Why is Web 3.0 important?

If decentralizing the web's architecture delivers even a portion of the benefits promised by Web 3.0 proponents, it could fundamentally alter how people interact on the web and how companies make money from goods and services.

Web 2.0 giants like Amazon, Google and Facebook parent Meta grew quickly by collecting and centralizing petabytes of customer data and monetizing it in myriad ways. Web 3.0's global peer-to-peer network could be the great leveler that makes it hard for such companies to grow by hoarding data. Individuals will have more control over web content and who can access and profit from their personal data.

Web 3.0 business opportunities, by contrast, are likely to center around exploiting this new ability to tailor web products and services to the individual. For example, Web 3.0 marketing capabilities could help companies strike a better balance between privacy and personalization than is possible with today's web. The downside: They may find Web 3.0's strong privacy protections a barrier to how they already do digital marketing.

The greater transparency provided by immutable blockchain ledgers could improve customer service, as both parties have access to the record of their transactions. Businesses could more easily monitor their supply chains by using decentralized apps to break down data silos and see suppliers' activities. Sharing real-time information among supply chain participants could reduce shortages and speed up deliveries.

Web 3.0 is also important as the infrastructure for the metaverse, a proposed 3D virtual world in which digital representations of people, called avatars, interact and conduct business. The metaverse, like Web 3.0, doesn't exist yet, and it will likewise rely on blockchain or a comparable decentralized technology for its data infrastructure and finances, as well as on AI to make it more responsive to the wishes of users.

The metaverse and Web 3.0 are interdependent at the technical and conceptual levels and, therefore, likely to evolve in tandem. The metaverse probably won't come to pass until its Web 3.0 underpinnings are firmly established.