Web 2.1?

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 Web 1.0 was the early form of the internet, used mostly by universities.  

Web 2.0 was the focus on more user-generated content.

Web 3.0 is almost here and includes more machine-based data learning...or something like that?

Maybe we should focus on developing Web 2.1.  

User-generated content has really shaped our culture.  People are making careers off of making content that they are passionate about and most of the time, they are able to build pretty big audiences.  How cool is that? 

But maybe we need to redo how some of these social media companies manage the algorithm and countless tools.

I'd say every social platform wants to make money.  Which I get.  You've got to make money to stay in business.  However, the shady side of data harvesting, targeting specific users, or even locking out some users has really soured the taste of social media.  It seems like for platforms we apparently can control, we actually can't control at all.

I think there needs to be a shift.  A shift in how these companies treat the users.  The users are the most powerful aspect and really drive the popularity of what is working in the industry.  What if these multi-billion dollar companies gave more tools and more training to users to effectively use the platform and to do so in a safe manner?  What if there was more focus on education and personal development instead of just watch time?  What if students in high school were even taught how to best use social media to build their networks and education?

I think with Web 2.1, social media could really be utilized.  And not with as many cautionary tales as it currently has.



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