Blockchain technology, Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, DeFi, NFT, DAOs, the Metaverse... when someone talks about Web3 or Web3 marketing, a list of complicated concepts shortcircuits our minds...

The first thing we need to know about Web3 is that we are in a phase of experimentation, so there is no official definition yet that solves all our doubts. And the second point is, first and foremost, Web3 is an ideological movement.

Something like the hippie movement or liberalism? something like that. It's a shift in the way of Internet understanding.

Today, we know the Internet as a service and technology that we use for almost everything in our lives, but it works for the benefit of its owners, a few corporations, and governments. Names come to our mind... Google, Facebook, or the Wikileaks case.

The ideological shift lies in envisioning a new internet that works for the benefit of the people who use it, its users, and at the same time, it is owned by them.

This ideological shift is a new paradigm towards a more democratized Internet. We have to take off the glasses we are wearing to put on others with a completely different vision. This is why we talk about the next Internet age. 

The next important question we should ask ourselves to understand Web3 is why this ideological shift is necessary for our society.

Understanding the current problem is the most important point to understanding Web3 and, to do so, we will review the evolution of the Internet and its impact on our society.

The Internet was born in 1969. Just the year man landed on the moon and in the middle of the hippy movement. The US Department of Defense created a network of connected computers called Arpanet. They aim to decentralize the Cold War communications system and not depend on a single central computer. The origin of the Internet lies in decentralization.

The seed of the technology was sown, but years of work awaited us. What we call the Internet wouldn't come into existence until 1981 A network that connects all the computers in the world under the TCP/IP protocol.

However, despite having a super network that connects all computers, no one could explore the Internet. To solve this problem, the World Wide Web was developed in 1991. 

The famous 3W is a text media with graphics and other multimedia tools that enable more users to explore the Internet.

And at this point, we find what we call Web1.0. Pages of textual information and hyperlinks, like a great Wikipedia, where users could consume information but not interact with it. We could not log in or leave comments, and there were no advertisements based our interests. It was unidirectional and users could only read.

WEB 1 = only read

The information decentralization movement had started. This shift would enable us to decentralize information from the hands of the few.

However, at that time, the web was far from being useful, it was a mess of unsorted information and no one could find something relevant. To solve this, browsers appeared, such as the well-known Internet Explorer, in 1994.

We could already see the information in an ordered way, but it was not enough, we needed to find the specific information we were searching for, so the famous search engines were born, such as Yahoo or Altavista, but it would not be until 1998 when the context would radically change. 

On 4 September 1998, Google came along and turned everything upside down. Its relevance ranking approaches force us to work to display the first one, helping to create more relevant content for the user. Algorithms became the main protagonists and we all want to know their secrets.

The democratization of information is a reality.

With the birth of Google, the nature of the Internet has evolved toward user interaction. In 1999 Messenger arrived on our computers. And finally, in 2004, Facebook appeared and we can officially say that we are facing a new nature of the Internet, Web 2.0.

The web goes from being a place where the user only consumes information, where information is unidirectional, to a new web where we can interact and communication becomes bidirectional. We, as users, receive information but we also give information.

WEB2= Read + Interact

Large corporations such as Facebook and Google now receive the data we give them when we interact with their services. In this way, they can offer us personalized content and monetize their business by selling our data to advertisers and third parties.

We are in the age of personalized ads/content and lack privacy and control.

This new kind of web came with another phenomenon. In the last 20 years, the Internet has completely transformed the world as we know it. It has changed financial markets, culture, and elections... The Internet has reshaped the world.

On the economic front, the Internet is directly responsible for the rise of globalization and e-commerce, two trends that have profoundly impacted the world. Facebook and Google have attracted 40% of advertising investment.

In the social sphere, social networks have changed the way we relate to each other. They have given rise to a new generation of influencers and have generated an avenue of income for millions of people. 

In the political area, the Internet has affected elections around the world and has given rise to a new generation of Internet-native bureaucrats. 

Think of any problem we have to solve in our day-to-day lives and the Internet will be there as a medium, from buying a train ticket to finding the nearest dermatologist. We have a closer relationship with the Internet than with any member of our family. 

We live in a world controlled by technology.

The Internet allowed the democratization of information because it always remained free, but at the same time, corrupted in the centralization of its power. 

In recent years, due to the growth in the use of the Internet and its social impact, we are suffering the consequences harshly.

• The NSA's Prism program intercepts user data from Apple, Google, and others.

• NSA and GCHQ unlock encryption used to protect email, banking, and medical records.

• A $250 million-a-year U.S. program works covertly with tech companies.

• Emmanuel Macron's campaign was hacked on eve of the French elections.

• Credit firm Equifax says Social Security numbers of 143 million Americans exposed in the hacking

• Facebook hurts to sleep, work, relationships or parenting for about 12.5% of users. 360 million users

• Younger people suffer higher rates of depression and anxiety due to network use.

• Fake, unverified news feeds the creation of an increasingly uninformed audience. Information is increasingly unreliable and sometimes actually harmful. In addition to entailing losses of more than 70 billion dollars in 2019.

• Fake accounts controlled by bots are manipulating children. 

• Realistic human faces created by AI will create even bigger problems for society through fakes.

• Wikileaks case. In addition to the authorities exercising control over IP and DNS, Visa and Paypal banned any donations.

It can only get worse if we keep doing the same. 

The use of the Internet is ours, we can always use it, but we don't have control of the Internet over us, we don't own it.

Ownership of the Internet is centralized in a few hands. This fact, the magnitude of its usage, and its impact on global society make the web broken nowadays.

It does not work for the benefit of the collective that uses it, in fact, it works against us.

Now, in retrospect, it is easy to blame the large corporations that control the Internet. There is no doubt that manipulating the Internet for the benefit of a few and against a collective is a bad deed. However, I think it is unfair to blame them for all the problems now.

Back in the day, the Internet needed pioneering companies to enable accessibility. That generation of corporations took advantage of technology and really changed the world. In my opinion, they were well rewarded and recognized for it.

At this turning point, when we have become aware of the problems and their origin, we must reflect as a society in order to build an Internet that works for the benefit of the collective that uses it. And, unfortunately, it is not easy, because we have to start from scratch, from the ground up. 

If we continue to operate with the same structures and frameworks, we will continue to give our data, time, and money to the same companies, who will use them to offer us products and services that benefit them first and foremost. We have already seen that we cannot rely on this formula to find the collective benefit.

And at this turning point, Web3 comes into play

We can find the seed of Web3 in Bitcoin. The first digital cryptocurrency was born in October 2008.

And no, it is no coincidence that Bitcoin emerged in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis following the mortgage meltdown. 

Bitcoin comes with the promise of separating the financial system from the powers of a sovereign nation, effectively democratizing wealth and financial control for every individual on the planet.

Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate without a central authority or banks. The management of transactions and the issuance of bitcoins is carried out collectively by the network. It is open-source; its design is public, no one owns or controls Bitcoin and at the same time all its users own Bitcoin.

The first transaction did not take place until 2009 and it would not become popular until 2017, but since then the innovation has surpassed all expectations.

After Bitcoin, Ethereum and smart contracts came up, enabling us to create new tokens and automate network transactions.

After Ethereum, new blockchains came up, trying to solve the scalability trilemma, testing the ability to offer decentralization, security, and scalability without sacrificing none of the 3 properties.

Non-fungible tokens, better known as NFTs, gained momentum with the promise of offering ownership and control of their works to creators, artists, and musicians... and with the capacity to tokenize any element of this world that we can imagine.

Decentralized finance, better known as DeFi came with the promise of revolutionizing traditional financial systems, making them more efficient, accessible, and faster.

A financial system without banks, at least in the traditional sense. Instead of intermediaries, such as banks, executing our transactions, we have smart contracts that automate the process.

Decentralized autonomous organizations, better known as DAOs. Autonomous organizations self-managed through rules established in smart contracts.

Endless new concepts that human beings need to categorize. There comes a time when it is scary to ask... What is Web3?

"Web3 is the Internet owned by the builders and users, orchestrated with tokens".

Chris Dixon, Entrepreneur and Cofounder, AZ16

Web3 = Read +Interact + Own

"Web 3 is a new extensible framework for creating more economically and socially robust applications. It is based on open-source protocols, equally accessible to all, to create interfaces that provide access to functionality and services.

Imagine a new Internet where:

Gavin Wood, Co-founder ofPolkadot, Kusama, Parity, Web3 Foundation y Ethereum

• There is no difference between users and owners. We are all users and owners. Web3 works for the benefit of all of us as a collective.

• An Internet in which corporations will not assume responsibility for managing our data, nor the right to exploit it exclusively. Data is used for decision making and we, as the owners of the data, will be rewarded for its use, having ultimate control over it.

• An Internet where information and user intent are verified and can therefore be trusted.

• The Internet can function in adverse situations such as an external attack or a government restricting it.

The Internet will always be the Internet, and there is only one, whether we talk about Web1, Web2, Web3, Web4, Web5, or whatever comes next.

And now the big question is ... Will we be able to build the bridge from Web 2 to Web3 to upgrade the Internet? Will web3 really solve all the problems? Are we being utopian? Will a few experiments carried out by a few crazy visionaries, while others watch from the sidelines, be able to take us that far?

Pioneers, early adopters, early majority, lately majority...we have one foot in the pioneer club and one foot in the early adopter club. Could it go to zero? Or could it take off? In how many years? Who will be the first? Will I be around to see it? 

I am confident that the history of the Internet will continue to be written to bring us a fairer Internet for all.

Download Web3 infographic.

Now that you've grasped the fundamentals of Web3, let's explore the principles of Web3 marketing together.

Blockchain technology, Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, DeFi, NFT, DAOs, the Metaverse... when someone talks about Web3 or Web3 marketing, a list of complicated concepts shortcircuits our minds...

The first thing we need to know about Web3 is that we are in a phase of experimentation, so there is no official definition yet that solves all our doubts. And the second point is, first and foremost, Web3 is an ideological movement.

Something like the hippie movement or liberalism? something like that. It's a shift in the way of Internet understanding.

Today, we know the Internet as a service and technology that we use for almost everything in our lives, but it works for the benefit of its owners, a few corporations, and governments. Names come to our mind... Google, Facebook, or the Wikileaks case.

The ideological shift lies in envisioning a new internet that works for the benefit of the people who use it, its users, and at the same time, it is owned by them.

This ideological shift is a new paradigm towards a more democratized Internet. We have to take off the glasses we are wearing to put on others with a completely different vision. This is why we talk about the next Internet age. 

The next important question we should ask ourselves to understand Web3 is why this ideological shift is necessary for our society.

Understanding the current problem is the most important point to understanding Web3 and, to do so, we will review the evolution of the Internet and its impact on our society.

The Internet was born in 1969. Just the year man landed on the moon and in the middle of the hippy movement. The US Department of Defense created a network of connected computers called Arpanet. They aim to decentralize the Cold War communications system and not depend on a single central computer. The origin of the Internet lies in decentralization.

The seed of the technology was sown, but years of work awaited us. What we call the Internet wouldn't come into existence until 1981 A network that connects all the computers in the world under the TCP/IP protocol.

However, despite having a super network that connects all computers, no one could explore the Internet. To solve this problem, the World Wide Web was developed in 1991. 

The famous 3W is a text media with graphics and other multimedia tools that enable more users to explore the Internet.

And at this point, we find what we call Web1.0. Pages of textual information and hyperlinks, like a great Wikipedia, where users could consume information but not interact with it. We could not log in or leave comments, and there were no advertisements based our interests. It was unidirectional and users could only read.

WEB 1 = only read

The information decentralization movement had started. This shift would enable us to decentralize information from the hands of the few.

However, at that time, the web was far from being useful, it was a mess of unsorted information and no one could find something relevant. To solve this, browsers appeared, such as the well-known Internet Explorer, in 1994.

We could already see the information in an ordered way, but it was not enough, we needed to find the specific information we were searching for, so the famous search engines were born, such as Yahoo or Altavista, but it would not be until 1998 when the context would radically change. 

On 4 September 1998, Google came along and turned everything upside down. Its relevance ranking approaches force us to work to display the first one, helping to create more relevant content for the user. Algorithms became the main protagonists and we all want to know their secrets.

The democratization of information is a reality.

With the birth of Google, the nature of the Internet has evolved toward user interaction. In 1999 Messenger arrived on our computers. And finally, in 2004, Facebook appeared and we can officially say that we are facing a new nature of the Internet, Web 2.0.

The web goes from being a place where the user only consumes information, where information is unidirectional, to a new web where we can interact and communication becomes bidirectional. We, as users, receive information but we also give information.

WEB2= Read + Interact

Large corporations such as Facebook and Google now receive the data we give them when we interact with their services. In this way, they can offer us personalized content and monetize their business by selling our data to advertisers and third parties.

We are in the age of personalized ads/content and lack privacy and control.

This new kind of web came with another phenomenon. In the last 20 years, the Internet has completely transformed the world as we know it. It has changed financial markets, culture, and elections... The Internet has reshaped the world.

On the economic front, the Internet is directly responsible for the rise of globalization and e-commerce, two trends that have profoundly impacted the world. Facebook and Google have attracted 40% of advertising investment.

In the social sphere, social networks have changed the way we relate to each other. They have given rise to a new generation of influencers and have generated an avenue of income for millions of people. 

In the political area, the Internet has affected elections around the world and has given rise to a new generation of Internet-native bureaucrats. 

Think of any problem we have to solve in our day-to-day lives and the Internet will be there as a medium, from buying a train ticket to finding the nearest dermatologist. We have a closer relationship with the Internet than with any member of our family. 

We live in a world controlled by technology.

The Internet allowed the democratization of information because it always remained free, but at the same time, corrupted in the centralization of its power. 

In recent years, due to the growth in the use of the Internet and its social impact, we are suffering the consequences harshly.

• The NSA's Prism program intercepts user data from Apple, Google, and others.

• NSA and GCHQ unlock encryption used to protect email, banking, and medical records.

• A $250 million-a-year U.S. program works covertly with tech companies.

• Emmanuel Macron's campaign was hacked on eve of the French elections.

• Credit firm Equifax says Social Security numbers of 143 million Americans exposed in the hacking

• Facebook hurts to sleep, work, relationships or parenting for about 12.5% of users. 360 million users

• Younger people suffer higher rates of depression and anxiety due to network use.

• Fake, unverified news feeds the creation of an increasingly uninformed audience. Information is increasingly unreliable and sometimes actually harmful. In addition to entailing losses of more than 70 billion dollars in 2019.

• Fake accounts controlled by bots are manipulating children. 

• Realistic human faces created by AI will create even bigger problems for society through fakes.

• Wikileaks case. In addition to the authorities exercising control over IP and DNS, Visa and Paypal banned any donations.

It can only get worse if we keep doing the same. 

The use of the Internet is ours, we can always use it, but we don't have control of the Internet over us, we don't own it.

Ownership of the Internet is centralized in a few hands. This fact, the magnitude of its usage, and its impact on global society make the web broken nowadays.

It does not work for the benefit of the collective that uses it, in fact, it works against us.

Now, in retrospect, it is easy to blame the large corporations that control the Internet. There is no doubt that manipulating the Internet for the benefit of a few and against a collective is a bad deed. However, I think it is unfair to blame them for all the problems now.

Back in the day, the Internet needed pioneering companies to enable accessibility. That generation of corporations took advantage of technology and really changed the world. In my opinion, they were well rewarded and recognized for it.

At this turning point, when we have become aware of the problems and their origin, we must reflect as a society in order to build an Internet that works for the benefit of the collective that uses it. And, unfortunately, it is not easy, because we have to start from scratch, from the ground up. 

If we continue to operate with the same structures and frameworks, we will continue to give our data, time, and money to the same companies, who will use them to offer us products and services that benefit them first and foremost. We have already seen that we cannot rely on this formula to find the collective benefit.

And at this turning point, Web3 comes into play

We can find the seed of Web3 in Bitcoin. The first digital cryptocurrency was born in October 2008.

And no, it is no coincidence that Bitcoin emerged in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis following the mortgage meltdown. 

Bitcoin comes with the promise of separating the financial system from the powers of a sovereign nation, effectively democratizing wealth and financial control for every individual on the planet.

Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate without a central authority or banks. The management of transactions and the issuance of bitcoins is carried out collectively by the network. It is open-source; its design is public, no one owns or controls Bitcoin and at the same time all its users own Bitcoin.

The first transaction did not take place until 2009 and it would not become popular until 2017, but since then the innovation has surpassed all expectations.

After Bitcoin, Ethereum and smart contracts came up, enabling us to create new tokens and automate network transactions.

After Ethereum, new blockchains came up, trying to solve the scalability trilemma, testing the ability to offer decentralization, security, and scalability without sacrificing none of the 3 properties.

Non-fungible tokens, better known as NFTs, gained momentum with the promise of offering ownership and control of their works to creators, artists, and musicians... and with the capacity to tokenize any element of this world that we can imagine.

Decentralized finance, better known as DeFi came with the promise of revolutionizing traditional financial systems, making them more efficient, accessible, and faster.

A financial system without banks, at least in the traditional sense. Instead of intermediaries, such as banks, executing our transactions, we have smart contracts that automate the process.

Decentralized autonomous organizations, better known as DAOs. Autonomous organizations self-managed through rules established in smart contracts.

Endless new concepts that human beings need to categorize. There comes a time when it is scary to ask... What is Web3?

"Web3 is the Internet owned by the builders and users, orchestrated with tokens".

Chris Dixon, Entrepreneur and Cofounder, AZ16

Web3 = Read +Interact + Own

"Web 3 is a new extensible framework for creating more economically and socially robust applications. It is based on open-source protocols, equally accessible to all, to create interfaces that provide access to functionality and services.

Imagine a new Internet where:

Gavin Wood, Co-founder ofPolkadot, Kusama, Parity, Web3 Foundation y Ethereum

• There is no difference between users and owners. We are all users and owners. Web3 works for the benefit of all of us as a collective.

• An Internet in which corporations will not assume responsibility for managing our data, nor the right to exploit it exclusively. Data is used for decision making and we, as the owners of the data, will be rewarded for its use, having ultimate control over it.

• An Internet where information and user intent are verified and can therefore be trusted.

• The Internet can function in adverse situations such as an external attack or a government restricting it.

The Internet will always be the Internet, and there is only one, whether we talk about Web1, Web2, Web3, Web4, Web5, or whatever comes next.

And now the big question is ... Will we be able to build the bridge from Web 2 to Web3 to upgrade the Internet? Will web3 really solve all the problems? Are we being utopian? Will a few experiments carried out by a few crazy visionaries, while others watch from the sidelines, be able to take us that far?

Pioneers, early adopters, early majority, lately majority...we have one foot in the pioneer club and one foot in the early adopter club. Could it go to zero? Or could it take off? In how many years? Who will be the first? Will I be around to see it? 

I am confident that the history of the Internet will continue to be written to bring us a fairer Internet for all.

Download Web3 infographic.

Now that you've grasped the fundamentals of Web3, let's explore the principles of Web3 marketing together.