Web 2.0 is a set of economic, social and technological trend that collectively form the basis for the next generation of the Internet—a more mature, distinctive medium, characterized by user participation, openness and network effects.
In this informational global society, the World Wide Web (WWW) emerged as one of the powerful publishing medium. However, it has been seen as a fairly one-sided affair in many respects. It is now regarded more as a participatory platform with the help of blogs, wikis and other communication tools. Now anyone can publish their views and contribute to an ongoing "conversation" in which knowledge is shared, discovered and created through Web 2.0, a powerful tool for connectivity, communication, collaboration and creativity. In short, it is a set of technologies and a new kind of thinking. Across the globe, young people are accessing global resources for learning, earning and of course for their fun. Web 2.0, simply refers to the emerging generation of the Web tools and applications which makes information sharing and content creation easier. Going by the benefits and easy access, Web 2.0 has become a buzzword that people use to describe a wide range of activities and applications. The Web 2.0 technologies are proliferating at a greater speed and there is an ever growing list of Web 2.0 applications.
Web 2.0 was coined by O'Reilly Media in 2004, a second generation of Web-based services like social networking sites, wikis, communication tools that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users. The exact meaning of Web 2.0 remains open to debate. According to Tim O'Reilly, "Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform. Chief among those rules is this—build applications that harness network effects to get better and more people use them." Many new technologies are merging under the Web 2.0 umbrella. |
