Web 2.0: The Future of the Net?

What is the internet ? The internet "is a worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol." What does this mean in layman's terms? The internet teaches its users through fast and accessible knowledge and interaction with others. Being connected means involving the user. Whether it is buying ringtones, chatting on a web cam, or watching a user-contributed video, the viewer is engaged.

The internet is more than just the World Wide Web. It is MySpace. It is Facebook. It is eBay. It is social networking. It is the iPhone. It is the Blackberry. It is mobile technology. I never thought the day would come that you could access the internet on a cell phone. But, that day did come. With the dot-com bubble burst in 2001, Web 1.0 was on its way out and a new era was dawning for the internet. Web 1.0 was boring. It was outdated. And it did not involve collaborative effort on the part of the user. Web 2.0, on the other hand, is a "participartory web."

Web 1.0 versus Web 2.0 is the biggest step forward in the evolution of the World Wide Web . It is reading versus writing, companies versus communities, client-server versus peer to peer, home pages verus blogs, lectures versus conversation, advertising versus word of mouth, HTML versus XML. You get the idea. It's old school versus a "perceived second generation of web-based communities." Web 2.0 also creates a social element where users can generate and distribute content. Web 2.0 is utilized through sites like YouTube and Digg in allowing users to contribute and share their own content. The media could gain from Web 2.0 by using it as a platform to engage interest in their companies because it relies heavily on user interactivity. It will be interesting to see where the web will take us next..how much more interactive can we get?