Transition to Web 3.0, a baby early-born

All of a sudden, Web 2.0 fades. Not long ago, people still spoke the buzzword enthusiastically. Nearly every new startup advertises itself Web 2.0. It was a synonym of fashion and cutting-edge. Now things went to the opposite dramatically. In the most recent DEMO 2009 conference, the "Web 2.0" buzz nearly disappeared. Web 2.0 is a trend no longer. From Boston to San Francisco, people are talking about Web 3.0.

However, is now the time of Web 3.0 to be born? Despite I am an active advocate of Web evolution and unquestionably believe the coming of Web 3.0, I am afraid that the transition to Web 3.0 we discuss at present is a poor early-born baby.

The key here is that the true problems of Web 2.0 are not well understood by the majority of the public yet. Most of the entrepreneurs think of change only because of the occurred financial crisis in contrast to having recognized the true problems beneath the present model of social networking and collective intelligence. Hence when they discuss the transition from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0, indeed they do not know where they are heading. They have sensed the need for change, while they do not know what the right change should be. Hence many of them just try to carry the same thoughts of Web 2.0 to enter Web 3.0. The CNN Money article at January this year typically represents this misconception in the business sector. As we know, however, that “no one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine will burst the skins … But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins, …” (from Holy Bible, Lurk 5:37)

The importance of the research of Web evolution is still unaware by the main public, even among the elite researchers. Web 3.0 is coming, but not in the way many people think at present. The time is not totally ready yet, thought the transition truly has started. Thus, I would predict the transition would last longer than we expect.