Web 3 & RWW’s 15th anniversary

20 April was the 15th anniversary of ReadWriteWeb‘s launch, back in 2003. Usually I do an anniversary post, but this year I was a little busy with the arrival of my second child during April.

Having a child puts everything in context. Just as I’m a product of Generation X, RWW was a product of its era: Web 2.0. The current iteration of ReadWrite (as it’s now called) is nothing like the site I built up. But that’s fine, I’ve started up a new blog for this new era. It’s called Blocksplain and ostensibly it’s about blockchain and cryptocurrency. But actually I’ve discovered that “Web 3” is about more than crypto. This era is about exploring openness, decentralization, better privacy – to mention just a few key concepts. It’s also about fixing the problems of Web 2.0: dysfunctional social media, overly powerful “walled garden” tech companies, groupthink, death of online advertising, mob mentality, and more. I’m currently working on a Blocksplain post that thinks through what Web 3 really means. If you have any suggestions for me, please leave a comment.

Also in April, I re-joined Newsroom as a weekly tech columnist. Here are the columns I’ve written so far:

It was a quiet month on Blocksplain while I focused on my family, but I was proud of this recent post: 3 problems the blockchain industry must fix. The three issues I identified were building products instead of writing whitepapers, getting real about how massively over-valued crypto companies are right now, and addressing the usability issues of blockchain.

As always, follow me on Twitter or Facebook to discuss Web 3 and other grand theories.

Image above is a screenshot of RWW’s glory days in 2008.