Web 1.0 v. Web 2.0
Monday, December 21, 2009 Web 2.0 is an umbrella term describing changes in the way that Internet content is generated, distributed, searched, and used. It is not a specific technology, nor is it directly associated with new versions of HTML or HTTP. As such, it is sometimes considered a marketing buzzword. ‘Web 1.0’ is a retronym characterizing the state of the World Wide Web prior to about 2004. The phrase ‘Web 2.0’ first saw widespread adoption in 2004, when O’Reilly Media hosted the first Web 2.0 conference.
Three features encompass much of what’s meant by Web 2.0. The first is the use of the Web as a platform. This means that data and applications are stored on Web servers and are available to a user through any computer’s web browser, without the need to install any additional software on the local machine.
The second major feature of Web 2.0 is the predominance of user-generated content. This includes social networking sites (like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn), blogs, and wikis.
Thirdly, Web 2.0 content is openly distributed and can be easily hacked or remixed. This is evident in the ubiquity of RSS feeds, and the staggering variety of inventive mashups that have been made using data from sources like Google Maps, Twitter, and Flickr.
Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 have different focuses, as outlined in this table:
| Web 1.0 | Web 2.0 |
|---|---|
| static content | dynamic content (Ajax) |
| reading | writing |
| companies | communities |
| client-server | peer to peer |
| HTML | XML |
| home pages | blogs |
| taxonomy | folksonomy (collaborative tagging) |
| scheduled updates | perpetual improvement |
| wires | wireless |
| dialup | broadband |