What, Then, Is Web 2.0?

Definitions abound. For some, Web 2.0 is defined by the increasing prevalence of broadband connections or new software tools like JavaScript and AJAX or the mixing and "mashing up" of data from different sources or the idea of the Internet itself as the platform on which an infinite variety of tasks might be performed, thus replacing the role of proprietary software. For others, Web 2.0 is defined by the presence of user-generated content, as people upload their own photos, videos, opinions, reviews, and questions through social sites including Facebook, Flickr and YouTube, rather than simply consuming professionally produced media.

Tim O'Reilly, the Web guru credited with coining the term Web 2.0 in 2004, offers this example to explain how Web 1.0 differs from Web 2.0: the difference between Britannica Online and Wikipedia. One has expert-created, static information published in one-way format online while the other has user-generated, collaboratively written content that is constantly revised and updated.

Heidi Campbell offered her take: "Web 2.0 in some ways is a catchall phrase, a way of thinking about the Web not as a broadcast or information base, but a more dynamic and active forum where social networking takes place." Because interactive forums were present since the dawn of the Internet in the early 1970s, however, Web 2.0 might best be seen as the blossoming and fruition of early trends, part of a continuum of online development toward interactivity.

In elite technology circles, the debate over the next generation of Web technologies and the definition of Web 3.0 is already raging. Web 2.0, then, might simply be thought of as shorthand for "the Web as we know it today." And this Web extends beyond desktops and laptops, now, as an increasing number of devices—in-car GPS systems, cell phones, and video game consoles—are online enabled and further bringing connectivity into our everyday lives.