3.0 ought to mean different things to different businesses. Whether it’s a life-changing experience, or about the concept of on-demand service, or even mobility and emerging markets, the survival of a platform turns on its ability to get all sides on board.  This often results in pricing patterns that do not fit traditional market rules. There are three types of multi-sided platform markets …

                                                                            To be continued …