Distributed web, or what we now call Web3, is a growing area of interest for developers and businesses. The idea behind it is to break up the internet so that no single entity has control over all the data on it.
In a centralized system, all the information is stored in a single place. For example, if you buy something on Amazon, all of your data is stored in one place and can be accessed by Amazon. If you have an account with them, they have access to everything you buy and every product review you leave. This can be problematic if this information gets hacked or stolen because it's all in one place and there's no way to change it.
In a distributed system, the information is spread out over multiple locations so that no one person or company has full control over all of your information.
There are many different types of distributed systems ranging from blockchain technology to peer-to-peer networks, but they all share some common traits:
Decentralized control: Information is spread out across multiple devices so there’s no central authority that can control it.
Distributed storage: Data isn't stored in one place but instead across multiple devices (or nodes).
Consensus algorithms: Decisions about how data is stored are made collaboratively by everyone participating in the system (and not necessarily by any central authority).
For businesses who are exploring what are current distributed internet systems and how they can benefit their operations, there are many examples that are growing in prominence.
The most prolific is Ethereum. Ethereum is a distributed database that uses blockchain technology to store information about transactions between people. Bitcoin is a distributed database that uses blockchain technology to store information about transactions between people and assets (like money).
Swarm is a distributed file storage system that uses blockchain technology to store files on computers around the world (instead of in one central location). IPFS is another file storage system that does something similar.
These examples are gaining popularity because they offer benefits that centralized systems don't. Some of the benefits include:
Distributed web will continue to grow more diverse as the world sees more interest and investment pour into this space. Perhaps this year, businesses will face another paradigm shift: from the internet of things to the internet of people. The internet could very well become less virtual, more physical — and more meaningful. Whichever way you look at it, it's an exciting time to be creating and exploring.
If you are exploring the distributed web for your business, let's chat.