Jason Calacanis Proposes Web 3.0 Definition

Posted on October 4, 2007

Mahalo founder Jason Calacanis has boldly gone ahead and written an "official definition" of Web 3.0.

Web 3.0 is defined as the creation of high-quality content and services produced by gifted individuals using Web 2.0 technology as an enabling platform.

Calacanis had to know that it would be controversial when he called it "official." As it is written the Calacanis 3.0 definition doesn't sound like a technological distinction from Web 2.0. It just sounds like Web 3.0 is talented or gifted people making content and services using Web 2.0 technology. It sounds much more like a talent distinction than an overall improvement in the technology.

Most of the responses to it are negative. Some who dislike this talent-based definition of Web 3.0 say Jason Calacanis' defintion is basically a description of his Mahalo website. It does have people talking and thinking about Mahalo so it may have worked at least temporarily as link bait. Mathew Ingram blogs that Calacanis is ignoring what has already been written about Web 3.0. Good Morning Silicon Valley say we can't move on yet because we haven't finished making fun of Web 2.0.

Web 3.0 is going to be a term web companies try and label themselves with to distinguish themselves from numerous other companies that are already doing the same thing. So far no one has succeeded in coming up with an idea or definition for Web 3.0 that sticks. The Wikipedia entry for Web 3.0 currently lists several ideas for what Web 3.0 could be including Ajax technoloyg, artificial intelligence, the semantic Web, a giant database and 3D shared spaces. Some also want it to be called the implicit web and not Web 3.0. Whatever and whenever Web 3.0 is the general consensus seems to be that we aren't there yet.